Bobby Silverstein Explains the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA)

Hi, my name is Bobby Silverstein. I’m the former Staff Director and Chief Counsel to the Senate sub-committee on disability when it was chaired by Senator Tom Harkin.

During my tenure in the Senate, I had the incredible privilege of serving as a behind the scenes architect of the landmark Americans With Disabilities Act and as you know in 2014 congress repealed WIA and replaced it with the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act or WIOA.

Now WIOA as you also know is a very critical program. It provides resources to state and local workforce investment boards who in turn then fund and support our AJCs, American Job Centers.

These AJCs provide critical services for job seekers including job seekers with disabilities. Now in 2014, the WIOA includes some very important provisions for people with disabilities.

In addition to requiring physical access to the bricks and mortar to the centers, WIOA also makes it explicit that centers must provide programmatic accessibility for people with disabilities and that includes access to services provided via the internet.

That means accessible websites, online courses, mobile apps, etc. Now the Department of Labor Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) supports a number of technical assistance centers, one of which is called PEAT and PEAT stands for the Partnership on Employment and Accessible Technology.

Now, the resources include policy guidance, examples of best and promising practices, a digital checklist, and a presentation deck which supervisors can use to train their staff. These resources can be found on the web at https://www.peatworks.org/content/wioa.

Thanks and hope you find these resources helpful. Take care and have a good day.

For more information on the Partnership on Employment and Accessible Technology and the Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act please go to https://www.peatworks.org/content/wioa or email us at info@peatworks.org(link sends e-mail).