Florida High School/High Tech

Organization Contact Information

Project Overview

High School/High Tech (HS/HT) is recognized as a successful strategy for assisting youth with disabilities as they transition from school to post-secondary activities, including entry into postsecondary education and engaging in the workforce. With significant support from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), HS/HT has spread to numerous states, including Florida.

HS/HT started in Florida in 1995 when the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at the Kennedy Space Center provided funding for initially three years (extended to five) to establish a local program at the Space Coast Center for Independent Living in Cocoa Beach. This site originally followed the “NASA Model” for High School/High Tech focusing on youth with an interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

In 1999, The Able Trust/Florida Governor’s Alliance for the Employment of Citizens with Disabilities began to fund a HS/HT State Coordinator position to assist in the development of a statewide program under The Able Trust. This program grew and in 2003, ODEP awarded 1-year implementation grants to 5 states (Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Michigan, and Ohio) with the option of 4 additional years of funding to assist states, working in partnership with the state Workforce Investment Board (WIB) in implementing  the HS/HT program on a state-wide basis through state-level management and coordination. This ODEP funding combined with The Able Trust funding assisted in the creation of additional local programs. By the third year of the grant cycle, over 850 students were enrolled statewide. The Florida sites are organized by county with one HS/HT program in each county (three counties have 2 sites) serving over 125 schools statewide.

The Able Trust was the ODEP grant recipient, and is the agency that has lead responsibility for implementing HS/HT in Florida. The overarching goal of Florida HS/HT is to work in partnership with state and local Vocational Rehabilitation Services, Workforce Investment Boards, other state agencies, academia, and business partners to expand the capacity of public and private organizations and individuals to form an enhanced statewide support system.

The Florida HS/HT program has grown into a transition program that has increased educational and employment outcomes for students with disabilities. The goals of the Florida HS/HT Program are to reduce the high school dropout rate of youth with disabilities, increase their enrollment in a postsecondary institution, and improve their participation in employment related activities leading to technology careers. Over 1,300 students in 125 high schools representing 36 Florida counties are annually linked to a broad range of academic resources, career development opportunities and on-the-job experiences that enable them to meet the demands of the 21st century workforce. These activities are based on the Guideposts for Success. As a result of Florida’s HS/HT Program, 90% of graduating seniors continue their education or enter employment.

Innovative Practices

The Able Trust, as a state-level manager of the Florida HS/HT program, works to reduce the high school dropout rate of youth with disabilities and to improve the employment participation rate to assist in the school to work transition. This work is not easy and is accomplished through providing technical assistance to local HS/HT sites, acting as a state-level convener with the state government and private organizations, helps to manage the fundraising process, providing local sites with state and national level grant announcements. Other functions of the state manager may include forming partnerships with other organizations to foster community engagement and providing career-based mentors to the youth participants, and connecting with HS/HT programs outside of Florida to ensure that they are maximizing best-practices.

Florida HS/HT has an established partnership since 2004 with Volunteer Florida (i.e., the state’s AmeriCorps agency) that introduces students at participating local HS/HT sites to national and volunteer service opportunities in their community. These opportunities are through AmeriCorps, Learn and Serve America, and SeniorCorps, as well as existing volunteer initiatives through local volunteer centers. Through Project Impact, AmeriCorps members work with HS/HT students to design and implement community service and service-learning projects that address local community needs. Through Florida HS/HT, students with disabilities learn to serve others rather then typically being on the receiving end of service. 

An excellent example of this collaboration occurred when Ability1st (The Center for Independent Living of North Florida), Florida Learn & Serve and high school students with disabilities traveled to Camp Indian Springs to participate in an evening of team activities & challenges hosted by the camp. On Saturday morning, they began their restorative services for Camp Indian Springs, which included repainting bathhouses, which have not been updated for several years. As a result, Camp Indian Springs will be ready to host summer camp sessions this summer and students engaged in community improvement activities. The camp is disability friendly, and hosts a deaf week for the community each summer. The students enjoyed contributing back to the community, and decided to continue to offer their physical help to the improvements of the camp.

