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PA Community on Transition

Collectively we are making a difference in the lives of youth, young adults and families across the state!

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Building Pennsylvania’s Community on Transition

• How can we collectively keep transition as a priority across all key stakeholder groups?

• Our focus since 1999 has been to build our community of practice around youth and young adults, with a vision to improve post-school outcomes.

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Pennsylvania’s Transition Community…A Rich History

• Pennsylvania’s transition community has had a rich history of dedication to assisting youth’s successful transition from school to adult life and we appreciate your dedication and passion ….some of us have been working for many years…some of us are new…

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So What Constitutes Pennsylvania’s Transition Community Today?• A Rich History

• 1999 IDEA Memorandum of Understanding which has set the stage for our community’s work

• A great synergy and sense of community in 2007

• Our Future Together through A Shared Agenda on Transition

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A Shared Vision & Common Ground

Today we have a shared vision and common ground among key stakeholders:

• All PA youth and young adults with disabilities will:

– successfully transition to the role of productive, participating adult citizens

– be empowered to recognize their talents, strengths and voice

– have equal access to resources that will promote full participation in the communities of their choice.

Core Values of the PA Community on Transition

• Diversity.• Key role of families and caregivers.• Youth driven policies and practices.• Evidence-based, consistent and quality-driven

practices leading to verifiable outcomes.• Understanding and respect for the roles,

responsibilities and viewpoints of stakeholders. • Positive impact on the lives of youth and young

adults with disabilities by sustained healthy honest relationships.

• Cross-stakeholder team environment of mutual respect and collaboration.

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Core Values of the PA Community on Transition (cont’d)

• Diverse viewpoints unified into a plan of action.• Creative thinking that challenges the status quo. • Higher expectations of all members of the

community.• Elimination of barriers across systems and in the

community through empathy, commitment and passion.

• Accountability to youth and young adults with disabilities.

• Creative and flexible resource management strategies.

• Celebrating successful youth outcomes! 7

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Let’s Take a Walk Down Memory Lane

Celebrating Our Work

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1999 – 2000

• The Transformational Process

• Compliance to Commitment

• PA IDEA Memorandum of Understanding Regional Training

• Promoting Effective Outcomes: A Cross-Systems Approach Regional Training

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2002• PA Office of Mental Health & Substance Abuse

Services: Transition Pilot Projects

• Regional Cross-Systems Training: Spring and Fall 2002 Sessions

• First Annual 2002 PA Transition Conference

• PA Bureau of Special Education Mini-Grants

• PA Office of Mental Retardation: Employment Coalitions

• PA Office of Children, Youth & Families: Impacting Policy & Practice

• 2002 PA Disability Mentoring Day

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2003

• 2nd Annual 2003 PA Transition Conference

• PA Signs on as First State of the National Community of Practice

• Regional Training: Building & Sustaining Local Transition Coordinating Councils & Teams

• Office of Vocational Rehabilitation Transition Projects

• 2003 PA Disability Mentoring Day

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2004

• Regional Capacity Building Sessions with Local Transition Councils & Teams

• Local Transition Coordinating Councils and Teams Development of Cross-System Portfolio Assessment Strategies: Regional Training, paired with Office of Vocational Rehabilitation Mini-Grants

• 3rd Annual 2004 PA Transition Conference

• 2004 PA Transition Communities of Practice: Reaching Our Outcomes Together Phase 4

• PA Dept. of Health: Cross-Systems Development of Transition Healthcare Checklist

• PA Youth Employment Expo

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2005• Spring 2005 Pennsylvania Longitudinal Transition Study

Focus Groups

• PA Community on Transition: State Leadership Team Strategic Planning

• PA State to National Work: The IDEA Partnership

• 2005 PA Community on Transition Conference & Kickoff of Practice Groups

• Fall 2005 Pennsylvania Transition Outcome and Issue Forums

• Office of Vocational Rehabilitation Transition to Employment Projects – Year 2

• PDE Community-Based Employment Grant

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2006

• Transition Healthcare Checklist published by the PA Dept. of Health

• Spring 2006 Regional Sessions: Expanding Capacity: Realizing Outcomes Regional Sessions

• PA Community on Transition Listserv launched, through sponsorship of the IDEA Partnership and Office of Special Education Programs

• PA Community on Transition web pages (www.sharedwork.org) launched, through sponsorship of the IDEA Partnership and Office of Special Education Programs

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2006

• Inception of the PA Youth Leadership Network (PYLN)

• 2006 PA Youth Outcome Expo

• PA Post-School Outcomes Data System (PaPODS) launched

• PDE Community-Based Employment Grants

• Expansion of Office of Mental Retardation Employment Coalitions

• 2006 PA Community on Transition Conference: Expanding Capacity: Realizing Outcomes

