This brief describes how administrators and policymakers can use the concepts of youth development and youth 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 Youth Leadership, A Background Paper,…

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…

The National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth (NCWD/Youth) has defined the workforce development system as organizations at the national, state, and local levels that have direct responsibility for planning and allocating resources (both public and private), providing administrative oversight, and operating programs to assist…

In this guide, transition is defined as the period of time when adolescents are moving into adulthood. This guide is designed to (a) help youth and the adults who work with them understand the role of assessment in transition and (b) describe ways to collect and use data that will lead to informed choices based on accurate assessment of each…

This paper provides baseline information for the National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth (NCWD/Youth) to fulfill its overall mission: To ensure that youth with disabilities are provided full access to high quality services in integrated settings in order to maximize their opportunity for employment and independent living. It…

A piece of civil rights legislation, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) guarantees students with disabilities a free appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment and authorizes appropriations of billions of dollars in funding to states and school districts to assist them in providing special…

Well-supported employer participation is essential to successful workforce development programs. The Workforce Investment Act (WIA), which funds a system of programs throughout the country that assist individuals, including youth with disabilities, in overcoming barriers to employment through job training and placement, gave heightened attention…

All effective youth programs have youth development at their core. Effective youth leadership programs build on solid youth development principles, with an emphasis on those areas of development and program components that support youth leadership. This paper has been created by the National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth…

This document provides an overview and analysis of how a series of national conferences held in the fall of 2003 framed conversations around high schools and high-school-age youth This analysis explores the underlying assumptions of these frameworks and the extent to which they coalesced or diverged. The report also examines the content of the…