Intersection: Navigating the Road to WorkVolume 6, Number 1 Welcome to Intersection: Navigating the Road to Work, the electronic newsletter of the National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth (NCWD/Youth). The newsletter and the NCWD/Youth website offer information to improve programs and services for all youth and especially youth with disabilities. IMPORTANT: In order to ensure the delivery of our publication to your inbox, please add our e-mail address, intersection@ncwd-youth.info, to your address book and/or whitelist. Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) Releases New DocumentsODEP’s revised Business Case for Hiring People with Disabilities, including returning disabled veterans, features video clips, research and anecdotal information from businesses and industry leaders on how hiring people with disabilities improves an organization’s bottom line across six themes: Return on Investment, Human Capital, Innovation, Marketing, Diversity, and Social Responsibility. Additionally, ODEP has released a Survey of Employer Perspectives on the Employment of People with Disabilities, a technical report which emphasizes current attitudes and practices of employers in 12 industry sectors, including some high growth industries as projected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The objective of the nationally representative survey is to inform the development and promotion of policy and practice by comparing employer perspectives across various industries and within companies of varying sizes. It was found that 19.1 percent of employers surveyed report employing people with disabilities and 13.6 percent of companies actively recruit people with disabilities. ODEP has also released two new fact sheets: DOL Releases First Official Data on the Employment Status of People with DisabilitiesOn Friday February 6, 2009, the U.S. Department of Labor released the first official data on the employment status of persons with disabilities. In January 2009, the percent of people with disabilities in the labor force was 23.1. The unemployment rate for those with disabilities was 13.2 percent. These data provide, for the first time, an official monthly measure of the labor force situation for people with disabilities. ODEP sponsored the addition of new disability questions to the Current Population Survey (CPS) starting in June 2008. The addition of these questions to the CPS will allow the analysis of the labor force situation of persons with disabilities to be based on the same concepts that are already used for other groups. In addition to using the data to formulate policy recommendations, ODEP will use them to target its training, technical assistance, research, and dissemination efforts. To learn more see http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsdisability.htm. NCWD/YouthAt the National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth you can find the Guideposts for Employer Success which is organized with the explicit purpose of helping workforce development policy makers meet the needs of employers. There are two categories within the framework. The first focuses on what system designers (state and local) need to do. The second looks at what individual programs which include a wide array of education and training institutions such as community rehabilitation centers, secondary and post secondary institutions, apprenticeship programs, and One-Stop Centers need to do. Proposed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009Over the next couple of weeks Congress will be considering the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 in order to help stimulate the economy and bring jobs to American workers, including people with disabilities. As of now, both bills would raise the upper age limit for WIA youth funding eligibility from 21 to 24 years old and IDEA funding would increase the Federal share of special education services to its highest level ever. Here is a side by side comparison, at this point in time, of the bills
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