Job-Driven VRTAC

North Dakota Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (NDDVR) is working to enhance partnerships with business by raising awareness of VR’s business services and how VR can help business with their employment needs. NDDVR is improving their use of labor market information (LMI) to advance clients’ understanding of the job market and potential for employment.

Pennsylvania’s Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (PA OVR) initiated two job-driven projects as part of the Job-Driven VR Technical Assistance Center (JD-VRTAC). For the first project, the results of a preliminary staff survey informed a training curriculum on how to integrate labor market information (LMI) into the VR process. For the second project, the results of a business roundtable helped shape a training curriculum informed a training curriculum on engaging businesses to hire minors.

The US Department of Labor (DOL) Registered Apprenticeship (RA) program provides a unique, flexible training system that combines job related technical instruction with structured on-the-job learning experiences. This “Earn and Learn” training model is highly active in traditional industries such as construction and manufacturing, but it is also instrumental in the training and development of emerging industries such as healthcare, energy, and information technology.

Are you new to business engagement and/or job development? Even if you’re an experienced rehabilitation professional, it’s natural to be apprehensive about your new role. This webinar will offer you strategies for making connections with employers in both formal and informal situations. We’ll also share ideas to help you understand employers’ business needs, and respond to concerns and misunderstandings they may have about employing people with disabilities.

Upon completion of this webinar, you will be able to:

This webinar will focus on how vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies can identify and use labor market information (LMI) to benefit clients. Libin Zhang and Rick Kugler from the Institute for Community Inclusion will discuss uses and misuses of LMI. Lindy Foley from Nebraska VR and Rob Hines from the Washington VR will explain their agencies’ experiences incorporating LMI into VR practice with clients.

The goals of this webinar are to:

In Part 2 of this ExploreVR webinar, Mark Harniss and Maria Kelley from the University of Washington Center for Technology and Disability Studies will identify different types of assistive technologies to address executive function and emotional support for people with mental health conditions.