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Briefs

• Info Briefs
• Policy Briefs
• Research Briefs

Info Briefs

These concise documents are tailored to specific audiences and address issues around access, policy, and practice.
(Read Acrobat Help below for assistance with PDF files.)

• Successful Transition Models for Youth with Mental Health Needs: A Guide for Workforce Professionals
  Issue 23, May 2009
  view issue 23 in Adobe PDF or view Issue 23 in MS Word
  This InfoBrief describes the systems’ service barriers faced by youth with mental health needs as they reach adulthood, while highlighting new models and strategies designed to break down those barriers and help them to transition successfully into the workplace.
• Graduation Requirements and Diploma Options for Students with Disabilities: What Families and Advocates Need to Know
  Issue 22, May 2009
  view issue 22 in Adobe PDF or view Issue 22 in MS Word
  This InfoBrief explores the importance of making informed decisions about diploma options, understanding the consequences of graduating with different types of diplomas as well as the need for youth, families, and Individual Education Program (IEP) teams to consider these issues early.
• Youth and Disability Disclosure: The Role of Families and Advocates
  Issue 21, May 2008
  view issue 21 in Adobe PDF or view Issue 21 in MS Word
  This InfoBrief highlights NCWD-Youth’s The 411 on Disability Disclosure, and explores the role families and advocates play in helping youth understand the importance of appropriate disability disclosure.
• Vocational Assessment and Its Role in Career Planning
  Issue 20, May 2008
  view issue 20 in Adobe PDF or view Issue 20 in MS Word
  This information brief discusses career planning and vocational assessment for transition-age youth.
• The Workforce Development System & the Professional Development of Youth Service Practitioners: Why Professional Development?
  Issue 19, February 2006
  view issue 19 in Adobe PDF or view Issue 19 in MS Word
  This information brief identifies the benefits to the workforce development system, youth, and the community gained through the professional development of youth service practitioners, including a five-step plan for policymakers interested in supporting the professional development of youth service practitioners in their local areas.
• Blending and Braiding Funds and Resources: The Intermediary as Facilitator
  Issue 18, January 2006
  view issue 18 in Adobe PDF or view Issue 18 in MS Word
  This brief focuses on how intermediary organizations can facilitate the blending and braiding of funds and resources to encourage cross-systems collaboration and, in turn, to improve the educational and employment outcomes for all youth, including those with disabilities. This brief identifies strategies that states can use to support local communities in the “blending” and “braiding” of resources, and outlines how cross-systems collaboration and alternative funding strategies can be facilitated by intermediary organizations.
• Facilitating Employer Engagement among WIB Partners: A Role for Intermediaries
  Issue 17, November 2005
  view issue 17 in Adobe PDF or view Issue 17 in MS Word
  This brief focuses on how Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) can ensure strong business leadership roles in their state and local workforce systems by creating and fostering intermediaries that effectively link employers with One-Stops and their partners.
• Financial Literacy Information for Young People with Disabilities
  Issue 16, November 2005
  view issue 16 in Adobe PDF or view Issue 16 in MS Word
  This brief describes the federal and state initiatives that provide financial literacy information for young people with disabilities to learn how to save money and build assets.
• New Departments Address Disability Issues
  Issue 15, March 2005
  view issue 15 in Adobe PDF or view Issue 15 in MS Word
  This brief describes the new federal and state programs and agencies that provide services for people with disabilities to live independent and productive lives.
• Breaking Down Technological Barriers
  Issue 14, March 2005
  view issue 14 in Adobe PDF or view Issue 14 in MS Word
  This brief describes assistive technology and accessible information and gives policymakers information on federal and state accessibility legislation, laws and requirements.
• The Right Connections: Navigating the Workforce Development System
  Issue 13, February 2005
  view issue 13 in Adobe PDF or view Issue 13 in MS Word
  This publication is for administrators and youth service practitioners who provide programming to young people and want to connect their programs to the workforce development system.
• Strategies for Youth Workforce Programs to Become Employer-Friendly Intermediaries
  Issue 12, January 2005
  view issue 12 in Adobe PDF or view Issue 12 in MS Word
  This brief focuses on how youth-serving organizations can become more effective as intermediary linkages between youth and employers by adopting certain practices. This brief offers basic employer -friendly strategies that will assist intermediaries and their representatives in making productive connections with employer customers that can result in successful work experiences for youth. Increasingly, state and local workforce boards and their youth-service-providing partners are realizing the need to assess their capacities and strategies to link with and provide supports to employers.
• Youth Development and Leadership in Programs
  Issue 11, January 2005
  view issue 11 in Adobe PDF or view Issue 11 in MS Word
  This brief describes how administrators and policymakers can use the concepts of youth development and leadership in developing and administering programs that serve all youth and activities specifically geared toward youth with disabilities. The brief is based on a longer paper, Youth Development and Leadership, A White Paper , published by The National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth.
• IDEA Revised
  Issue 10, December 2004
  view issue 10 in Adobe PDF or view Issue 10 in MS Word
  After three years of intense debate and compromise, America’s federal statute governing special education has been revised, enacted and, for the most part, will take effect July 2005. The revisions of IDEA contained in the new law, Public Law 108-446, build on and more closely align IDEA with the No Child Left Behind Act. They also modify important requirements around individualized student planning, transition, litigation, and due process protections, monitoring and enforcement, and federal funding. This publication is a summary of some of the major provisions in the new law.
• Disability Inquiries
  Issue 9, October 2004
  view issue 9 in Adobe PDF or view Issue 9 in MS Word
  This publication is for those working in One-Stop centers as well as youth and adult service providers who interact with individuals with disabilities. It is designed to help clarify what you can and cannot ask about someone's disability.
• Making the Connections: Growing and Supporting New Organizations: Intermediaries
  Issue 8, May 2004
  view issue 8 in Adobe PDF or view Issue 8 in MS Word
  The Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) of the US Department of Labor (DOL) is testing a new organizational strategy — intermediary organizations. By aligning and brokering multiple services across institutional and funding sources, intermediary organizations can play an important role in improving employment outcomes for youth with disabilities while at the same time assisting employers in meeting their need for qualified skilled workers. This brief is for policymakers and program managers at the state and community level that are involved in developing intermediaries.
• Math, Science, and Technology: Essential Skills for Career Success in the 21st Century
  Issue 7, December 2003
  view issue 7 in Adobe PDF or view Issue 7 in MS Word
  This information brief focuses on targeted career planning efforts for youth. The brief provides basic information on math, science, and technology as a fundamental need in our day-to-day lives, and highlights suggested academic coursework to better prepare young adults for the top growing careers.
• Personal Assistance Services on the Job
  Issue 6, October 2003
  view issue 6 in Adobe PDF or view Issue 6 in MS Word
  Personal assistance services (PAS) help people with disabilities perform tasks that they otherwise would be able to performedif they did not have a disability. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), employers may be able to provide personal assistance services as "reasonable accommodations" to help employees with disabilities achieve employment goals.
• California Workforce Inclusion Act
  Issue 5, October 2003
  view issue 5 in Adobe PDF or view Issue 5 in MS Word
  This landmark legislation, enacted in California in 2002, provides a comprehensive framework for employment supports for people with disabilities.
• Serving Youth with Disabilities Under the Workforce Investment Act of 1998: The Basics
  Issue 4, September 2003
  view Issue 4 in Adobe PDF or view Issue 4 in MS Word
  The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 is a piece of legislation that focuses on workforce development and employment services for both adults and youth. This brief gives information on the applications of the WIA to youth with disabilities, families, and service providers.
• How Can Young People Benefit from One-Stop Centers
  Issue 3, September 2002
  view Issue 3 in Adobe PDF or view Issue 3 in MS Word
  Created by The Workforce Investment Act of 1998, One-Stop Centers provides resources to assist with the step by step process of finding a job. This issue provides information about One-Stop Centers and how the services at One-Stop Centers can help youth enter the workforce.
• High School/High Tech
  Issue 2, September 2002
  view Issue 2 in Adobe PDF or view Issue 2 in MS Word
  This brief details information from a variety of sources, including the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Monthly Labor Review, which point to increasing expansion in technology career fields and explains what this means for HS/HT programs
• Introduction to NCWD/Youth
  Issue 1, May 2002
  view Issue 1 in Adobe PDF or view Issue 1 in MS Word
  The first information brief provided by NCWD/Youth outlines why the Collaborative was formed, what organizations are involved and how NCWD/Youth can help youth with disabilities.

