17.266: Work Incentive Grants

17.266

Inactive

Employment and Training Administration (ETA) [DOL]

Aug. 16, 2011

Aug. 30, 2010

Work Incentive Grants (WIGs) and Disability Program Navigators (DPNs) were established to increase the labor force participation and career advancement of persons with disabilities by effecting systemic change in the One Stop Career Centers. These programs support the capacity of the One Stop Career Center system to achieve integrated, seamless, and comprehensive services for people with disabilities, thereby increasing their employment, retention, and earnings. The competitive WIG Program has been reoriented from a competitive solicitation to the Disability Program Navigator (DPN) cooperative agreement, thereby assuring that the essential goals of the WIGs are achieved in the Workforce Investment System. The Department of Labor (DOL) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) jointly established a new position, the Disability Program Navigator (DPN), in One Stop Career Centers. The DPN guides the One Stop Career Center staff in helping people with disabilities access and navigate the various programs that impact upon their ability to gain/retain good jobs. Complex rules surrounding entitlement programs, along with the fear of losing cash assistance and health benefits, can often discourage people with disabilities from working. Consequently, the DPN initiative was established to better inform beneficiaries and other people with disabilities about the work support programs now available at the DOL-funded One Stop Career Centers. The major objectives of the DPN initiative are: (1) creating systemic change and transforming the culture of how the One Stop Career Center system serves customers with disabilities; (2) promoting meaningful and effective access, both physical and programmatic, to the One Stop Career Center system for all customers, including persons with disabilities; (3) creating attitudinal change about the abilities of people with disabilities to work in a variety of jobs and industries; (4) developing new/ongoing partnerships to achieve comprehensive services to people with disabilities; (5) expanding and enhancing the workforce development system's capacity to serve customers with disabilities and employers through the implementation of effective DPN strategies and practices; and (6) increasing the number of people with disabilities served under the WIA and achieving quality employment outcomes for job seekers with disabilities through accessing WIA Title I and Wagner-Peyser Programs.

B - Cooperative Agreements

State WIA administrating agencies.

Limited to persons with disabilities eligible for employment and training services under the WIA.

17.207 - Employment Service/Wagner-Peyser Funded Activities