Career Preparation
Young people benefit substantially from timely career-preparation and work-based learning opportunities that allow them to explore career interests and develop soft and hard job skills. These opportunities can take the form of job shadowing, internships, pre-apprenticeships, apprenticeships and summer work experiences. State career-preparation and work-based learning programs include summer work programs and transition camps.
Apprenticeship
ODEP's apprenticeship initiative focused on increasing systems capacity to provide apprenticeship training to youth and young adults with a full range of disabilities, including those with the most significant disabilities, and to utilize the increased flexibilities detailed in DOL's apprenticeship regulations, 29 CFR Part 29, issued in 2008.
- This Training and Employment Notice No. 04-15 provides information and resources on promising strategies to promote the participation of youth and adults with disabilities in registered apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeship.
- Toolkit:
- Introduction to the Apprenticeship Toolkit: Youth with Disabilities Entering the Workplace through Apprenticeship [PDF]
- Module 1: Understanding Apprenticeship Basics [PDF]
- Module 2: Preparing Youth and Young Adults for Apprenticeship Programs [PDF]
- Module 3: Increasing the Participation of Young Adults with Disabilities in Apprenticeship Programs
- Module 4: Establishing New Apprenticeship Programs [PDF]
- Module 5: What Apprenticeship Employers Need to Know About Working with Young Adults with Disabilities [PDF]
- Module 6: Looking to Future Opportunities In Apprenticeship [PDF]
Youth Supplemental Security Income Recipients
ODEP funded the Evaluation of Initiatives to Improve Adult Outcomes and Employment Opportunities for Young Recipients of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) to help identify where and how to best build on existing research and lessons from the field and to identify new and follow-up research questions and promising models or strategies that could be tested for assisting youth SSI recipients and those at risk of receiving SSI benefits with the transition to sustained, gainful employment.
- Topical Webinars
- Benefits Counseling as a Tool to Improve Employment Outcomes for Youth Who Receive Supplemental Security Income [Recording]
Part 1 of this five-part webinar series explores how benefits counseling, when paired with other interventions, can improve employment outcomes for young people with disabilities. - Employment Options for Youth SSI Recipients [Recording]
Part 2 of this five-part webinar series showcases viable employment services and pre-employment transition services for youth recipients of Supplemental Security Income. - Innovations in Education for Youth Recipients of Supplemental Security Income [Recording]
Part 3 of this five-part webinar series highlights education interventions that engage students, families, and professionals and promote the seamless transition from school to work. - Innovative Strategies to Improve Outcomes for SSI Youth Recipients: Case Examples from the PROMISE Model Demonstration Projects [Recording]
Part 4 of this five-part series highlights three projects from the Promoting Readiness of Minors in SSI (PROMISE) Model Demonstration to share interventions tested and experiences with what works to improve the education, employment and financial outcomes of youth SSI recipients. - Innovations for Youth Recipients of Supplemental Security Income [Recording]
Part 5 of this five-part series provides an overview of the activities and findings of the SSI youth project, including the experiences of and key lessons from the project's Community of Practice.
- Benefits Counseling as a Tool to Improve Employment Outcomes for Youth Who Receive Supplemental Security Income [Recording]
Additional Resources
- Training and Employment Notice for the Soft Skills Curriculum
- Skills to Pay the Bills
- Healthy Transitions: A Pathway to Employment for Youth with Chronic Health Conditions and Other Disabilities [PDF]
- Supporting Employment for Young Adults Living with Mental Health Conditions [PDF]
- Individualized Learning Plans Fact Sheet [PDF]