A Five Year Retrospective on the Partnerships in Employment State Projects, Part II: South Carolina and Utah

Season 5, Episode 5 — 31 August 2021 About this episode The YES! Center’s Dale Verstegen, Sean Roy and Laura Owens fan out across the Partnerships in Employment states for a five year retrospective on the PIE state projects. We put four questions to each team: Why did your state apply for a PIE Grant?…

A Five Year Retrospective on the Partnerships in Employment State Projects, Part I: the District of Columbia, Kentucky and Massachusetts

Season 5, Episode 4 — 31 August 2021 About this episode The YES! Center’s Dale Verstegen, Sean Roy and Laura Owens fan out across the Partnerships in Employment states for a five year retrospective on the PIE state projects. We put four questions to each team: Why did your state apply for a PIE Grant?…

Ohio’s Multi-Agency Employment First Provider Transformation Initiative

Season 5, Episode 2 — 31 August 2021 About this episode Dale Verstegen, state liaison for the YES! Center, talks with Keith Banner, Katie Blumhorst, Stacy Collins, Alex Corwin and Kelly Schuck, part of the team behind Ohio’s multi-agency Employment First Provider Transformation Initiative. They discuss how they have created an integrated approach for transformation…

Reflections on the work of the Youth Employment Solutions (YES) Center

Over the course of the past five years, the Youth Employment Services (YES!) Center has provided high-impact technical assistance with Partnerships in Employment (PIE) state grantees funded by the Administration on Disabilities (AoD) to support systems-change efforts focused on improving competitive, integrated employment (CIE) outcomes for transition-aged youth and young adults with intellectual and developmental…

Josh’s Journey

Josh’s Journey

My name is Josh, and I am 25 years old. I graduated from the Life Design program in the Jordan School district in West Jordan, Utah. I graduated in 2019 when I was 22 years old.  All through school, I had two jobs!  When I was 16, I got a job retrieving carts, bagging groceries,…

Supports that young adults with serious mental health conditions need to succeed in school, training, or work

Prior research tells us that young adults (ages 16–25) with serious mental health conditions (SMHC) struggle to persist in their education, training, and employment pursuits. Common reasons for why they struggle are often based on mistaken and harmful stereotypes that young adults in general are lazy, or that young adults with SMHC are not as…

Employer Engagement Blog

Do You Want to Know? How have employers hired individuals with disabilities during COVID? What is a Disability:IN affiliate and how do they support these efforts? How can you leverage an affiliate to support your placement efforts? The Employer Engagement for the YES Center webinar on July 28th featured employers from Disability:IN DC Metro and…