State Leaders Innovation Institute Kicks Off

With support from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy, the NTAR Leadership Center to Promote Employment Opportunities for Adults with Disabilities (NTAR Leadership Center), hosted the first State Leaders Innovation Institute (SLII) meeting at the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development from July 28-30, 2008.

Cross-agency state teams from Connecticut, Maryland, and Minnesota met in New Brunswick, NJ for the Institute’s official kick off. Earlier in the year, the governors from these three states selected team leaders and core team members who would commit to developing action plans and beginning to implement specific projects designed to improve employment prospects for adults with disabilities by integrating disability employment with broader state workforce and economic development efforts. Team members included representatives from governors’ offices, state departments of economic development, labor, vocational rehabilitation, housing, transportation, corrections, and other agencies, state and local Workforce Investment Boards, as well as advocacy groups.

Key goals of the July meeting were to provide the three state teams with an opportunity to meet away from the distractions of their daily work and to allow them to share experiences with their peers from other states. Though much of the time was spent with the teams meeting on their own, highlights of the event also included:

• ODEP Assistant Secretary Neil Romano, who was on hand for the opening plenary session;
• A discussion with state economic development officials moderated by Carl Van Horn of the Heldrich Center;
• Presentations by the Aspen Institute on sector strategies, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce on its disabilityworks efforts in the healthcare sector, and by CESSI on the new Ticket To Work; and
• A visit to Merrill Lynch’s midtown conference center in New York City to discuss efforts by financial sector companies to recruit adults with disabilities

Under the leadership of Chris Tymniak, Governor Jodi Rell’s representative, and Joyce Barcley of The WorkPlace Inc., the Connecticut Team brainstormed on ways to build on current Connecticut initiatives such as Connectability.

Secretary of the Department of Disabilities Cathy Raggio and Secretary of Labor Tom Perez chaired the Maryland team’s effort to include a disability perspective in the state’s official Base Realignment and Closing (BRAC) plans, which are geared toward preparing Maryland for as many as 60,000 new jobs over the next decade.

Kathy Sweeney, Director of Strategic Projects at the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), facilitated her team’s efforts to expand a manufacturing camp model for adults with disabilities and to improve communications strategies and outreach to employers.

To support their work, teams had access to various facilitators and content consultants including Tari Hartman Squire, EINSOF Communications; Christopher King, Ray Marshall Center; presenters Linda Dworak Munoz, Aspen Institute and Karen McCullow, disabilityworks; Steve Miranda, SHRM; and John Dorrer, Maine Department of Labor.

The event was also the occasion for the first meetings of the NTAR Leadership Center’s National Technical Assistance (TA) Advisory Panel and the National Research Advisory Panel. The TA Panel will provide support and guidance to the states teams participating in the SLII as well as in a newly created State Peer Leaders Network. The Research Panel discussed topics for its forthcoming series of Issue Briefs. Click here for additional information.

For additional information, please contact: Kathy Krepcio (Krepcio@rci.rutgers.edu) or Maria Heidkamp (heidkamp@rci.rutgers.edu).