Community languages in higher education : towards realising the potential

This study, Community Languages in Higher Education: Towards Realising the Potential, forms part of the Routes into Languages initiative funded by the Higher Education Funding Council in England (HEFCE) and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). It sets out to map provision for community languages, defined as 'all languages in use in a society, other than the dominant, official or national language'. In England, where the dominant language is English, some 300 community languages are in use, the most widespread being Urdu, Cantonese, Punjabi, Bengali, Arabic, Turkish, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, Gujerati, Hindi and Polish. The research was jointly conducted by the Scottish Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research (Scottish CILT) at the University of Stirling, and the SOAS-UCL Centre for Excellence for Teaching and Learning 'Languages of the Wider World' (LWW CETL), between February 2007 and January 2008. The overall aim of this study was to map provision for community languages in higher education in England and to consider how it can be developed to meet emerging demand for more extensive provision

Addressing community and economic development in rural America: trends, challenges, and opportunities

Rural development

More Than Just A Job: Person-centered Career Planning

[Excerpt] Person-Centered Career Planning is an approach to career development that helps people with disabilities develop and realize their dreams. It uses job seekers\u27 dreams, goals, personal preferences, interests, and needs as the cornerstone of the career planning process. The bottom line of Person-Centered Career Planning is to help people figure out what they want to do, and help them organize a plan to get there. Person-Centered Career Planning focuses on identifying what the job seeker wants to do rather than skills and limitations he or she may have. It does not have to involve a big meeting, nor is it only for people with the most significant disabilities. People with all kinds of experiences can benefit from identifying their interests, preferences, and needs in career development

When Existing Jobs Don\u27t Fit: A Guide to Job Creation

[Excerpt] Successful job development for people with disabilities is about meeting the specific and often unique needs of each job seeker. Job creation is a way to modify or restructure existing jobs or bring together a combination of job tasks that fill the work needs of an employer while capitalizing on the skills and strengths of workers with significant disabilities. Although there are various approaches to creating jobs, the implementation steps and overall goals and outcomes are the same. One approach is to develop a new position (one that did not previously exist), such as a mail delivery clerk at a business where personnel used to pick up their own mail at a central location. Another strategy involves selecting certain duties from one or more existing jobs and combining them into a separate position (for instance, a worker is hired in an office to support only copying and filing needs)

Minimum Wage Increase: What It Means for People with Disabilities

[Excerpt] The federal government has passed legislation that increases the minimum wage, the first increase in the national minimum wage in a decade. In addition, a number of states have recently increased the minimum wage to a rate higher than the federal level. For people with significant disabilities who either earn the minimum wage or close to it, these changes present a wonderful opportunity to increase their income. At the same, there are some issues that people with disabilities may need to consider regarding the changes in minimum wage. The purpose of this fact sheet is to review how minimum wage increases are relevant for people with disabilities and provide guidance on how to deal with the impact of the minimum wage on benefits and other issues

Minimum Wage Increase: A Guide For Disability Service Providers

[Excerpt] The federal government has passed legislation that increases the minimum wage, the first increase in the national minimum wage in a decade. In addition, a number of states have recently increased the minimum wage beyond federal requirements. Given that many individuals with significant disabilities earn wages at or near the minimum wage, they are likely to be impacted by these changes. The increased minimum wage is a welcome opportunity for many individuals to increase their income from working. However, questions may arise regarding the increase in minimum wage, and service providers are encouraged to assist and guide the individuals they support to deal with any concerns they may have. There are additional issues that service providers also must consider, particularly if they pay consumers for work. The purpose of this fact sheet is to help guide service providers in this process

Achieving Quality Services: A Checklist for Evaluating Your Agency

[Excerpt] In recent years, several trends have led state service systems to focus more directly on employment as an expected outcome of service delivery for many individuals who have traditionally experienced difficulty in successfully maintaining employment. These trends include welfare reform and the replacement of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) with the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program; the replacement of the Job Training Partnership Act by the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and the incorporation of the Rehabilitation Act as part of WIA; and the stated goal of the Presidential Task Force on Employment of People with Disabilities to extensively expand the employment participation rate of people with disabilities. These significant legislative mandates are sending a clear message to various public systems and service providers: the need to improve services to enhance employment outcomes for job seekers with disabilities. This assessment checklist was developed for agencies to evaluate the quality and responsiveness of their services and how well they accommodate for the needs of individuals with disabilities. While this checklist emphasizes the provision of supports to job seekers with disabilities, systems are also evaluated so that both lasting and beneficial changes can be made that improve employment supports for all job seekers

High-Performing States in Integrated Employment

[Excerpt] Between 1988 and 1996, the number of individuals supported by state mental retardation/developmental disabilities (MR/DD) agencies who participated in some type of community employment increased by 200%. Despite this increase, many agree that outcomes in community employment are in great need of improvement and vary widely among states. The purpose of this report is to highlight the successful practices of states that have been identified as high-performers in integrated employment for people served by state MR/DD agencies

Developing Community Partnerships to Reach Underserved Diverse Populations

[Excerpt] Like much of the U.S., Massachusetts is becoming increasingly racially and ethnically diverse. Studies show that the state’s future population growth will come through immigration. Meeting the needs of individuals with disabilities from diverse backgrounds has historically been a challenge for our service systems. With changing demographics, it is more important than ever. Workforce and disability staff may feel uncertain about how to reach these potential consumers. One effort agencies have made is to increase the diversity of their own staff. While this is important, there is an additional strategy you can try: building connections to local community-based or faith-based organizations