Center for Workforce Development

For two decades, the Center has helped public and private sector leaders promote career readiness and successful transitions to adulthood for all youth (with a special focus on youth with disabilities and other disconnected youth) by increasing the capacity of and connections among all stakeholders in the workforce development system.

This Center’s research, training and technical assistance focuses on:

Assisting educators, workforce development professionals, employers, and policy makers in bridging school and workplace, learning and earning;
Establishing standards, assessments, and tools to improve quality and connections;
Improving the involvement and relationship of employers to learning enterprises and the workforce development system; and,
Promoting the development of career pathways for youth development staff.

Major initiatives of the Center for Workforce Development include:
	The National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth, now in its 10th year, assists state and local workforce development systems to better serve all youth, including youth with disabilities and other disconnected youth. NCWD/Youth is a national Technical Assistance Center funded by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy.
	The Ready to Achieve Mentoring Program (RAMP), supported by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, is a high tech, career-focused mentoring program in 12 sites across the country for youth with disabilities involved with, or at-risk of becoming involved with, the juvenile justice system.
	The National Consortium on Leadership and Disability for Youth, helps young people in the disability community grow their leadership capabilities and influence the programs designed to serve their needs. NCLD/Y has a four-pronged focus: 1) developing youth leaders; 2) building the capacity of centers for independent living to support those youth leaders; 3) strengthening the capacity of staff working directly with these youth; and, 4) supporting youth with disabilities-related organizations.
	The Professional Development Initiative, identifies the knowledge, skills, and abilities that professionals working directly with youth need to better connect all young people to education, workforce, and independent living opportunities and builds the capacity of these youth service professionals to affect positive outcomes for all youth, including those with disabilities.
	DC Advocacy Partners is a nine-month leadership training program designed to develop and train self-advocates and family members of children with intellectual/developmental disabilities in the policymaking, influencing and implementing processes. DC AP's goal is to empower a core group of district residents to work with policy makers to improve policies, programs and services for people with intellectual/developmental disabilities in the District of Columbia. The program is funded by a grant from the DC Developmental Disabilities Council (DDC).