With only 47% of Gen Z youth saying that they had enough information to decide what postsecondary pathway was right for them, it’s clear that navigating life after high school can be difficult. This is even more true for young people with disabilities. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the 2024 unemployment rate for people with a disability was about twice that of those with no disability. This disparity emphasizes why it’s crucial for learners with disabilities to have opportunities to access career-connected learning, mentorship and counseling services, and work-based learning experiences.
October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) — a time to acknowledge the achievements, history, and contributions by workers in the disability community. In recognition of this month, we wanted to shine a light on the need to ensure that learners with disabilities have the tools and knowledge they need to make confident, informed decisions about their futures. It’s because of these beliefs that we’re proud to support organizations like Partners for Youth with Disabilities, Uplift Education, and CAST, Inc. that are committed to setting students with disabilities up for success by providing opportunities to learn more about themselves and their career and postsecondary options.
Counseling, Careers, and Care
Partners for Youth with Disabilities is an organization that aims to break down barriers and provide support and resources for young people with disabilities through mentorship, career development, and leadership programs. In addition to directly helping young people with career exploration and planning, they also provide customized audits, consulting, and training modules on disability inclusion for organizations to ensure that workplaces are accessible.
“Career Readiness empowers transition-age youth with disabilities with skills to increase employment opportunities through academic learning, mentoring, and real-world experiences. Last year, 67% percent of students secured an employment experience utilizing the knowledge and skills obtained through participation in the Career Readiness Program, compared to a national employment average of 22% for people with disabilities.” — Joanna Dumas, Assistant Director of Grants and Data Management, Partners for Youth with Disabilities
With the grant from Britebound™, Partners for Youth with Disabilities is expanding their school year-long Career Readiness program to Braintree, Somerville, Brookline, and Quincy, providing skill development an hands on learning to more youth with disabilities.
Guiding Students on the Road to College and Careers
Uplift Education is the largest public charter school network in North Texas that encourages students to focus on the future by equipping them with the tools they need to succeed in college, work, and beyond. With an additional focus on social-emotional learning (SEL), Uplift hopes to provide scholars with the tools necessary to become mature and compassionate people both inside and outside the workplace.
“We are incredibly excited to grow and deepen the impact of our Uplift Road to College and Career program. With the support of Britebound, we are now better equipped to serve scholars with learning differences — ensuring that every scholar, including those with diverse learning needs, has a pathway to success beyond high school. This work will have a lasting impact not just on the scholars directly served, but on how we champion inclusive college and career readiness across our entire network.” — Abby Kaiser, Senior Director of College and Career Preparation at Uplift Education
The grant from Britebound will support a pilot for a specialized Road to College & Career (RTCC) program focused on specialized populations, with a focus on learners with severe disabilities. Uplift’s RTCC program provides career exposure and experiential learning, college fairs and campus visits, customized help in choosing the right postsecondary pathway, and alumni success counselors and career centers to help their learners navigate life after they graduate.
Expanding Representation of People With Disabilities in STEM
It’s crucial that all students have equal access to education, including career-connected learning. CAST aims to break down barriers and ensure that all learning experiences are represented in school, work, and beyond through their Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Based on the belief that no two brains are the same, the UDL framework aims to help educators better plan for diverse learners through engagement, representation, action, and expression.
“Britebound’s support has allowed us to expand our efforts to bring career connected learning in emerging STEM industries to populations underrepresented in those industries including people with disabilities, multilingual youth, youth from underserved rural communities and youth of color.
Through a co-design process working with young people and educators, we will refine a web-based eportfolio and simulated work-based learning opportunities and pilot them broadly. Future-forward fields such as biomanufacturing and nano-technology are focused on innovations to solve problems and meet needs. We innovate more successfully when we include all populations in our workforce.
In biomanufacturing, for example, where solutions are created for people experiencing disability or disease, the perspectives of people with disabilities provides a better grasp on needs and more perspectives on what problems really need to be solved and how those solutions should look in practice.” — Sam Johnston, Chief Postsecondary and Workforce Development Officer, CAST
With the grant from Britebound, CAST will work to expand representation of people with disabilities in advanced manufacturing industries, such as biomanufacturing and nano technology.
Britebound is proud to support organizations that are committed to breaking down barriers and ensuring that students with disabilities access quality career-connected learning opportunities.
