School-to-Work Program In Trouble

From The Arc of Washington State:
DVR plans to cancel much needed program
School-to-Work (STW) has been a long time collaboration among the DSHS Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR), local school districts, employment agencies, and 7 county DD programs to ensure students with significant developmental disabilities successfully transition from school to the workforce.

The main reason STW has been successful is it was an organized process of all parties working together. (DVR, employment providers, schools, families, students with disabilities and counties)

DVR has decided to cancel this program with no plans to replicate this process to ensure the success of students with significant disabilities obtaining employment.

Please ask Governor Inslee and his Public Policy Advisor, Jason McGill, to direct DVR to reconsider their decision or establish something that ensures students with significant disabilities are not left behind.

If you or someone you know has used this program or if you are planning to in the near future, please share your story.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Unfortunately, given the current political situation, this will be only the beginning of state shortfalls for social programs. More is on the way as witnessed by Trump's spending priorities. Sure, Congress might differ from Trump, but it too is aligned on cutting human service dollars (along with environmental). It's going to be a numbers game in legislature. Great programs funding relatively few citizens are going to be cut to the bone. Considering Inslee is getting slapped by our state Court for not handling mental health issues, and considering McCleary is looming, and the writing is on the wall for expanded Medicaid dollars being slashed, our disabled population is in a world of hurt.

Sure, campaign for better in our state. But more strategically, talk to friends and family in states that voted red and see if you can get traction. It happens one conversation at a time.

EdVoter
2/28/17, 8:58 AM
Unknown said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
3/1/17, 9:51 AM
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