Learn how we help job seekers with a disability, and especially youth ages 16 to 24 years old, along their path to a successful and satisfying career.

What is the DEI grant?

DEI grants have been awarded to Workforce Centers throughout the United States to improve education, training and employment opportunities and outcomes for youth and adults with disabilities who are unemployed, underemployed and/or receiving Social Security disability benefits. CDO Workforce was awarded a Round 1 Grant back in 2010 to serve adults age 18 and over and to change our Career Centers to make them more accessible to people who have disabilities. Our current Round 8 grant is geared toward serving youth with disabilities, ages 16 to 24 years old.

What is the goal of the grant?

The goal is to increase the participation of youth in existing Career Pathways programs, expand the capacity of our Career Centers to serve youth with disabilities using a career-development approach and to develop a broader business engagement within existing Career Pathways programs including Healthcare, Technology, and Advanced Manufacturing. We are looking to help young people with disabilities develop a career path and become talented employees in these job fields.

Our outreach efforts include:

We have developed a new web-based tool called “Your Dream, Your Team” on our CDO Workforce website that can help young people plan for their dream career: https://www.cdoworkforce.org/toolkit. We explain the use of Integrated Resource Teams to help our youth pull together a group of people to help them remove barriers and move toward their dream job. We also offer free online training in both the healthcare and manufacturing industries through a company called Metrix and we have expanded our career assessment tools. We utilize social media to reach out and provide information to youth and we offer information on financial opportunities including ABLE accounts, tax-advantaged savings accounts for individuals with disabilities.

Alan Sessions

Youth Disability Resource Coordinator (DRC)

Phone : (607) 432-4800 ext. 109

Email : cdoworkforce@gmail.com

Alan provides oversight for the CDO Workforce Round 8 DEI Grant, working to recruit, enroll and provide training and employment services to young people with disabilities. He can pay for a variety of services, from getting a driver’s license to setting up paid work experiences to exploring new careers. He works with businesses to match young people with their work interests and can help establish on-the-job trainings or classroom trainings.   

Kathy DeAngelo

DRC

Phone: (607) 432-4800 ext. 113

Email : deangelok@otsegocounty.com

Kathy DeAngelo has served CDO as a DRC since 2010. She works primarily with adults who receive Social Security Disability or SSI payments and helps these folks get back into the workforce. She is the primary contact for advising customers about the Ticket to Work Program and enrolling CDO customers in the N.Y. State Employment Services System. Both Kathy and Alan are Certified Work Incentive Practitioners who provide individualized counseling on Social Security Work Incentives and reporting requirements.