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Center for Studying Disability Policy at Mathematica Announces March Forum
Employment-Focused Services for Youth with Disabilities
Media Advisory: February 14, 2011
Contact: Maria Myers, (609) 275-2399
Helping youth with disabilities successfully transition from school to work is a focus for policymakers in the disability arena. To help inform this discussion, the Center for Studying Disability Policy at Mathematica Policy Research will hold a forum, “SSA’s Youth Transition Demonstration Projects: Delivering Employment-Focused Services and Waivers to Youth with Disabilities,” the 13th in a series of lunchtime seminars to provide policymakers and others the opportunity to hear about the latest disability policy research findings. The forum is scheduled for Thursday, March 3, 2011, from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. at Mathematica’s office at 600 Maryland Ave., S.W., Suite 550, Washington, D.C.
Since 2005, Mathematica has been conducting a random assignment evaluation of six Social Security Agency (SSA)-funded youth transition demonstration (YTD) projects to improve employment and other outcomes for teenagers and young adults with severe disabilities. Forum speakers will describe how the projects are organized and staffed, contrast the types and intensity of services received by treatment and control group youth, and explain how technical assistance to the projects has evolved. Mathematica is partnering with MDRC and TransCen, Inc. on the project.
- Thomas Fraker, senior fellow at Mathematica and director of the evaluation, will describe the objectives, design, and service model.
- Taylor Runner, program manager at the Human Resources Development Foundation and director of the West Virginia Youth Works YTD project, will describe that project’s services, staffing and management structure, successes, and challenges.
- Arif Mamun, an economist at Mathematica and senior researcher on the evaluation team, will present interim research findings from the initial three YTD projects, which began full-scale operations in 2006–2007. His remarks will focus on the impacts of the projects on the types and intensity of services used by youth.
- Kelli Crane, a senior research associate at TransCen, Inc. and director of programmatic technical assistance on the evaluation, will explain how the interim research findings have shaped the design and delivery of technical assistance to a later group of three projects that began full-scale operations in 2008.
To register to attend in person or via webinar, go to www.disabilitypolicyresearch.org/forums.asp. Lunch will be provided.
About the Center for Studying Disability Policy: The Center’s mission is to inform disability policy formation with rigorous, objective research and data collected from the people disability policy aims to serve. The center was formed in 2007 to coalesce and further strengthen Mathematica’s extensive disability policy research and data collection efforts, and to ensure that the results of Mathematica’s work are accessible to the disability policy community.
About Mathematica: Mathematica Policy Research, a nonpartisan research firm, provides a full range of research and data collection services, including program evaluation and policy research, survey design and data collection, research assessment and interpretation, and program performance/data management, to improve public well-being. Its clients include federal and state governments, foundations, and private-sector and international organizations. The employee-owned company, with offices in Princeton, N.J., Ann Arbor, Mich., Cambridge, Mass., Chicago, Ill., Oakland, Calif., and Washington, D.C., has conducted some of the most important studies of disability, health care, education, family support, employment, nutrition, and early childhood policies and programs.