White House Seeks Nominations for Champions of Change for Disability Employment — Due September 14

As part of the Champions of Change initiative, the White House is seeking nominations for leaders in the disability employment arena who have worked to provide employment opportunities for workers with disabilities, including those with significant disabilities. Types of nominees may include small business owners, or managers within medium or large employers, who have developed effective initiatives to hire and retain workers with disabilities; entrepreneurs with significant disabilities who have established successful businesses and are now employing others; leaders within companies or organizations who have disclosed hidden disabilities and have initiated efforts to educate others about the employment of people with disabilities; public/private partnerships that have developed effective collaborative initiatives focused on increasing competitive integrated employment for people with disabilities, and any other leaders who work to ensure that individuals with disabilities can succeed in good jobs and careers. Nominations are due by midnight on Sunday, September 14, 2014.

EEOC Issues Part II of FY 2011 and Part I of FY 2012 Annual Report on Federal Work Force

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has released the second part of its “Annual Report on the Federal Work Force Part II: Work Force Statistics, Fiscal Year (FY) 2011” (Part II) and the first part of its “Annual Report on the Federal Work Force Part I: Complaints Processing Statistics FY 2012” (Part I). Part II advises the President and Congress on the state of equal employment opportunity (EEO) in the federal sector and contains a summary of selected federal agency EEO program activities, including work force profiles of 65 agencies. Agency profiles contained in Part II highlight work force participation rates by race, gender, national origin and individuals with targeted disabilities, as well as the breakdown for major occupational categories. The report shows that the number of federal employees with targeted disabilities rose to 0.90% after a consecutive 10-year decline, followed by three years of holding steady at 0.88%. The report covers the period from October 1, 2010 through September 30, 2011.

Employer Assistance and Resource Network Publishes Resource on the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

The Employer Assistance and Resource Network (EARN) has published a resource for employers on the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). It provides an overview of the law as well as links to information on the WIOA pages of the Department of Labor and the Department of Education websites.

LEAD Center to Host Webinar on Improving Services for All Job Seekers by Improving Services to Customers with Disabilities — September 16, 3:00-4:30 PM EDT

The new Workforce Innovation and Opportunities Act (WIOA) places a greater emphasis on serving all job seekers — regardless of the ability. This focus will not only improve services to individuals with disabilities, but also will help strengthen overall program outcomes. And, there are new professional development funds available to help ensure that organizations are in compliance. In this webinar, “Improving Services for All Job Seekers by Improving Services to Customers with Disabilities” participants will learn about the new legislative requirements under WIOA that relate to accessibility, how to tap into existing technical assistance, partnerships and resources, and more. The webinar will be held September 16, 3:00-4:30 PM EDT. It will be captioned and presentation materials will be sent to participants in advance of the webinar. For any other reasonable accommodation requests, please contact Brittany Taylor at btaylor@ndi-inc.org.

LEAD Center Releases August Issue of Policy Update — Employment, Health Care and Disability

The LEAD Center’s Policy Update — Employment, Health Care and Disability provides policymakers, disability service professionals, individuals with disabilities and their families with information about relevant policy developments regarding Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act and related topics, with a focus on improving employment outcomes for individuals with disabilities. The latest update features stories on CMS guidance on FLSA regulation changes, an update on various states’ implementations of HCBS settings regulations, a newly released toolbox for states on Medicaid expansion and much more.