About Us

Who We Are

The National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth (NCWD/Youth) assists state and local workforce development systems to better serve all youth, including youth with disabilities and other vulnerable youth. The NCWD/Youth, created in 2001, is composed of partners with expertise in education, youth development, disability, employment, workforce development and family issues. Funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), the NCWD/Youth is housed at the Institute for Educational Leadership in Washington, D.C. NCWD/Youth offers a range of technical assistance services to state and local workforce investment boards, youth councils and other workforce development system youth programs.

Find out more about NCWD/Youth by reading our brochure in PDF or read it in MS Word.

The brochure is also available in Spanish as a PDF or in Spanish as a MS Word document.

NCWD/Youth Partners

• Center for Workforce Development, Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL)
• National Youth Employment Coalition (NYEC)
• PACER Center
• Center on Education and Work, University of Wisconsin-Madison (CEW)
• Institute for Community Integration, University of Minnesota (ICI)

Our Mission

NCWD/Youth works to ensure that transition age youth are provided full access to high quality services in integrated settings to gain education, employment and independent living.

Our Goals

• Improving systems capacity to provide comprehensive transition services for all youth, including youth with disabilities and youth from vulnerable populations;
• Strengthening the services provided by organizations responsible for delivery of workforce development services; and,
• Promoting the need for and further grow a professional development system for youth service professionals.

Working Together

NCWD/Youth works formally with the programs below which are also trying to increase employment opportunities for youth. You can also find many more organizations listed in our links database.

The recipients of ODEP Innovative Grants are organizations demonstrating how to enhance service to youth with disabilities.

The National Center for Workforce and Disability/Adult site offers materials on promising practices, policies, and procedures in workforce development as a resource for One-Stop Career Centers, state and local Workforce Investment Boards, and policymakers.