HIGHLIGHTS
- Low-income youth and young adults with disabilities face challenges in transitioning to the workforce.
- The Equitable Transition Models (ETM) demonstration aims to address these challenges.
- Abt is leading the evaluation of the ETM demonstration.
PROJECT
Equitable Transition Models (ETM) Demonstration
The Challenge
Low-income youth and young adults with disabilities (Y&YAD) face a myriad of unique and challenging obstacles to improving their economic well-being, from experiencing homelessness to involvement with the justice system. They along with their families must navigate complex benefit and educational systems to acquire the necessary economic, educational, and health-related supports.
To address these challenges, the Equitable Transitions Models demonstration, funded by the Department of Labor (DOL) and its Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), will develop scalable strategies to improve employment and related outcomes for low-income Y&YAD. DOL’s Chief Evaluation Office and the Employment and Training Administration are sponsoring Abt, along with partners, to conduct the evaluation of the ETM.
The Approach
The Abt team, including partners Westat, Dr. Kelli Crane of the University of Maryland, Drs. Valerie Mazzotti and Karrie Shogren of the University of Kansas, and TranCen, a service provider for transitioning youth, will undertake a comprehensive and multifaceted approach. This includes:
- Conducting knowledge development activities to build a robust understanding of the barriers and opportunities within this demographic
- Designing and executing implementation, outcomes, and customer experience studies to identify best practices and generate evidence
- Performing an evaluability assessment to identify potential areas for future research
- Broadly disseminating findings to policymakers and practitioners for informed decision-making
The Results
Through this work, we will build the evidence of strategies to enable low-income Y&YAD to successfully transition into the workforce. The findings from this evaluation will be disseminated via reports, special topic briefs, and presentations, to ensure that policymakers, practitioners, and stakeholders have access to the knowledge and tools needed to support Y&YAD and their families effectively.