2002 Leadership Challenges on Employment Policy
Audio Conference Series - June 27, 2002
WIA Coordination Strategies that Work
Featured speakers:
Moderator: Michael Morris
Director, RRTC on Workforce Investment and Employment Policy for Persons with Disabilities
Lisa Pote and Hazel Coleman
Nashville Career Advancement Center
Michelle Morehouse
Alaska Division of Vocational Rehabilitation
Kathleen Partington (invited)
Rhode Island Human Resource Investment Council
This presentation discusses:
- Effective Strategies to Enhance Universal Access to One-Stop Services
- Successful Approaches and Strategies to Effective One-Stop Coordination and Collaborations
The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 establishes comprehensive reform of existing Federal job training and employment support programs impacting service delivery under the Wagner Peyser Act, Adult Education and Literacy Act, and the Rehabilitation Act. The Act identifies a number of required partners in the One-Stop delivery system to create a seamless system with universal access for working age individuals with and without disabilities. For the first time, for many job seekers with disabilities, there are new possibilities of training, skill development, and other supportive services to be accessed through the One-Stop system.
States are now in their second year of implementation activities with decision-making being decentralized to local Workforce Investment Boards. The policy challenges cover a wide range of issues including cost sharing and service coordination for persons with disabilities negotiated among multiple mandated and non-mandated community partners.
In November, 2000, the U.S. Department of Labor funded the first round of Work Incentive Grants (WIGs) to increase access and effective participation of individuals with disabilities in the One-Stop delivery system. This audio conference will feature presentations from three WIG grantees who will highlight effective strategies that they have implemented to enhance universal access to One-Stop services. An emphasis will be placed on successful approaches to effective coordination among community partners, collaboration with vocational rehabilitation, and involvement of the employer community.