State Leaders Innovation Institute to Expand Employment for Adults with Disabilities. The NTAR Leadership Center has competitively selected three states -- Connecticut, Maryland, and Minnesota -- for participation in an intensive 15-month Leadership Institute. The NTAR Leadership Center will devote resources to assisting these states to become the nation's leading examples for pioneering models to promote employment for adults with disabilities by enhancing partnerships with statewide workforce development and economic development efforts. The NTAR Leadership Center will provide research and technical assistance geared to each state's specific challenges.

State Peer Learning Network. The State Peer Learning Network will facilitate information exchange, continuous learning, and the sharing of promising practices and strategies for a select group of state policymakers interested in putting these practices to work. Technical assistance as well as access to topical teleconferences, webinars, and virtual seminars will be available through the NTAR Leadership Center.

Virtual Leadership Institute. Recognizing the importance of leadership development to promoting systems change, a virtual leadership institute (VLI) will be offered to an audience of government and public- and private-sector leaders through a series of quarterly webcasts. The VLI will assist participants in setting active goals and enhancing organizational performance in order to improve outcomes for individuals with disabilities along with building a network of peers.

Knowledge Development and Dissemination. The NTAR Leadership Center will conduct research driven by the needs of policymakers and practitioners, including a national study of emerging trends in disability employment state policy and practice.

Knowledge Exchange. The NTAR Leadership Center website will serve as a vehicle for knowledge exchange and information sharing, and will provide users with information, research, and learning tools needed to design policies and partnerships that strengthen state and local leadership efforts to improve the employment and economic self-sufficiency of people with disabilities.