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In 1997, the Georgia Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities
(the Committee) was created to act as Georgia's liaison with the President's
Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities. Through the Georgia
State Rehabilitation Council, the Committee developed the Georgia
High School/High Tech (HS/HT) Initiative, building a comprehensive
service delivery system of career development, education, training,
leadership, and growth for youth with disabilities. The Committee realized that a new approach to the HS/HT concept was needed. Existing sites in other states were limited to perhaps one city within that state. The opportunities to create a new system, using existing resources at the state and local level, were compelling. The Committee put together a "statewide/grass roots" structure and began organizing individual HS/HT sites throughout the state. It marshaled existing resources from several state agencies, including the Georgia Departments of Labor, Education, and Human Resources, the Division of Rehabilitation Services, the State Rehabilitation Council, the Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities, and others. The Committee wrote grants, developed funding sources, and allocated funds among various sites according to their activities and needs. In 2002, a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), enabled Georgia High School/High Tech to formally become a part of the Georgia Department of Labor, and Commissioner Michael L. Thurmond appointed a State Director to administer the statewide HS/HT effort. Support for HS/HT continues to be statewide and comes from a variety of local stakeholders, including city and county school districts, Chambers of Commerce, employers, parents and other community-based partners. The key state agency partners are the Departments of Labor, Education, and Technical and Adult Education; the Georgia Committee is now a nonprofit (501)(c)(3) corporation, and serves in a consultant capacity. The most recent statewide expansion of the HS/HT model has resulted in more focused alignment of HS/HT with services for workforce development and Vocational Rehabilitation customers. |
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Date of last update: January 14, 2004
Date of last update: January 14, 2004