Hello all,
 
I am passing along information on an  interesting webinar.
 
      


      05/27/2008      
Webinar Invitation
Integrating the  Disability Perspective into the WIRED Framework 
The 21st century global  economy demands a more highly educated workforce 
equipped with the skills  to ensure career opportunities for American workers and 
to make America's  businesses competitive in a global market. As we seek to 
develop America's  talent to meet the recruitment and retention needs of the 
21st  century workforce, we need to ensure that people with disabilities are  
included in the WIRED strategies to create pipeline hires. The workforce  system 
needs to promote the employment of people with disabilities in jobs  which 
provide career lattices and a variety of STEM and other high-growth,  high-tec
hnology sectors at the regional, state, and local levels. This  Webinar will 
discuss strategies to show how the "disability perspective"  can be integrated 
into the WIRED framework. 

   Presenters:  Randee Chafkin, Senior Program Specialist for  Disability 
Programs
Joseph Carbonne, President and CEO,  The WorkPlace, Inc., Connecticut
Judy Emery, Director,  Colorado WIN Partners  Moderator:  Randee Chafkin, 
Senior Program Specialist for Disability  Programs  Date:  06/12/2008  Time:  
2:00pm Eastern (1:00pm/Central, 12:00pm/Mountain,  11:00am/Pacific)  Length:  90 
minutes
 
Description:
The US Department of Labor, Employment  and Training Administration (ETA), 
has implemented an Initiative called  Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic 
Development (WIRED). WIRED is a  framework to transform the workforce system 
and regional economies by  stressing the critical role of talent development, 
integrating economic  and workforce development activities, and leveraging 
public and private  resources to drive economic transformation in regional 
economies across  the United States. The Disabilities Unit, Division of Adult 
Services,  Office of Workforce Investment, ETA has developed a template for  
integrating the "disability perspective" into the WIRED framework. This  template is 
not only applicable to people with disabilities, but also to  the other 
"targeted" populations (Youth, Older Workers, Ex-Offender, TANF,  ESL, Indian and 
Native Americans, Migrant and Seasonal Farm Workers  populations). Consider the 
following:  
    *   There are 33 million working age people (19.4 percent of the  
population), ages 16-64, with disabilities. Of those, 55.8 percent are  employed and 
70 percent want to work;  
    *   Students with disabilities are at greatest risk of dropping out of  
school; only 57 percent of youth with disabilities graduated with a  regular 
diploma. Jobs in today's economy increasingly require  specialized skills; 90 
percent of the fastest growing jobs require  education and training past high 
school. 
Regional economies cannot continue to be economically viable, grow, and  be 
competitive in the global marketplace if they do not tap into their  largely 
untapped labor pools-people with disabilities. People with  disabilities need to 
have lifelong learning opportunities and careers so  they can financially 
contribute to the economic vitality of their regional  communities by paying 
taxes, starting small businesses, and ceasing to  rely on public benefits. 
Innovation is the key to helping an economy which  is facing lower labor force 
participation; this will include new technical  advances and increased participation 
by untapped labor pools, including  people with disabilities, to assist in 
offsetting the decline in  participation and boost productivity. Identifying and 
leveraging regional  resources are critical components of the WIRED 
Initiative's 6-Step  process. This process needs to include disability-related 
resources  already devoted to assessment, education, training, talent development,  
job development/placement, and support for people with disabilities  provided by 
the disability services sector and generic resources. These  regional 
resources (e.g., Social Security Administration, Department of  Education-Vocational 
Rehabilitation, Health and Human Services, Housing  and Urban Development, 
Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of  Transportation, etc.) have the 
potential to be significant resources for  economies and should be part of their 
regional economic development and  investment strategies.  
ETA has funded two pilot projects that incorporate this "disability  
perspective" into their WIRED framework. Learn about the Denver Metro  WIRED and 
Southwestern Connecticut Regions' innovative strategies to  include people with 
disabilities and disability resources in their plans  for regional economic 
development. Learn how you can incorporate these  strategies in your WIRED Region's 
plans. 
 
Register Now!!!
Registration  for this Webinar is limited and seating is on a first-come, 
first-served  basis. Please click the link below to login to Workforce3 One  and 
register today!
_http://www.workforce3one.org/public/webinars/details.cfm?id=272_ 
(http://www.workforce3one.org/public/webinars/details.cfm?id=272)      
(http://www.doleta.gov/) 
If you are deaf, hard-of-hearing, or have  speech disabilities and captioning 
would facilitate your  participation in this Webinar, you can register for 
captioning  service through the Federal Relay Conference Captioning. Please note 
 the Federal Relay Service requires at least 48 hours notice (2  working 
days) to guarantee coverage. For more information, visit 
_http://www.workforce3one.org/support/index.cfm?id=940_ 
(http://www.workforce3one.org/support/index.cfm?id=940) .  



Thanks,
 
Rochelle
 
 
 
Rochelle Kenyon
Moderator, NIFL/LINCS Learning Disabilities Discussion  List
Center for Literacy Studies at the University of Tennessee
_RKenyon721 at aol.com_ (mailto:RKenyon721 at aol.com)  

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