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 Happy Spring!
Wizdom Teams With PACER and the State of Minnesota to Improve Transition Outcomes for Young Adults with Disabilities
 Improving transition outcomes
This month PACER Center and Wizdom Education launched the TransPlanner! component of Project C3 - Connecting Youth to Communities and Careers. Phil Vitkus of Wizdom joined Deborah Leuchovius of the PACER Center to interview PACER Center advocates for youth and youth workers from three Minnesota Workforce Areas.
The result is the Wizdom TransPlanner! focused for use by youth caseworkers and students with disabilities and their family members to do life planning and transition planning.
Project Goal
The goal of TransPlanner! in this application is to meet the needs of youth who are in situations that place them at-risk for success in post-high school education and employment.
ISS with at-risk youth
Youth caseworkers from three pilot sites of Minneapolis, Saint Paul/Ramsey County, and the Central Minnesota Workforce Centers will use TransPlanner! to help develop an Individual Service Strategy (ISS) with youth who are in one or more of the following at- risk situations:
- Diagnosed disability
- Disability that is diagnosed, but the youth chooses not to disclose
- Disability that is not diagnosed and impedes successful functioning in one or more areas of life
- Chemical dependency (drugs and/or alcohol)
- Emotional disturbance that interferes with normal daily functioning
- A need for assistive technologies to contend with common life obstacles
- Limited English proficiency, and especially youth and their families who speak only Spanish
- Have been or are in foster care
- Parenting or pregnant
- Homeless
- Juvenile offender
 Transition planning at the core
Students with disabilities and the family members will continue to use TransPlanner! to help answer the questions for post-high school life:
- What will I do?
- Where will I live?
- how will I be involved in the community around
me?"
Prioritizing goals
Youth caseworkers will use TransPlanner! to help discern the at- risk situations and needs of youth. With TransPlanner!, youth caseworkers and youth will conduct life planning, identify immediate, high- priority goals, and establish a clear, structured path to reaching the goals.
Project Information
Project C3
The project, Connecting Youth to Communities and Careers (Project C3), seeks to align state development resources to better serve youth with disabilities, and to demonstrate how innovative partnerships with community intermediary organizations can improve local transition services, using evidence-based best practices. For more information, please visit http://www.pacer.org/c3
Wizdom TransPlanner!
The TransPlanner! is a web-based transition planning tool developed by Wizdom with funding and direction from the U.S. Department of Education, with the expressed purpose of using technology to make effective and efficient transition planning happen.
The PACER Center
The Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights (PACER) Center is a nonprofit agency serving Minnesota families of youth with disabilities with nationally recognized expertise in disability policy, parent professional collaboration, and evidence-based transition practices. For Project C3, PACER Center is partnering with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). DEED's Office of Youth Development is coordinating the project. For more information, please visit http://www.pacer.org
Project C3 Funding
Funding for Project C3 is provided through a grant from the United States Department of Labor to the Governor's Workforce Development Council of Minnesota. The five-year grant target is to improve transition outcomes for young adults with disabilities.
ABOUT WIZDOM EDUCATION
 Wizdom Education, a Division of Wizdom Systems, Inc. is the leading provider of software and services to plan and manage Special Education programs. Wizdom Special Education products include TransPlanner!, LiveIEP!, ChildConnect! and ClassRoomLive!. Wizdom products are used by many school districts. Call or email Robin Davies (robind@wizdom.com) for additional information.
email: robind@wizdom.com phone: 630-357-3000
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