State of Oregon: EMPLOYMENT FIRST - Training and Technical Assistance

National Disability Employment Awareness Month lunch and learn series

National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) takes place in October. A series of events will be held on Tuesday October 4, 11, 18 and 25. The NDEAM 2022 theme is “Disability: Part of the Equity Equation." This recognizes the important role that people with disabilities have in making the nation's workforce diverse and inclusive.

NDEAM schedule flyer in English, Русский, Soomaali, Español, 简体中文, Tiếng Việt
ODDS Director's Message with full event details
Governor Brown’s National Disability Employment Awareness Month Proclamation

Innovation Grants

The Oregon Legislature awarded a Policy Option Package in the 2015-17 session for the Department of Human Services (DHS) to fund innovative Employment First projects to increase capacity throughout the state. The purpose of these grants is to expand efforts to increase competitive integrated employment opportunities for people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (I/DD).

List of grantees

Summer Work Experience

The Office of Developmental Disabilities Services, Vocational Rehabilitation and Oregon Department of Education issued a Request for Application (RFA) No. 4331 for Summer Work Experience Programs to fund pilot programs throughout the state aimed at giving youth with disabilities experience with summer work.

The goal is to develop a work experience program that increases job opportunities for young people with disabilities. This RFA is part of ongoing efforts in ODDS, VR and ODE to increase job opportunities for transition-age and high school youth. More information is in the following message:

Employment First: Summer Work Experience Opportunity Available

Local Employment First Teams

As part of the Employment First initiative, local leadership teams around the state started gathering in 2011. The strategy behind local teams started with the recognition that in order to implement Employment First successfully, efforts at the community level needed to be organized and supported. There are now more than 30 local Employment First teams in Oregon. A full list of teams, with contact information for team leads, is available online:

Local Employment First Team Contact List

In 2016-17, Employment First funded Community of Practice (CoP) webinars, a subject-based discussion series of topics. Each topic is featured in a two-hour session, which was recorded, and in an online ongoing discussion forum to allow access to the information and continue the conversation(s).

Archive of Community of Practice Webinars:

Title	Materials
9/28/2017 Webinar	2017 OR DHS EF TA Request Form
6/24/2017 Webinar	Innovative Solutions Out on the Streets
4/22/2017 Webinar	Engaging Families for Better Outcomes
3/9/2017 Webinar	Oregon EF CoP Making the Business Case for Hiring Oregon EF CoP Collaboration within EF Team Agencies Powerpoint
2/23/2017 Webinar	Recruit - Train - Retain CoP PP Final
1/5/2017 Webinar	Community of Practice Employment is Everyone’s Job Employment team collaboration and coordination Discovery FAQ Final-Community of Practice PP ODDS Services Flow Chart Youth and ODDS

Training and Technical Assistance Resources

Families/Self-Advocates

Employment Support Professionals

Service Coordinators and Personal Agents

Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors

List of VR I/DD Counselors, Education Transition Network Facilitators and ODDS Employment Specialists

EMPLOYMENT FIRST

Training and Technical Assistance

Innov​ation Grants

Summer Work Ex​​​​perience

Local Emp​loyment First Teams