Strengthening Transition Partnerships Through Community Conversation Events

Abstract

Strong collaborations are critical to successful youth transitions. Preparing students with disabilities for life after high school requires extensive partnerships within and beyond the school. However, transition educators often struggle to meaningfully engage the people and programs that exist within their local community. A community conversation event is a practical, fun, and effective way for districts to capture fresh perspectives and identify innovative, local solutions to persistent challenges in transition education. The purpose of this article is to highlight the key steps for planning for a community conversation, implementing the event, and using information gathered to inform improvements to transition programming. We draw from our work supporting 10 Tennessee school districts who hosted their own community conversations to reflect upon and improve their transition practices. We provide resources, materials, and tips for school districts to implement a successful event that leads to improvements in transition programming and student outcomes.

Pursuing Paid Employment for Youth with Severe Disabilities: Multiple Perspectives on Pressing Challenges

“…Community-level transition teams composed of various agencies and stakeholder groups could allocate time to identifying and rectifying local barriers (Povenmire-Kirk et al, 2018). Community conversation events could be held to involve a cross section of community members in identifying persistent transition challenges and proposing new solutions (Schutz, Carter et al, 2021). In the absence of intentional and ongoing reflection, many of the barriers raised in this study are likely to remain overlooked or unaddressed.…”

Parent Perspectives on Pre-Employment Transition Services for Youth With Disabilities

“…Strategies may include new mechanisms for disseminating information on employment resources (e.g., family training nights, parent tip sheets, transition fairs) and efforts to improve school partnerships (e.g., joint professional development with agency providers). In addition, community conversation events—asset-based gatherings engaging a cross-section of stakeholders (e.g., families, schools, providers, and other community organizations)—can assist communities in identifying solutions to their specific employment barriers (Schutz et al, in press). These events have been used to address employment-related barriers while reflecting the culture, resources, and needs of a given community (Carter & Bumble, 2018).…”