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August 9, 2010
The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) has announced today the availability of approximately $22 million for cooperative agreements to state Workforce Investment Act (WIA) administering entities.


The Combined Appropriation Act of 2010, Division D of Public Law 111-117, included $12 million in funds to ETA and $12 million to ODEP to develop and implement a plan for improving effective and meaningful participation of persons with disabilities in the workforce.


The Department expects to award approximately six to ten cooperative agreements ranging from $1.5 million to $6 million.


Applicants should request an amount within this funding range proportionate to the needs and relative size of their project. Applications requesting funds exceeding the amount specified above will be found non-responsive and will not be considered.


    This funding is being used to implement the Disability Employment Initiative (DEI) designed to:
  • Improve educational, training, and employment opportunities and outcomes of youth and adults with disabilities who are unemployed, underemployed and/or receiving Social Security disability benefits;
  • Replicate and continue the promising practices of the Disability Program Navigator (DPN) Initiative(including the effective deployment of a dedicated staff with expertise in disability and workforce, as well as other promising practices in the One-Stop Career Centers
  • Help these individuals with disabilities find a path into the middle class through exemplary and model service delivery by the public workforce system. DEI grants will be awarded for a three year period of performance.

    At a minimum, applicants must identify at least two of the following seven strategic components as significant elements of the service delivery approach for the youth or adult population to be served. Some of these strategies are not mutually exclusive nor are they always distinct or separate activities. These are practices and strategies that have been identified through both ETA and ODEP grant initiatives in increasing education and employment outcomes of the population to be served:
  • Integrated Resource Teams (IRT)
  • Integrating Resources and Services, Blending and Braiding Funds, Leveraging Resources
  • Customized Employment
  • Self-Employment
  • Guideposts for Success
  • Asset Development Strategies
  • Partnerships and Collaboration
  • The closing date for applications is September 8, 2010.
    Click here for full background and application requirements.


July 7, 2010
The US DOL/ETA has just issued TEN 1-10 , Release and availability of an ETA quantitative evaluation report, "Use of One-Stops by Social Security Disability Beneficiaries in Four States Implementing Disability Program Navigator (DPN) Initiatives."


ETA contracted out with Mathematica Policy Research (MPR), Inc. to conduct a quantitative evaluation of the DPN initiative through the use of the One-Stop Career Center system by Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) beneficiaries. The study was conducted in Colorado, Iowa, Maryland, and Oregon, which were early implementers of the DPN Initiative and were willing to share their Workforce Investment Act adult and dislocated worker and Wagner-Peyser data base information for program years 2002-2007. The data runs were matched with the SSI and SSDI Ticket to Work records system.


May 2010
Evaluation Report on the Number of Social Security Disability Beneficiaries Being Served by the One-Stops in Four DPN States
The purpose of this report was to conduct a quantitative evaluation of the Disability Program Navigator (DPN) initiative through the use of the One-Stop Career Center system by Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) beneficiaries. The study was conducted with Colorado, Iowa, Maryland, and Oregon which were early implementation States.

    Key findings include:
  • One-Stop Career Centers are serving a very large share of persons receiving SSA disability benefits and the public workforce system is providing important support for SSA disability beneficiaries who want to work
  • SA beneficiaries who used One-Stop services achieved positive employment outcomes.

Welcome to ETA's Disabilities Program home page, Disability Online. The Disabilities Program develops and implements workforce disability policy and program initiatives to address structural, programmatic, and systemic employment barriers for people with disabilities. The Disabilities Program supports the New Freedom Initiative to improve career and employment outcomes for people with disabilities through: 1) inter-and intra-agency collaborations and partnerships; 2) demand-driven initiatives responding to employers' recruitment and retention needs; 3) training and technical assistance; 4) legislative and regulatory, policy, and operations analysis; and 5) other activities that lead to systemic improvement. The Disabilities Program's goal is to provide the greatest opportunity for job seekers and employees with disabilities to achieve employment and economic self-sufficiency through the One Stop Career Center system by utilizing the principles of self-determination, informed choice, integration, and inclusion.

Grant Programs


DPN Evaluations

Disability Program Navigator Initiative

Disability Program Navigator Initiative - ETA and SSA are jointly funding the DPN Initiative in 42 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the United States Virgin Islands where SSA implemented employment support initiatives. This Initiative promotes comprehensive services and work incentive information for SSA beneficiaries and other people with disabilities, through the One Stop system. The Initiative focuses on developing new and ongoing partnerships to achieve seamless, comprehensive, and integrated access to services, creating systemic change, and expanding the workforce development system's capacity to serve customers with disabilities and employers.

Disaster Recovery and Emergency Preparedness Resources

This web page provides information on federal government resources to support individuals and communities in Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Recovery.

Connecting the Pieces of the Employment Puzzle

A Workforce3One.org Community

Navigating the services and resources available for assisting people with disabilities to obtain quality employment is like fitting together the pieces of a puzzle. America cannot successfully compete in a global economy without fully engaging the 33 million working-age people with disabilities in our workforce. As we meet our goal of "Good Jobs for Everyone," the public workforce system needs to expand its capacity to provide integrated, seamless, and accessible services and programs to people with disabilities and/or other challenges to employment. To achieve this goal and building upon lessons learned from the Employment and Training Administration's Disability Program Navigator (DPN) initiative, the workforce system is collaborating with a wide range of partners to help people with disabilities obtain meaningful and effective employment opportunities.

Disability Videos


Video Serving People with Disabilities in
One Stop Career Centers
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