The Flagler Community Transition Team (FCTT) works with multidisciplinary agencies and community businesses to improve career opportunities for students with disabilities who are entering the workforce after high school. The FCTT participates annually in Disability Mentoring Day, a national mentoring program for young professionals with disabilities.
The mission of the Flagler Community Transition Team (FCTT) is to facilitate a forum for communication, cooperation, and collaboration among multidisciplinary agencies and community businesses serving the youth of Flagler County. The intent of the mission effort is to achieve community business and interagency networking to improve career opportunities for a successful transition to gainful employment.
The FCTT first came together during the 2002–03 school year. Since then, the team has been meeting monthly or quarterly throughout the school year. Partners-In-Transition (PIT), and Project 10 Transition Education Network, have guided the team in setting goals and taking action steps to create smooth transitions for students with disabilities from high school to independence and full community inclusion. Statistics of the under- and unemployed status of these individuals are simply unacceptable.
Support Needed for Independence with High Living Standards
Higher Education
Specific Trade/Vocational Skills
Independent Living Skills
Health Skills
Transportation
Funding Resource Identification
Self-Advocacy
Emotional Stability/Care
Community Connection
Local Business Connection
Support Groups
Recreational Resources
Accommodations
Disability Civil Rights
Disability Mentoring Day
Disability Mentoring Day is a nationwide effort to promote career development for students with disabilities through hands-on career exploration. Students with disabilities (mentees) are matched with workplace mentors according to expressed career interests. Mentees experience a typical day on the job and learn how to prepare to enter the world of work. Employers gain an increased awareness that people with disabilities represent an overlooked talent pool. Disability Mentoring Day is a program of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD).
Goals of Disability Mentoring Day
Enhance internship and employment opportunities for people with disabilities
Promote disability as a central component of diversity recruitment for a more inclusive workforce
Dispel employers' fears about hiring people with disabilities
Increase confidence among students and job seekers with disabilities
Celebrate a year-round effort to foster mentoring opportunities
Disability Mentoring Day began in 1999 with fewer than three dozen student participants as part of a White House effort to increase the profile of National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) and is celebrated every October. In 2005, 9,000 youth with disabilities participated nationally and in 20 international locations. They were mentored by more than 2,000 private, non-profit, governmental, and educational organizations.
