Building Disability-Inclusive Talent Pipelines Through Apprenticeship: Inclusive Career Pathways Community of Practice

The apprenticeship system is growing, and represents a major opportunity for WIOA core partners and other stakeholders to expand the apprenticeship model to recruit and hire people with disabilities as a pipeline to diverse, new talent.

Background: Apprenticeship is a proven strategy to more efficiently connect workers with the skills they need to secure and keep good jobs in high-demand careers, and offers an ideal solution for the 68 percent of Americans with disabilities who are striving to work (Kessler Foundation, 2015).

Join us for an online presentation and discussion on May 14. You will hear from Representatives from the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) and Social Policy Research Associates (SPR), who will discuss the vision of inclusive apprenticeship as a key work-based solution for people with disabilities, introduce four recently selected pilot sites, and present the efforts that will take place over the next two years that aim to uncover new opportunities for jobseekers, and help companies recruit and hire people with disabilities as a pipeline to diverse, new talent.

You will also hear how WINTAC is supporting vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies in developing and implementing Apprenticeship Pilots as a method to increase opportunities for VR consumers to engage in high-growth careers through apprenticeship.

Presenters:

• Carolyn Jones, Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP)
• Vinz Koller, Social Policy Research Associates (SPR)
• Nikki Powis, WINTAC