Building Equity into the Talent Pipeline: Innovative Strategies to Support Career and Workforce Readiness for Individuals with Disabilities
Policy Forum
Join us for a special discussion with Honorable Taryn Mackenzie Williams, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Disability Employment Policy. Hon. Williams will share federal program efforts to support workforce transitions among individuals with disabilities. Dr. Laura Owens, president of TransCen and Lori Cooney, Program Director for Inclusive Education and Curriculum Design at UMass Boston will describe interventions for individuals with disabilities from two ends of the talent pipeline – design strategies for integrated employment for young adults and a technology platform to support career awareness among elementary grade students. Amanda Winters from the National Governors Association will comment on state interest for adopting innovative employment strategies and Dr. Kimberly Howard will comment the importance of career development at the elementary school level.
Time: Nov 3, 2022 02:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)
An optional additional 30 minutes from 3:00-3:30 is allocated for follow up discussion.
This Policy Forum is part of a series conducted by the Coalition for Career Development Center in collaboration with Wheelock College of Education and Human Development’s Center for Future Readiness.
To attend the event, please register here.
Special Guest
Honorable Taryn Mackenzie Williams is Assistant Secretary of Labor for Disability Employment Policy. In this position, she advises the Secretary of Labor on how the Department’s policies and programs impact the employment of people with disabilities and leads the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), which works with employers and all levels of government to promote evidence-based policy that improves employment opportunities and outcomes for people with disabilities.
Previously, Hon. Williams was the managing director for the Poverty to Prosperity Program at American Progress, which works on progressive policies focused on a broad range of anti-poverty strategies. Before joining American Progress, she worked at ODEP on a variety of issues related to education, workforce policy, Social Security, Medicaid and civil rights. In her role as director of youth policy, Williams led agency efforts to coordinate education and employment policy in support of improved labor force outcomes for disabled youth. From 2014 through 2016, Hon. Williams served as ODEP’s chief of staff. She also undertook detail assignments as associate director for public engagement and liaison to the disability community at the White House from 2014 through 2015 and as a policy adviser on the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions from 2012 through 2013.
Featured Panelists
Laura Owens is President of TransCen and has over 30 years of experience as a national leader in the disability employment field. Dr. Owens is also Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the Exceptional Education Department where she teaches courses focusing on high school inclusion and transition from school to work. She is also the founder and President of Creative Employment Opportunities, Inc. (CEO), in Milwaukee. Dr. Owens will be share recent TransCen efforts centered around her passion for designing integrated employment opportunities for citizens with disabilities. She is an internationally known speaker having presented to businesses, organizations, schools, and at conferences in Israel, Ireland, Croatia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Chile, and Portugal.
Lori Cooney is a Program Director, Inclusive Education & Curriculum Design, at the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) at UMass Boston. She coordinates a Federal Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) grant for Future Quest Island, a fully accessible college and career readiness gaming adventure for elementary and middle school students. Lori has over 25 years of extensive experience in designing and delivering professional development on inclusive design, universal design for learning (UDL), accessibility, curriculum development, course design, instructional technology, college and career readiness, portfolios, personalized learning plans, STEAM, game-based accessibility, ‘Possible Selves’ framework, and assessment strategies.
Lori works across multiple projects on the Education & Transition Team as a technical training advisor on inclusive education and curriculum design. She has delivered professional development to universities, nonprofits, and companies on inclusive design strategies throughout the United States, Japan, Uruguay, Canada, China, Europe, and the United Kingdom. Additionally, Ms. Cooney facilitates the Technology and UDL Affinity Group for Think College’s National Coordinating Center for Transition to Postsecondary Education Programs (TPSID).
Lori has received the esteemed MassCUE Pathfinder Award (2012), a Technology Humanist Award from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and is recognized as a Christa McAuliffe Teacher by the Challenger Learning Center at Framingham State University.
Discussants
Amanda Winters serves is a program director in the National Governors Association where she serves as an adviser to state leaders on post-secondary and workforce policies with a special emphasis on equity and work-based learning. Ms. Winters is also a founding member of the Coalition for Career Development Center Board. She is also working on projects examining state longitudinal data systems, short term credentials, occupational licensure, state higher ed oversight and connecting education and work. She is working with colleagues and collaborative partners to expand the post-secondary portfolio of the NGA Center in response to the needs of states.
Cohosts
Eva Mitchell is Chief Program Officer for the Coalition for Career Development. Previously, Ms. Mitchell served as Chief of the Division of Accountability where she was responsible for Transformation Schools, the ESSER funding strategy, and the Office of Data and Accountability. Ms. Mitchell previously served as the Associate Commissioner for District and School Accountability at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, where she worked on policy development and implementation of the Act Relative to the Achievement Gap, the state Accountability and Assistance Framework, qualitative and quantitative district and school reviews, and state receivership. Prior to that, she was Senior Lead at the Governor’s Office of Educational Quality and Accountability.
Scott Solberg is a professor in the Counseling Psychology & Applied Human Development Department at BU Wheelock College of Education & Human Development, Co-Director for the BU Center for Future Readiness and Vice President for Research for the Coalition for Career Development Center. He works internationally and nationally on the design, implementation, and evaluation of effective career development programs and services, especially for high-need youth populations, including youth with disabilities. His most recent publications with the CCD Center include an inaugural report on the Condition of Career Readiness in the United States and a national framework for career and workforce readiness and social emotional learning in collaboration with CASEL and Civic.
To attend the event, please register here.