WorkAdvance is a sectoral workforce development program designed to meet the needs of workers and employers alike. For unemployed and low-wage working adults, the program provides skills training in targeted sectors that have good-quality job openings with room for advancement within established career pathways. For employers in those sectors,…

Traditional employment often excludes those individuals with severe and moderate mental retardation. This paper describes three strategies that can be used by employment specialists and one strategy that can be used by job coaches in obtaining and maintaining employment for mentally retarded adults, using the supported competitive employment…

Project Senior Abilities (PSA) demonstrated and evaluated the concept that the needs and talents of older workers (over 55) can be matched with specific job requirements. An industrial advisory board identified occupational categories in the local economy which met the criteria of being temporary in nature with limited career opportunities and…

The three projects examined in this paper are the Work Link/Project R.E.S.P.E.C.T. program in St. Louis and Seattle's Individualized Placement efforts and Office Occupations sector project. These are programs that have focused their efforts on the difficult goal of high retention. All have managed to place and keep between half and about…

Since 1970, Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW), in Washington, D.C., has conducted programs to train and place disadvantaged women in nontraditional jobs. The results have been record-breaking: high placement rates, high job retention rates, good starting salaries, and upward mobility for women who seemed doomed to a life of poverty and…

This study is an evaluation of the Youth Employment and Demonstration Projects Act (YEDPA) which was in effect from 1977-1981. The first chapter summarizes the youth employment problem and draws conclusions and makes recommendations based upon the data in the report. The next chapter draws a detailed picture of the youth unemployment problem,…

This article describes a comprehensive transition program for students with mild disabilities. The program revolves around a classroom-based employability skills curriculum taught over a semester's duration. Four program components are addressed: employability skills training, family involvement, adult agency referral, and on-the-job support. (CR)

Describes the background to the 1994 Reemployment Act, finding a need for the act in the current economic environment and increase in laid off workers resulting from automation. Describes key elements of the act, including the comprehensive dislocated workers initiative and competitive grants to operate universal one-stop career counseling and…

The federally mandated welfare program Jobs Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) was preceded in Kansas by KANWORK, a pilot effort in four counties designed to initiate job preparedness and esteem-building programs. KANWORK, which was to be mandatory for certain public assistance recipients, included education, job skills training, job readiness…

The National Women's Employment and Education project (NWEE), sponsored by the Women's Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor, was a fast-paced effort designed to serve 20 women each month, 240 each year. The training concept was quite different from traditional programs in that NWEE's thrust was to move women quickly into jobs. The program…

This paper reports the results of a Neighborhood Youth Corps (NYC) prospective study, which are based on program-sourced information and second-round followup interviews with study subjects. The primary hypothesis that the NYC programs studied had helped enrollees achieve satisfactory adjustment to life and to the world of work was not confirmed,…

A study was conducted to determine how job clubs help two-year college students with learning disabilities improve their job-seeking skills and knowledge of the world of work in preparation for making a successful transition from school to work. The approach was based on a previous demonstration project in which job clubs showed promising results…

ITALY AND AMERICA, WHICH HAVE SIMILAR PATTERNS OF URBAN IMMIGRATION, FACE THE CHALLENGES OF EFFICIENTLY MAKING UNTRAINED MANPOWER INDUSTRIALLY PRODUCTIVE AND REDUCING POVERTY. THUS, THE UNITED STATES MIGHT WELL HEED ITALY'S RESPONSE TO THAT CHALLENGE BY ESTABLISHING A NATIONAL SYSTEM OF VOCATIONAL TRAINING SCHOOLS WHICH, THROUGH CLOSE COOPERATION…

Successful transition from trainee status to worker status has been shown to be dependent on three factors: adequate skill training, adequate placement opportunities, and appropriate Job Readiness Posture (JRP). The Vocational Opinion Index Transition System (VOITS) was designed to help trainees develop appropriate Job Readiness Posture during…

This article describes the Bay Area Personnel System, a consultative resource program which provides supported employment services for individuals with dual sensory impairments (and often severe mental retardation). A case study details a specific instructional mobility program, focusing on job tasks at a pizza restaurant and instructional…