Florida HS/HT works in collaboration with the State Workforce Investment Board, Workforce Florida, and encourages each local HS/HT site to connect to their Regional Workforce Board. As a result of this partnership, Workforce Investment Act (WIA) dollars are used to pay for internships for many HS/HT participants. Five local HS/HT programs are administered directly through Regional Boards.

The HS/HT program in Florida also has a partnership with the Florida State Department of Juvenile Justice (FLDJJ) and the Okaloosa/Walton Regional Workforce Development Board that has created a HS/HT site in a juvenile detention facility. The site has been so successful that a second site was created and a third site is being considered. Depending on the success of the HS/HT DJJ Re-Entry Program, FLDJJ has indicated that they are interested in collaborating with The Able Trust in establishing similar programs in other DJJ facilities around the state contingent upon funding. HS/HT also works with DJJ students in other local sites.

Career preparation and work-based learning experiences are essential in order for youth to form and develop aspirations and to make informed choices about their careers. These experiences, which can be provided during the school day or through after-school programs, require collaborations with other organizations to be truly successful. HS/HT provides these experiences through activities at school, after school, on weekends, and during the summer to fully maximize the opportunities for the youth they work with.

One example of how this has been applied to local site activities is at the Gainesville Area HS/HT program. Their students have been able to participate in internships with the University of Florida Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department in Gainesville. One of the students was able to work on miniature robotic aeronautic prototypes, that not only assisted him in his learning, but that also benefited the University of Florida. The student’s prototype has been used in future programs to teach other students and provided him a glimpse of the career field he desires.

Another example of work-based experiences and community partnerships is the partnership that the Florida HS/HT program has had with NASA. The Kennedy Space Center is NASA’s center of excellence for launch and payload processing systems. Part of the Center’s responsibilities includes the checkout, launch, and landing of the Space Shuttle and its payloads. Florida HS/HT and NASA have provided internships for youth with disabilities involved with HS/HT.

Employers have supported HS/HT’s career preparation efforts in a number of ways. Florida HS/HT has received small awards and grants from a variety of employers to support specific HS/HT activities. For example, they received a $10,000 grant from Darden Restaurants to provide Customer Service Training Workshops and paid internships for HS/HT students in Orlando. An Orlando HS/HT student also interned with CVS pharmacy was ultimately hired full time.  The Gainesville site signed an agreement with Cox Communications whereby Cox agreed to pay 50 percent of the salary for HS/HT summer interns.

The local HS/HT site in Gainesville, Florida was also successful in establishing a partnership with the Youth Employment Starts (YES) Program through Santa Fe Community College. Under this partnership, workforce grant funds were used to pay for summer internships for HS/HT students.

The Orange County HS/HT site (Orlando, FL) collaborated with the Florida HS/HT State Director and were the recipients of a US Department of Transportation Garrett A. Morgan Technology and Transportation Education Program (GAMTTEP) grant.  The grant allows women, minorities, and students with disabilities in Orange County Public School HS/HT classes to explore career options in (STEM) through curriculum development and other activities with expanded emphasis on transportation and technology.

Youth Development is a process that prepares young people to meet the challenges of adolescence and adulthood through a coordinated, progressive series of activities and experiences which help them gain skills and competencies. Youth leadership is a part of this process and is able to be blended into program designs. HS/HT provides these experiences through mentoring activities, having participants sit on advisory boards, and group activities.

HS/HT students throughout Florida have had the opportunity to participate in an e-mentoring initiative that was started by the Governor and be the first students with disabilities in the program. Through this program, students with and without disabilities were connected with mentors through a secure server and exchange weekly emails to gain knowledge on better ways to pursue their personal and career goals.

Student Advisory Councils have been formed at each local HS/HT site in Florida to assist with fundraising to provide feedback on program activities, and to generate ideas for program activities and workshop topics. Students at different sites participate in a variety of local leadership activities including overnight stays in accessible state park cabins or lodges with activities facilitated by peer leaders.