• Fall 2006 Regional Sessions: Aligning Accommodations & Supports

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2007

• Spring 2007 Transition Capacity Building Sessions: Building Business Partnerships to Improve Post-School Outcomes of Youth with Disabilities

• PA Post-School Outcomes Data System (PaPODS) expanded (now encompasses one-year follow-up)

• Extensive Indicator 13 Training for Educators

• PDE Community-Based Employment Grants

• PDE Community-Based Employment Grants to Serve Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders

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2007• Expansion of Office of Mental Retardation

Employment Coalitions

• Expansion of the Resources and Tools available on www.sharedwork.org/patransition

• Development and Implementation of A Shared Agenda on Transition, Pennsylvania’s unified transition strategic plan

• Creation of the Pennsylvania Local Transition Coordinating Council Alliance

• 2007 PA Community on Transition Forum: Expanding Outcomes through a Shared Agenda

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Pennsylvania’s Year-Round Transition Strategy

Building Our Capacity Together

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PA Transition State Leadership Team Supporting Our Year-Round Strategy

• Since 1999 at the state level, major efforts have been made to develop a unified plan for transition, resulting in the formation of the PA Community on Transition, supported by the Transition State Leadership Team (SLT).

• In a nutshell…our job is to support your work with youth and young adults and families!

IDEA Memorandum of Understanding: Foundation of the Creation of the Community

• Established by the Governor’s Executive Order dated 8/98 and titled, Interagency Committee to Coordinate Services Provided to Individuals with Disabilities, the IDEA Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) provides the springboard for the work of the PA Community on Transition - State Leadership Team. Comprised of key agency representatives, the State Leadership Team carries out the intent of the MOU, to improve coordination of services to children across the Commonwealth. (http://www.pde.state.pa.us/special_edu/lib/special_edu/semou.pdf).

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PA Transition State Leadership Team Mission

• The mission of the SLT is to build and support sustainable community partnerships that create opportunities for youth and young adults with disabilities to transition smoothly from secondary education to the post-secondary outcomes of competitive employment; education, training and lifelong learning; community participation; and healthy lifestyles. The foundation of our work depends on steadfast leadership, cross-system policy development and fidelity to evidence-based, quality-driven practices.

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Year-Round Strategy• The Pennsylvania Community on Transition has

been strengthened through a year-round strategy to connect our work. The statewide transition conference is used to spotlight program models and effective strategies in order to develop the full understanding and participation needed for the efforts to be replicated across the state.

• To create the opportunity to learn from one another, regional sessions and technical assistance are provided to local transition teams and stakeholders throughout the year.

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Year-Round Strategy

• As a result of our collaboration with the IDEA Partnership, new tools are available to promote ongoing and consistent communication of our community. This will expand our ability to work collaboratively to improve transition services and programs and to promote post-school outcomes of youth with disabilities.

National Community of Practice on Transition

• In 2004, Federal, states and local agencies came together around their shared interest in improving school and post-school outcomes for youth.  This community was launched at Pennsylvania’s transition conference!

• Today, four federal agencies, 10 states and many national organizations are joined in the community. 

• Please welcome the many members of the national community that are participating in the forum! 24

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Expanding Pennsylvania’s Transition Communication Network

As a result of our collaboration with the IDEA Partnership, the following tool is

now available to expand our capacity to realize successful post-school outcomes

of youth with disabilities.

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PA Community on Transition Listserv

• A LIST-SERVE has been created by the IDEA Partnership and will be supported by members of the State Leadership Team, in order to improve our state to local, local to state, and local to local communication for the PA Community on Transition. The purpose of this list-serve is to provide a simple E-mail forum for two-way communication, where we can share information and resources, post upcoming events and create a forum for the discussion of issues. To date, there are over 1,250 subscribers!

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PA Community on Transition Listserv

• To subscribe to the listserv send an email to listmgr@lists.nasdse.org with the following in the body of the email: Subscribe PACommunityOnTransition.

• Upon receipt of this email, the list server will add you to the distribution list and you will automatically receive a welcome message.

• If you have questions or problems with this listserv, please contact Rick Creech at rcreech@pattan.net.

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www.sharedwork.org Interactive Website

• www.sharedwork.org is a website funded by the U. S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and sponsored by the IDEA Partnership at the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE) for the purpose of connecting stakeholders in the national Communities of Practice (CoP), participating states’ community of practice and Practice Groups to develop their shared work.

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This website will be used to…

• Announce new products.

• Announce training events.

• Disseminate the results of state pilot projects.

• Share promising practices.

• Encourage local to local sharing.

• Seek input from the field on matters of shared interest.

• Gather input on the development of national, state, regional training and technical assistance efforts.

• Other opportunities that become evident as we communicate more routinely.  

