QUICK GUIDES LINK TO KEY REFERENCES ON CRITICAL ISSUES

NCWD/Youth is offering a series of Quick Reference Guides that provides resources on critical topics for administrators, youth service practitioners, and policymakers. Each Guide offers succinct descriptions of a topic with resources that have been identified by experts at NCWD/Youth. The topics include:

• Workplace success : The guide describes how to create successful work-based experiences for youth and their employers that foster adult employment success for all youth, particularly for those with disabilities.
• Youth development and youth leadership for all youth : Theguideexplains youth development and leadership components and how they lead to more effective workforce development programs.
• Assessment : The guide gives an overview of the process of collecting information that can be used in decision-making, career-planning, and service plan development for a young person.
• Hidden Disabilities : The guide provides a basic understanding of how to identify and screen for hidden disabilities; connect to formal diagnosis; provide appropriate accommodations; and identify support services.
• Benefits Planning for Youth with Disabilities : The guide helps those assisting youth with disabilities navigate the range of state and federal government programs and benefits for people with disabilities in the United States .
• Universal Access : The guide assists those developing a program, service, or activity to make them accessible to youth and adults with disabilities.

The packet of guides can be downloaded and/or hard copies can be ordered using our publications request form online.

NCWD/Youth INFO BRIEF

A new InfoBrief has been posted to the NCWD/Youth website. The Youth Development and Leadership in Programs brief describes how administrators and policymakers can use the concepts of youth development and leadership in developing and administering programs that serve all youth. It includes activities specifically geared toward youth with disabilities.

The brief is based on a longer paper, Youth Development and Leadership, A Background Paper.

CONGRESS TAKES ACTION ON VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION

The full Senate and the House Education and the Workforce Committee have approved different versions of legislation reauthorizing and changing the Carl Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998.

The Senate passed S. 250 on March 10, 2005 . The legislation builds on current law but does have some changes. The House Education and the Workforce Committee also voted unanimously to approve H.R. 366, the "Vocational and Technical Education for the Future Act.’” The next step for this bill is a vote by the full House, which is expected to occur sometime this spring. After both bills are passed, they will go to a conference committee where the differences between the two bills will be negotiated. 

The House and Senate are emphasizing academics. In the Senate bill, for example, academic achievement is one of several core indicators of performance for programs receiving funds from this act. Both bills include separate secondary and postsecondary performance measures and enhanced local accountability provisions.

The Senate bill maintains Tech Prep as a separate program, while the House version does not. Tech Prep is a federally funded program that includes a combination of, at a minimum, two years of secondary education and a minimum of two years of postsecondary education in a non-duplicative, sequential course of study.  The intent of Tech Prep is to provide the student with work place skills that will allow the individual to successfully enter the job market, the military or further education. 

The Senate bill strengthens the connection of career and technical education programs to the needs of businesses by making sure that student achievement is based on industry standards.

NEW NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION LIFELINE AVAILABLE

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255) is a network of local crisis centers located in communities across the country that are committed to suicide prevention. Callers to the hotline will receive suicide prevention counseling from trained staff at the closest certified crisis center in the network. This hotline is part of the National Suicide Prevention Initiative-a collaborative effort led by SAMHSA-- that incorporates the best practices and research findings in suicide prevention and intervention, with the goal of reducing the incidence of suicide nationwide. For more information, go to http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/.

JAN CONFERENCE ANNOUNCED

The Job Accommodation Network (JAN), the nation’s foremost provider of workplace accommodation information and technical assistance on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), will unite experts in job accommodation and disability employment law during JAN’s annual conference, Empowering Employers to Build an Inclusive Workforce, September 26-27, 2005, at the Westin San Francisco Airport.

For more information, contact: conference@jan.wvu.edu ; phone: 800-526-7234 (V/TTY); or http://www.jan.wvu.edu.