One Stop to Participate in Disabilities Employment Initiative

April 6, 2011... The Bergen One Stop Career Center was recently approved by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to be involved in the “Disabilities Employment Initiative,” a program which seeks to improve education, training and employment outcomes for people with disabilities. Bergen was among four counties to be chosen as a pilot for this grant-funded initiative, which flows from the Federal and State Departments of Labor. We are awaiting a formal Notice of Obligation to determine funding.

The project seeks to establish an ongoing network of services to maximize the use of all available funding and resources, create, expand and renew partnerships at all levels, and offer increased access to, and use of the One Stop’s system by adults and youth with disabilities. The grant, which runs for three years, will focus on school age youth and young adults (16-26), veterans and ex-offenders with disabilities.

SSA has awarded the Bergen County Workforce Investment Board/Bergen County One-Stop a contract to be an Employment Network (EN) under its Ticket to Work Program. The program, establish in December 1999 by the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act, is designed to assist Social Security beneficiaries return to work through the provision of employment services from public and private providers. ENs will receive payments for assisting Social Security beneficiaries in becoming more self-sufficient through employment.