Archived Webinars

This ExploreVR webinar will provide information about sector strategies and how they can assist VR agencies—including leaders, administrators, and counselors—in building resources for demand-driven employment opportunities for their job seekers. A sector strategy approach is a partnership of multiple employers within a critical industry that brings together education, economic development, workforce system, and community organizations to identify and collaboratively meet the workforce needs of that industry within a regional labor market. 

This ExploreVR webinar will provide an overview of business engagement competencies outlined in the ExploreVR Business Engagement Toolkit. Presenters will discuss three key competencies of VR business engagement:

1. Labor market needs
2. Communication strategies
3. Internal management strategies

This ExploreVR webinar is for current and future VR leaders who want to discuss leadership-level engagement in the VR agencies' use of Labor Market Information (LMI). This topic is increasingly important given the passage of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).

Topics include:

Vocational rehabilitation counselors (VRCs) play an essential role in facilitating reasonable accommodation outcomes between job-seekers/employees and employers. In individual cases, the VRC can help build the job-seeker/employee’s confidence in requesting reasonable accommodation. For employers making commitments toward more diverse and inclusive workplaces, the VRC can serve as a collaborative partner to meet those goals. 

Vocational rehabilitation counselors (VRCs) play an essential role in facilitating reasonable accommodation outcomes between job-seekers/employees and employers. In individual cases, the VRC can help build the job-seeker/employee’s confidence in requesting reasonable accommodation. For employers making commitments toward more diverse and inclusive workplaces, the VRC can serve as a collaborative partner to meet those goals. 

This webinar will feature two presenters, Kathy Powers, Vice-President of Services at ORION Industries in Auburn, WA, and and Kelly Walling, Partner Resources Associate Sr. at the Carson Valley Roasting Plant & Distribution Center, one of Starbucks Coffee Company’s largest plants in Carson City, NV. 

This webinar will provide Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) agencies with an overview of the National Employment Team (NET) and the Talent Acquisition Portal (TAP). Kathleen West-Evans, Director of Business Relations at the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation, will discuss how the NET and TAP are building relationships with businesses that contribute to career planning and VR employment outcomes. 

This webinar will examine the value of Labor Market Information (LMI) as it applies to national workforce job-driven initiatives around preparing youth and adults with disabilities for work. This presentation will focus on how vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies use LMI throughout various levels of the agency to inform their work with consumers and businesses. Presenters will define and discuss the impacts of traditional and real-time LMI, as well as LMI gathered from the field.  

This webinar will define the concept of Customized Training (CT) as it applies to national workforce job-driven initiatives around preparing youth and adults with disabilities for work. This presentation will focus on current VR Customized Training models and practices that demonstrate VR collaboration with employers and other community partners. These partnerships and training programs help to fulfill employer or industry needs for skilled workers and can provide positive employment opportunities for VR consumers. 

Debra Pizzuto, David Tripp, Michael Gabriel, and Caw-Tep Sylvia from the Hoopa-Yurok Vocational Rehabilitation Program will present on the Hoopa-Yurok VR program’s involvement with the ICI Learning Collaborative, and their work on developing a consumer-driven re-entry program. A foundation of culture evolves through respect, and it also defines the Hoopa-Yurok consumer driven re-entry model. The Hoopa-Yurok's concept of respect is rooted in and drawn from the traditions of their river people in the mountains of northwestern California.