Maine’s Pathways to Partnerships Project proposes a new model that leverages the expertise and fiscal and staffing resources of the Maine Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, the Maine Department of Education (MDOE) and Alpha One – Maine’s Center for Independent Living (CIL) and partners with three Local Educational Agencies as pilot sites with the goal of development of a collaborative innovative systemic model to effectively improve transition services across agencies to increase CIE for children and youth with disabilities in Maine.
In 2016, Maine DVR was awarded a Disability Innovation Fund grant by RSA to implement and evaluate the Transition Work Based Learning Model Demonstration (TWBL). Under P2P, Maine DVR will use that learning in partnership with MDOE, CIL, Division for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Career and Technical Education, Maine Parent Federation, Maine Department of Health and Human Services’ Offices of Child and Family Services and Aging and Disability Services, Benefits Counseling Services, State Workforce Board, Center for Workforce Research & Information, Maine’s Children’s Cabinet, youth with disabilities, and more to achieve five primary objectives: (1) Launch of a web-based sustainable site to serve as a primary hub for cross-agency transition information, training, and learning opportunities across the state, (2) Development of accessible on-demand curricula on transition topics (including benefits counseling, financial literacy, Pre-Employment Transition Services, etc.) for a wide range of stakeholders including children, parents, educators, and service providers, (3) Enrollment of participants in virtual services including career exploration, peer mentoring, independent living skill building and Pre-Employment Transition Services, (4) Increased stakeholder knowledge of work incentives and benefits counseling for individuals who receive Social Security benefits, (5) Increased awareness and use of work-based learning, internships, pre-apprenticeship, and Registered Apprenticeship – for children ages 10-13 and youth ages 14-24 as well as educators, families, service providers and other stakeholders.’
- Project Title: Maine’s Pathway to Partnerships Innovative Model Demonstration Project
- Funding Amount: $7,632,256 (H421E230028)
- Project Director: Libby Stone-Sterling
- RSA Project Officer: Cassandra Shoffler