Community-based skill building for employment goes beyond exploration and volunteerism activities - it’s about empowering individuals to shape their futures, ensuring staff have the competencies to guide the process, and using practical assessment and tracking strategies to show results. This session equips disability service providers with tools to map their communities for new opportunities, integrate empowerment and self-advocacy into skill-building plans, and implement straightforward methods to set goals and track progress. Participants will explore how individualized approaches can transform everyday community participation into meaningful employment pathways.
During this 60-minute webinar, participants will:
- Learn what makes community-based skill building an effective pathway to CIE.
- Explore strategies for mapping communities and identifying individualized opportunities.
- Discover tools for embedding empowerment and self-advocacy into skill-building activities so participants can make informed choices and take more ownership of their employment goals.
Details:
Duration: 1 hour
Presenters: Shannon Webb and Dr. Lisa A. Mills
This virtual training will be conducted through zoom
This 60 minute session will be recorded, there will be an unrecorded 15-30 minute Q&A after the presentation.
Please ensure you have working laptop, camera, and headphones to access the Zoom meeting.
About the Presenters
Dr. Lisa A. Mills has been a consultant in the field of disability for 33 years. She has worked in the United Kingdom and the United States. She is currently a consultant on the reform and design of public service systems to advance employment opportunities and supports for people with disabilities. She has worked in twenty-four different states over the past twenty years under various contracts with state and federal government agencies, managed care organizations and provider associations. She also works with state Medicaid and Vocational Rehabilitation agencies on value and performance-based payment models which can simultaneously support quality outcomes, efficient service delivery, cost-effectiveness and service provider capacity-building. Dr. Mills also supports employment service providers in adopting best practices including the implementation of Customized Employment and Systematic Instruction. She is the proud parent of a 21-year-old son who received birth-to-three and special education services, has worked in jobs that match his passions since 2020, and is earning an Associate’s degree in golf course management.
Shannon Webb has over 30 years of experience working in the field of employment, school transition, and community-based services for people with disabilities, including fourteen years of service provision in community supported living, day habilitation, supported employment, customized employment, customized self-employment, employment program management, and support brokerage; seventeen years of project consultation, training and technical assistance to educators, service providers, funders, self-advocates, and families in Wisconsin; and eight years as a subject matter expert for other state and national level projects for improving HCBS, employment outcomes, interagency coordination, and direct care workforce.
Shannon has extensive experience facilitating communities of practice, hosting community conversations, and developing training content, planning guides, and informational resources for professionals, families, and self-advocates. Shannon is known for her creative problem solving and results-oriented work.