Policy Briefs

• Performance Measurement In The New Workforce Development Environment: A Background Paper
  Performance Measurement In The New Workforce Development Environment in Adobe PDF
  Performance Measurement In The New Workforce Development Environment in MS Word
  This Policy Brief offers a simple primer for the dialogue based on a review of the literature; that is, it is a descriptive background paper about WIA’s performance measurement requirements, including those of the mandated partners.  The paper is organized to offer a common understanding of key terminology and then briefly describes the history of performance accountability in the workforce development system beginning with the Government Performance and Results Act through the current push toward common measures across programs.
  

  Performance Measurement Key Terminology
  Performance Measurement Key Terminology in Adobe PDF
  Performance Measurement Key Terminology in MS Word
  Oftentimes, the words, performance measures, performance standards and performance indicators are used interchangeably and incorrectly.  This short paper discusses the correct uses of key terminology.

Research Briefs

• Building Lasting Connections to Employers: Developing Community-Wide Intermediaries
  Building Lasting Connections to Employers: Developing Community-Wide Intermediaries in Adobe Acrobat format or
  Building Lasting Connections to Employers: Developing Community-Wide Intermediaries in Microsoft Word format
  This research brief focuses a new type of organization which is changing how employers are engaged in workforce investment. These organizations operate as community-wide intermediaries, linking an array of service providers to businesses and to each other.