MDC's mission is to help organizations and communities close the gaps that separate people from opportunity. The organization has been working to create positive change in disadvantaged communities for 40 years--by conducting research and demonstrating effective programs at the community level. MDC focuses on three areas: education, economic and…

The monograph describes 11 exemplary programs selected in 1987 by the J. M. (Jeremiah Milbank) Foundation from 154 programs providing vocational services to persons with disabilities. Programs were selected in four categories: community-based work adjustment, consortium-based transition, supported work in small communities, and work services for…

Discusses selected activities of six community education-work councils sponsored by the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges (AACJC). Suggests ways of increasing planning effectiveness to colleges interested in initiating a council and cites AACJC reports on the program. (AYC)

A community based (Conejo Valley, California) vocational program was designed to give handicapped junior and senior high school students a variety of real world experiences in the natural setting. Advantages of the community based approach include immediate transfer of learning, opportunities for generalization, provision of role models by other…

This paper is a product of Project COMPETE, a service demonstration project undertaken for the purpose of developing and validating a model and training sequence to improve transition services for moderately, severely, and profoundly retarded youth. The paper examines the need for cooperative programming across agencies serving this population and…

The State Center for Services for the Visually Impaired in Schleswig (Germany) provides intensive counseling and support to students with visual impairments in transition between school and career. The community-based program promotes vocational and social integration of these individuals through organization of a model vocational counseling…

This report describes 38 model school-business partnerships that are being conducted in South Carolina. The 38 reports were gathered from 24 school districts and 3 statewide projects. Criteria for selection were that the partnerships must be in some way exemplary of the program and the school district must have reported in some detail their…

Project COMPETE (Community-based Model for Public School Exit and Transition to Employment) was a model demonstration project designed to develop linkages between public schools and community rehabilitation agencies, in order to provide work training to severely handicapped youth, aged 16-22. The schools took on responsibility for providing…

This report describes a pilot program of the New South Wales (Australia) Department of Education to develop community transition teams as part of an effort to provide transition education to people with disabilities. The project is based on a model developed in Oregon and stresses assisting each community to work cooperatively to assess local…

This guide is intended to provide basic information about the transition from school to work for handicapped students. The guide contains articles by educators and copies of newsletters related to handicapped students and school-to-work transitions, along with descriptions of various transition programs. The following are included in the book's…

The Black Hills Special Services Cooperative provides innovative and model practices for serving individuals with disabilities in a rural area of South Dakota. This article reviews the program's history and background, curriculum development, evaluation, and transitional and supported employment utilizing an entrepreneurial model of partnerships…

The Basic Educational Skills Training (BEST) workplace literacy demonstration model was designed to provide adult basic education (ABE) services simultaneously for multiple employers in Maury County, Tennessee. The BEST model focused on job-related instruction. The goal of the program was to achieve increased safety, productivity, and employee…

The Youth Offender Demonstration Project (YODP) combined oversight of youth offenders with services to support youth offenders' passage into the word of work by providing recommended social development strategies for youth offenders. YODP demonstration projects were funded in the following categories: (1) model community projects; (2) education…

This guide describes the partnerships created by the Bay State Skills Corporation, which successfully united more than 100 people from government, education, and the private sector to train 332 people for jobs averaging $6.27 per hour to start; it also provides guidelines for establishing similar programs. The guide contains seven chapters. The…

A study examined the impacts of different education and training (E&T) assignments in Ohio's Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) Training Program on the employment and earnings of Aid to Families with Dependent Children recipients who became mandatory JOBS clients in 1989 or 1990. Data on the JOBS assignments and earnings and employment…