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Improving VR Outcomes for Out-of-School Youth Involved in the Justice and/or Foster Care Systems

Overview

During this 3-year project, the Yang-Tan Institute conducted mixed methods, exploratory research to learn how the public Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program can effectively serve out-of-school youth (ages 16–24) with intellectual, developmental, and mental health disabilities who are involved in the justice and/or foster care systems, ultimately contributing to the outcome domain of employment.

Systems-involved youth are less likely to access VR services and more likely to experience skills gaps due to educational interruptions, digital divides, systems avoidance, and other factors.

The goals and objectives of the study were to:

  • Explore issues of population identification, outreach, and service delivery from both practitioners’ and youths’ perspectives.
  • Determine VR practitioners’ utilization of evidence-based, culturally appropriate interagency approaches towards identification, outreach, and service for these populations.
  • Increase understanding of the experiences of system-involved out-of-school youth with disabilities in accessing and benefiting from VR services
  • Identify effective approaches for connecting out-of-school youth, and their families, with VR services to improve employment outcomes.

Project activities

Outputs from this grant included a practitioner-oriented toolkit and CRCC-accredited webinar trainings for practitioners that serve these populations across diverse youth-serving agencies. These outputs brought together evidence from three primary research activities:

  • Focus groups and interviews with out-of-school youth and their families as well as with VR and other service professionals (e.g., justice and foster care personnel)
  • A follow-up survey to obtain quantitative data about VR experiences across these four types of stakeholders
  • Secondary data analysis of the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA-911) data set to identify trends and promising practices for increasing employment outcomes for systems-involved populations.

A brief produced from this work, Job Training for Justice-Impacted New Yorkers with Disabilities: Interagency Coordination between Corrections and Vocational Rehabilitation, is available.

Continuing work

Work on this grant was completed in Fall of 2024. YTI is continuing its work in this area with a specific emphasis on New York State and employer/business perspectives, through recently awarded funding from Cornell ILR’s Center for Applied Research on Work (CAROW) WorkABILITY Incubator.

More information

For more about these and other YTI projects centering on justice-impacted youth and adults with disabilities, go to the Y-Reconnects website.

Contact information

Matthew Saleh
Email: mcs378@cornell.edu

Funding agencies

Original project: US Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Community Living

Principal investigator

Original project: Matthew Saleh (PI), LaWanda Cook and Leslie Shaw (Co-PIs)
CAROW project: Jennifer Brooks and Matthew Saleh (Co-PIs)

Collaborating partners

Original project: Connecticut Bureau of Rehabilitation Services