Resource

2013 LEAD Center Policy Roundtable Report – Making Collaboration Real

| Report/Brief

On July 17 and 18, 2013, the National Center on Leadership for the Employment and Economic Advancement of People with Disabilities (LEAD Center) hosted its first annual Policy Roundtable in Washington, D.C., that brought together federal agency leaders, state and local agency policymakers and practitioners and subject matter experts on cross-system collaboration.

The purpose of the roundtable was to build a progressive vision that promotes the effective leveraging of resources to improve employment and socioeconomic advancement of youth and adults with disabilities. The current federal approach is fragmented by individual agencies directed to work under distinctive policies and regulations, each critical to the support of individuals with disabilities but few coordinated across systems. Each system has a specific set of rules to determine eligibility for services and support, define scope of services and allocate resources. No single source or resource is able to respond effectively to the diverse needs of each individual with a disability, who often faces multiple barriers to employment. Coordination across systems is critical, but is seldom required through policy.

This report summarizes the roundtable discussions with recommendations to engage other federal agencies in a coordinated effort to improve integrated employment outcomes and economic advancement of youth and adults with disabilities.

You can also download materials from the Policy Roundtable, all of which led to the creation of the final report, available below.

  1. Annual Policy Roundtable Agenda
  2. Fact Sheets
    1. Definition of Terms
    2. Resources for Blending and/or Braiding
    3. Representative Examples of Strategies for Leveraging Resources across Service Delivery Systems to Promote Effective Practices that Lead to Integrated Employment & Socioeconomic Advancement of Individuals with Disabilities
    4. Decision Point Options for Blending and/or Braiding Resources and Cross System Collaboration
    5. Common Elements in Successful Case Examples
    6. Building a Roadmap at an Individual and Systems Level
  3. Background Paper (Making Collaboration Real)