Intersection: Navigating the Road to Work

V. 4 No. 3
May 15, 2007

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 services to youth and especially youth with disabilities.

IMPORTANT: In order to ensure the delivery of our publication to your inbox, please add our email address, intersection@ncwd-youth.info, to your address book and/or whitelist.

NCWD/Youth Issues Foster Care Guide

NCWD/Youth has completed Negotiating the Curves Toward Employment: A Guide About Youth Involved in the Foster Care System. Read the guide today.

The Guide was developed to encourage collaborative efforts between workforce development, child welfare, mental health, schools, and other community institutions to improve opportunities for youth in foster care to successfully transition into adulthood. The youth involved in the foster care system represent one of the most vulnerable populations in our society. Of the more than 500,000 children in foster care, 30 to 40% are also in special education. However, this number does not capture all youth with disabilities in the foster care system. In one study, it was estimated that between 20 to 60% of young children entering foster care have a developmental disability or delay. These types of disabilities include cerebral palsy, mental retardation, developmental delays, and learning disabilities, as well as speech, hearing, and vision impairments. This compares with an estimate of about 10% among the general population.

Building upon the NCWD/Youth organizing framework known as the Guideposts for Success, which details what research says all youth, including youth with disabilities, need to successfully transition to adulthood, this new publication applies the Guideposts to meeting the needs of youth in foster care with and without disabilities. Read the Guideposts for Success for Youth in Foster Care in chapter two of the Guide.

In addition, the Guide provides facts, statistics, and contextual information about youth involved in the foster care system; gives examples of states and communities that are changing policy and practices; identifies areas requiring further attention by policy makers and providers of services; and identifies resources and tools to assist cross-system collaborative efforts.

NCWD/Youth will soon be posting on its website a companion piece to the Guide that will demonstrate how the foster care Guideposts can be addressed under several pieces of program legislation affecting youth in the foster care system.

Read Negotiating the Curves Toward Employment: A Guide About Youth Involved in the Foster Care System.

DOL Issues Brochure on Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act

The Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), in collaboration with the Center for Faith Based and Community Initiatives (CFBCI) and the Civil Rights Center (CRC) of the Department of Labor has developed a new brochure to help faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs) better understand the requirements of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The publication is titled “Demystifying Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.” Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act requires recipients of Federal financial assistance, including FBCOs, to take certain positive actions to make their facilities and services accessible and available to persons with disabilities. Read the brochure.

HSC Foundation Launches Youth Transitions Initiative

The HSC Foundation is launching a multi-year Youth Transitions Initiative to assist young people with disabilities and chronic illness in the Washington metropolitan area and beyond to move from school to adulthood and the world of work. To develop the initiative, the Foundation convened a national summit of professionals, youth with disabilities, and their families to examine the education, career preparation, independent living, and social and attitudinal barriers to successful transitions. The summit was organized around NCWD/Youth's Guideposts for Success. Learn more about the Foundation's Initiative.