Policymakers

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:

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.

Policymakers

Career Preparation

Apprenticeship

Youth Supplemental Security Income Recipients

Additional Resources