In September 2006, youth enrolled in Florida’s HS/HT DJJ Re-Entry Program had the opportunity to participate in the FIRST Vex Robotics and FIRST Vex Challenge (FVC) competition. FIRST promotes high tech careers and engineering through an educational foundation in math and science. FIRST also promotes leadership and teamwork as youth build robots and then engage in a competition. Participating youth learn lifelong skills such as planning, research, collaboration, and mentoring. Palm Bay HS/HT students also participated in the VEX Competition where they designed, built, and raced remote controlled vehicles. These students have won numerous awards. In May 2009, the Palm Bay team (3 of the 5 team members were HS/HT participants) placed 3rd in Dallas, TX of 273 teams from 12 countries and all 50 states (where over 1,300 teams vied for State, National and World Championships). One HS/HT student who is legally blind won the VEX Robotics Animation Award at that event.

Systems Change

To some extent, Florida built sustainability into their process for selecting local HS/HT sites. The Able Trust used a competitive Request for Proposals to establish local sites throughout the state. Organizations (Centers for Independent Living, Goodwill, Regional Workforce Boards, School Foundations, and Community Based Organizations) responded to the RFP and after those receiving the grants were each given $40,000 in the first year to cover initial start-up costs. Once established, the sites receive continuation step-down funding of $20,000 per year. As a result, local sites work in collaboration with The Able Trust HS/HT staff to find alternative funding. For example, when WIA Youth Funds in Gainesville were designated for teen pregnancy prevention programs, one of the local HS/HT sites submitted a proposal that incorporated a pregnancy prevention component into the HS/HT curriculum. The proposal was approved and provided funding to sustain one of the Gainesville sites. 

The Able Trust was also very creative and successful in securing funding from a variety of sources to support the continuation and expansion of HS/HT including a collaborative effort between HS/HT, the Florida Department of Education, and the Florida Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR). As a result of this effort a line item was established in the state budget to provide $500,000 of state appropriated funds in FY2006 to support the expansion of HS/HT to 10 additional sites. The State Legislature approved reduced appropriations in FY2007, FY2008 and FY 2009 for the specific purpose of expanding HS/HT to additional sites and continuing existing sites. It is anticipated that FY 2010 funding will continue. Also as a result of this partnership, DVR provided $120,000 of its FY2008 funding to assist in supporting the 13 local HS/HT sites housed in six Independent Living Centers throughout the state.

The HS/HT program in Florida was one of three HS/HT states involved in the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration’s (ETA) Shared Youth Vision Initiative. In 2006, ETA issued guidance to One-Stop Centers emphasizing their responsibilities as they apply to youth, including youth with disabilities. ETA and many federal partners created a process to assist interested states in convening an interagency group to create a youth vision for the state and develop a strategy to move that vision forward. In 2007, ETA awarded grants to several states, including Workforce Florida, to target specific geographic areas within the state and specific populations of youth. The State Director for Florida HS/HT was an active member of the state team, Strengthening Youth Partnership. Florida received additional grants to continue moving forward. 

During the summer of 2008, the HS/HT Programs of the Center for Independent Living of North Central Florida (CILNCF) planned a large fundraising project and began a partnership with Contemporary Services Corporation (CSC) and the University of Florida (UF). CSC is an organization based in Orlando that provides crowd management and security services for the sports and entertainment industry throughout Florida and the United States. They also work with various groups and clubs to help them raise money for their programs. The HS/HT Programs raised money by collecting tickets at the entrance gates during the UF home football games. Between seven games and the Gator Growl, they raised over $4,000!  Funds raised helped pay for all six of the Kick-off events in 5 counties, workshop supplies, snacks, drinks and educational fieldtrips. In addition to ticket taking, they are now partnering with the Boston Culinary Institute, and have been working concession stands at the UF baseball and softball games; HS/HT receives 10% of the profits. 

The Broward HS/HT site recently received funding from the Anti-Tobacco Movement in Florida to launch an anti-tobacco program for students with disabilities. Students in HS/HT sites in Orange County, Brevard and Lake Counties receive an elective credit for their participation in HS/HT. These classes are during the school day as a regular designated class period or after school.

The Florida State Director, in collaboration with the National Collaborative for Workforce and Disability/Youth, has also been providing technical assistance to other states. She has worked closely with South Carolina’s Vocational Rehabilitation Department to establish the national model of HS/HT, developed by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) throughout the state. The State Workforce Investment Board provided $200,000 to initially start up 5 local sites. South Carolina is now working with 10 local sites and has served over 340 students.