Working Together Overview
Download Event FlyerDate & Time:
June 3, 2025
8:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Location:
Ithaca Downtown Conference Center
116 E. Green Street, Ithaca, NY 14850
About:
Join us for Working Together, an exciting one-day, in-person event with opportunities for dialogue and collaboration between disability service providers and transition educators, policymakers and agency leads, businesses, and self-advocates. All are invited to attend.
Registration for Working Together is free but required, and will be capped at 125 people.
Working Together Agenda
8:00 - 9:00 AM
Check-in, networking breakfast
9:00 - 10:15 AM
Keynote by Victor Edwards, Central Student Advocate for New York City Public Schools
10:15 - 10:30 AM
Break
10:30 - 11:45 AM
1 – Partnering for Disability Employment: Drafting Effective Interagency Agreements
Matthew Saleh, LaWanda Cook
This session will focus on strategies for developing interagency agreements (MOUs, MOAs, etc.) that are effective at moving shared goals and objectives forward. The session will emphasize the importance of formalizing coordination efforts to improve services for transitioning youth with disabilities who are involved in multiple service systems.
2 - The Power of Collaboration: Promoting High-Quality Transition Planning Through Effective Partnerships
Kimberly Osmani, Jessica Ellott, Elizabeth Juaniza-Saso
Effective collaboration between students, families, schools, agencies, and community partners is necessary in supporting transition-age students with disabilities as they prepare for adulthood and future employment. This session will highlight strategies and actionable steps which will foster collaborative partnerships to ensure high-quality transition planning is occurring and ultimately supporting students on their path towards future education and/or employment.
3 - CIE for People with Significant Disabilities: Early Lessons from the NYS SWTCIE
Ellice Switzer, Meghan Parker
In this session, Ellice Switzer from the Yang-Tan Institute and Meghan Parker from ACCES-VR will share early findings from the New York Subminimum Wage to Competitive Integrated Employment Demonstration Project (SWTCIE) program evaluation. ACCES-VR operates SWTCIE in six counties across the state, with the goal of decreasing subminimum wage and increasing competitive integrated employment for people with significant disabilities, who might need extra support to pursue employment goals. So far, the project has offered important lessons for interagency coordination and collaboration, and community and family engagement.
11:45 AM - 1:00 PM
Boxed lunch provided
1:00 - 2:15 PM
4 – DisabilityStatistics.org: Live Demonstration
William Erickson, Camille Lee
DisabilityStatistics.org is a free source of disability-related statistics and estimates. You can use the information at DisabilityStatistics.org to shape policy, make decisions, or request funding so that people with disabilities are more fully included in the workplace and community. Join the researcher and developer behind DisabilityStatistics.org for a live demonstration and to learn more about the interactive data visualization tools on the site. Users can find statistics by state, county, and congressional district, allowing for comparison within states and across the nation.
5 – Effective Business Engagement: Strategies Everyone Can Use
Jeffrey Tamburo, Elizabeth Juaniza-Saso, Ellice Switzer, Jennifer Pawlewicz
Engaging businesses on behalf of jobseekers with disabilities works best when everyone is equipped with the knowledge and resources to do it well. In this session, we will share tips for establishing and sustaining mutually beneficial business relationships that lead to employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Whether you are an educator, job developer, agency lead, or workforce development professional, you will come away with practical advice that you can use right away.
6 – Improving Employment Outcomes for Autistic Job Seekers
Susanne Bruyère, Katie Brendli Brown, Leslie Shaw, and Micah Haskins
This presentation is based on several Cornell research projects focused on improving employment outcomes for Autistic job seekers. Topics will include:
- Predictors of employment for Autistic transition-aged youth
- Effective practices in secondary transition
- How transition educational professionals and relationships with local employers can support success
- Ways to improve successful outcomes in the job interview process for Autistic job seekers, including what employers, career counselors, community employment service professionals, and Autistic individuals can do to succeed in the interview process
Extensive related resources will be provided.
2:15 - 2:30 PM
Break
2:30 - 3:30 PM
Plenary: Community Conversations
3:30 PM
Closing remarks
Speakers & Facilitators
Victor Edwards
Victor Edwards is the Central Student Advocate for New York City Public Schools. He's dedicated to fostering an inclusive school environment where all students, especially those with disabilities, feel welcome and have a voice. Victor works tirelessly to ensure students have access to the assistive technology they need and promotes the use of technology as a tool for communication and expression.
YTI Speakers
Plan Your Stay
Venue & Lodging Information
Event Venue:
Ithaca Downtown Conference Center
116 E. Green Street, Ithaca, NY 14850
Lodging:
The Hotel Ithaca
222 S. Cayuga Street, Ithaca, NY 14850
(607) 272-1000
A block of rooms has been set aside for conference attendees at The Hotel Ithaca, conveniently located around the corner from the Ithaca Downtown Conference Center. These rooms are available for the nights of June 2, 2025, and/or June 3, 2025, at the conference rate. Book by May 2, 2025, using this special booking link to reserve your room or by calling the hotel at (607) 272-1000 and referencing “ILR Yang-Tan Institute.”
Sponsor
Working Together is hosted and developed by the Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability, with support from the State of New York. The institute, which is part of Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, works toward a world where people with disabilities are fully included in the workplace and community by advancing knowledge, policies, and practices that enhance equal opportunities for all people with disabilities.
