August 8, 2016 at 3:12 p.m.
Let's get to work project celebrates success
Let's get to work project celebrates success
Funded by the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Wisconsin was one of eight states awarded a Partnership in Employment grant. The Wisconsin project was able to find paid, community employment for 89 percent of participating youth.
"Working with our partners, this project proved that schools can implement real-world solutions to significantly improve the quality of life of students with disabilities with increased community employment and participation," Jenny Neugart, Let's Get to Work (LGTW) Project Director, said in a press release. "When all partners are successfully collaborating, students get jobs!"
"Schools did a tremendous job increasing the inclusion of their students in academic courses and extra-curricular activities using many creative strategies." Citing statistics from the project, Neugart said, "The baseline from the project start was 43 percent of student activities were in restrictive settings and 48 percent were integrated in the community. By the final year of the project, only 17 percent of student activities were restrictive and 71 percent were integrated."
Recently, the Let's Get to Work pilot schools were recognized by Dept. of Public Instruction Assistant State Superintendent Carolyn Stanford Taylor for their accomplishments in changing the lives of youth with disabilities in Wisconsin. School pilot sites were Grafton, Holmen, Luxemburg-Casco/Algoma/Kewaunee, Manitowoc, New Auburn, Oconomowoc, Rhinelander, Stoughton, and West Allis/West Milwaukee.
The Wisconsin Board for People with Developmental Disabilities (BPDD) was the lead coordinating organization for the project along with Waisman Center-University Center for Excellence on Developmental Disabilities and Disability Rights Wisconsin. Let's Get to Work partnered with leadership at the following state agencies: the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, the Department of Health Services, and the Department of Public Instruction.
For more on Let's Get to Work, see: http://www.letsgettoworkwi.org/
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