Florida
Crown on top again
Chosen to assist youth with disabilities
Columbia County, FL
(posted April 14, 2010 08:30 am)
From combined sources
Florida Crown,
one of the highest performing workforce boards in
Florida, has been chosen as one of the two organizations
in Florida to assist youth with disabilities in
preparing for their future and assisting them in
securing meaningful employment.
The
Institute for Educational
Leadership’s (IEL) Center for Workforce Development
(CWD) is working with state and local disability
organizations across the nation to promote the
Ready to Achieve
Mentoring Program (RAMP). In Florida,
The Able Trust
was selected to implement this innovative program, which
will connect Florida’s youth with disabilities to
expanded opportunities, improving the lives of
Floridians and their communities across the State.
Florida Crown - one of two Florida organizations chosen
About
The Able Trust
The Able Trust, also known as the Florida Governor’s
Alliance for the Employment of Citizens with
Disabilities, is a 501(c) (3) public-private partnership
foundation established by the Florida Legislature in
1990.
Its mission is to be the leader in providing Floridians
with disabilities fair employment opportunities through
fundraising, grant programs, public awareness and
education.
Since its establishment, The Able Trust has
awarded more than $25 million to individuals with
disabilities and nonprofit agencies throughout Florida
for employment related purposes, enabling more than
2,000 Florida citizens with disabilities to enter the
workforce each year.
The Able Trust youth programs provide career
development and transition to almost 2,000 students with
disabilities annually, helping to reduce the dropout
rate and prepare young adults for life beyond high
school.
Each organization chosen to implement RAMP currently
serves youth with disabilities, as well as youth with
court-involvement, discipline issues, social security
enrollment, and incomes below poverty level. Each RAMP
community was selected due to extremely high individual,
family, and child poverty rates and incomes well below
the national average, with higher than average
unemployment rates and significant numbers of young
adults without a high school diploma.
This 3-year DOJ
OJJDP-funded RAMP
project will provide one-on-one, group, and peer
mentoring to youth with disabilities who live in these
communities. Youth will engage in weekly group meetings
that will include career exploration activities,
recreational opportunities, and goal setting. The RAMP
program will increase the number of youth with
disabilities who are matched with a caring mentor,
remain in school, avoid arrest, and develop transition
plans for employment, college, or vocational training.
“Over the past ten years, The Able Trust has seen the
value that mentoring adds to career development for
students with disabilities in Florida,” Sally Ash,
Assistant Director of Disability Mentoring Programs and
High School/High Tech for The Able Trust said. “We look
forward to launching the Ready to Achieve Mentoring
Program (RAMP) this year and opening doors for mentees
across the state.”
Across the nation, community-based RAMP sites include
several centers for independent living (CILs), youth
empowerment programs, disability mentoring programs,
High School/High Tech (HS/HT) sites, Start-On-Success
program sites, and other employment programs. This grant
is provided by IEL and DOJ OJJDP. The Able Trust,
Florida Crown
Workforce Development Board, and the
ILRC of Northeast
Florida are subcontractors of IEL for the Florida RAMP
project.
