July 2012
Welcome to Live.WORK.Achieve, a monthly e-newsletter
targeting anyone interested in and supportive of employment for youth and young
adults with intellectual/developmental disabilities. Live.WORK.Achieve is
offered through the Institute for Disability Studies in collaboration with the
Mississippi Council on Developmental Disabilities and Disability
Rights Mississippi and includes resources and information on employment and
career development.
Inside this issue:
1)
Introduction to Live.WORK. Achieve
Listserv
The Consortium for the
Mississippi Partnerships for Employment (MSPE) project was established in June
2011. The Consortium developed and received a federal grant to direct a
state-level collaborative approach to improve employment outcomes for
Mississippi youth and young adults with intellectual/developmental
disabilities. Managing partners are the Mississippi Council on Developmental
Disabilities (MS CDD), Disability Rights Mississippi (DRMS) and The University
of Southern Mississippi Institute for Disability Studies (IDS), Mississippi’s
federally funded Developmental Disabilities Network. The goal of the MSPE
project is to build capacity across existing state services for sustainable
systems change that improve outcomes for youth and young adults with intellectual/developmental
disabilities seeking competitive employment in integrated settings.
Over the next five years, MSPE
will work to: 1)
develop and implement policies that support competitive employment outcomes for
youth and young adults with intellectual/developmental disabilities seeking
competitive employment in integrated settings; 2)
develop innovative strategies to remove systemic barriers to competitive
employment in integrated settings; 3)
identify and implement strategies and best practices that improve employment
outcomes for youth and young adults with intellectual/developmental
disabilities; 4) enhance statewide
collaborations that can facilitate the transition process from secondary and
post-secondary schools or other pre-vocational training settings to competitive
employment in integrated settings; and 5) develop
and implement evaluation measures to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of
the project in meeting its goal and objectives.
You are receiving the initial issue of the new
Live.WORK.Achieve listserv because of your interest and involvement in
employment issues for youth and young adults with intellectual/developmental
disabilities. This listserv will include information for self-advocates,
families and professionals and will evolve with the project, providing not only
project information but employment information. Please forward this email to
others you know who may be interested. Contact information is provided below. If you have resources or information you want to
share with others, please reply to this e-mail or contact Alma Ellis at aellis@ihl.state.ms.us.
***PLEASE
NOTE: If you are unable to access any of the links in Live.WORK.Achieve, please
make sure the entire link is highlighted. If a link is not highlighted,
please copy and paste the entire link into your Web browser.
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Live.WORK.Achieve is sponsored by the Mississippi
Partnerships for Employment (MSPE) for Youth and Young Adults with
Developmental Disabilities, Including Intellectual Disabilities project. MSPE
is funded by the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and is managed by the
Mississippi Council on Developmental Disabilities (MS CDD), Disability Rights
Mississippi (DRMS) and The University of Southern Mississippi Institute for
Disability Studies (IDS).