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There are four features of each group page…

• What’s New

• Repository

• Discussion

• Email to Group

www.sharedwork.org/patransition

• Through the work of state and local stakeholders, many resources and tools have been posted on the www.sharedwork.org/patransition website on group pages within Pennsylvania’s site. Each group page provides an opportunity for ongoing communication and sharing among all transition stakeholders. New resources are added daily!

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Pennsylvania’s site includes the following public pages:

• Aligning Accommodations & Supports• Business Partnerships• Career Assessment• Employment• Healthy Lifestyles & Community Participation• Local Transition Coordinating Council Alliance• Mental Health• Post-Secondary Education & Training• Transition of Youth with Autism Spectrum

Disorder• Transportation• York County Transition Coordinating Council

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The Future of our Community

Pennsylvania’s Shared Agenda on Transition

Local Transition Coordinating Council Alliance

PA Youth Leadership Network

Continuation of Year-Round Strategy

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2006 Transition Memorandum of Understanding

• To deepen our state’s commitment to improving post-school outcomes of youth with disabilities, in the spring of 2006 the leadership of agencies party to the 1999 Individuals with Disabilities Memorandum of Understanding (IDEA MOU) developed and signed a Transition Memorandum of Understanding. This MOU is the foundation of A Shared Agenda on Transition, the roadmap to our future.

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PA Shared Agenda on Transition

• Sharing cost and utilization data.

• Using and strengthening the Pennsylvania Community on Transition (PACT) as the means to develop and sustain accountable, person-centered, and cost effective services and natural supports.

• Expanding our unified cross-stakeholder capacity building efforts.

• Supporting statewide, comprehensive systems change by adopting research/evidence based practices.

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PA Shared Agenda on Transition

• Identifying gaps and opportunities in services to proactively coordinate agency funding requests and jointly pursue public and private resources

• Continuously improving system performance through the use of post-school outcome reviews, strategic planning and integrated quality improvement initiatives.

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PA Shared Agenda on Transition

• “A Shared Agenda on Transition” has been developed as the Pennsylvania’s unified strategic plan for improving post-school outcomes of youth. The Shared Agenda was formalized by the PA Transition State Leadership Team at the Spring 2007 State Transition Capacity Building Institute of the National Secondary Transition Technical Assistance Center. See the Shared Agenda in this section of the binder.

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Building a Local Transition Coordinating Council Alliance

• There are over 70 Local Transition Coordinating Councils (LTCCs) operating across Pennsylvania. With cross-stakeholder representation, many meet several times throughout the year to share information and resources. Some Councils hold interagency staffings to identify potential supports and services that may be available for transitioning youth. Others focus on the development and delivery of projects, products and activities. These LTCCs hold a wealth of knowledge regarding effective practices to improve post-school outcomes of youth with disabilities within the Commonwealth.

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Benefiting from Each Other’s Work and Creativity

• In order to expand our collective knowledge and power to improve post-school outcomes, the SLT is partnering with LTCCs to form a Local Transition Coordinating Council Alliance to combine our community’s wealth of knowledge, experience and passion.

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PYLN Mission

• The PYLN is a group of young adults with disabilities who want to make a difference in the lives of youth in Pennsylvania. The mission of the PYLN is to develop the self-determination, empowerment, and leadership of youth that promotes successful post school outcomes in the areas of education, employment, independent living, and health and wellness among youth and young adults throughout Pennsylvania.

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What Does PYLN Do?

• Provide a youth voice at the table on important boards and committees that impact the lives of youth with disabilities.

• Recruit and match mentors who are young adults with high school youth to help them prepare for their future success.

• Develop and share transition, self-determination, self-advocacy, and empowerment resources geared toward youth in high school.

• Ensure unbiased policies, practices and attitudes that affect individuals with disabilities

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Who We Are…

• 6 Youths across Pennsylvania

• Varied

– Locations

– Disability

– Outcome

• Formed in 2005 at Transition Conference

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What We Are Doing Now…

• Open Enrollment

– Youth Mentor

– Resource Consultant

– Committees

– Governing Board member

– More info on sharedswork.org!

• Focusing on mentoring relationships

• Local Youth Councils

• Focusing on Accessibility

• Planning 2007 Events

– 2007 PA Transition Forum

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National Youth Leadership Network

• Became 501( c)(3) late 2006

• Working on mentoring projects

– How to be a mentor

• Published quarterly newsletter

• Quarterly issue based teleconference

• Rolling membership for general members

www.nyln.org

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Building Our Community Together!• We believe members of our community have

developed pockets of excellence, program models and tools that would help others across the state (country!).

• We want to build our Community so that we stop reinventing the wheel!

• Collectively, the Local Transition Coordinating Council Alliance, PA Youth Leadership Network, and the Transition State Leadership Team can make a difference in the lives of youth, young adults and families across the state!

Overview of the Forum

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