School personnel "click here" for indicator checklist to identify LEEP candidates

LOUISIANA EMPLOYMENT ENHANCEMENT PROJECT

The Louisiana Employment Enhancement Project (LEEP), funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Rehabilitation Services Administration, represents a partnership between the Jefferson Parish Chamber of Commerce, the Jefferson Chamber Foundation, the Louisiana Business Leadership Network (LBLN) and education, juvenile justice and human service programs in Jefferson Parish.
The goals this project has designed are to: 1] place at least 350 youth or young adults in employment over 5 years (10/1/08-9/30/13); 2] develop work experience sites over 5 years for at least 75 youth interested in this intervention and 3] create worksite mentorships where appropriate for at least 50 youth over the 5 year period.
 The LEEP intervention will conduct outreach, recruitment, enrollment and support for this non-traditional workforce, in particular youth/young adults with disabilities (16-25) so that they may enter into employment and succeed vocationally. The disability has to be one that can be medically or psychologically assessed through either existing records or LEEP project staff evaluation but need not be already identified as such in school or adult service records. The project specifically is interested in reaching youth and young adults who have faced significant barriers in work and/ or school settings due to emotional/behavioral problems, learning disabilities, cognitive or intellectual deficits, chronic health problems (such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma), problems in interpersonal relations, school truancy, poverty, history of involvement with the criminal justice system, history of alcohol or substance abuse, cultural or language barriers, premature single parenthood, and adverse family relationships.
The Jefferson Parish Chamber of Commerce/LBLN will use many strategies to accomplish these ends including person centered career planning, on and off the job mentoring, employer partnerships, links with the local school system, cooperative endeavors with existing training programs to enable them to recruit and retain a greater number of youth/ young adults with disabilities, short term transitional work experiences, and direct marketing outreach to employers for individual job placement. Job placement, paid work experiences and internships will all be developed with the assistance of employment specialists from the LEEP under the management of the LBLN and in conjunction with existing resources in the community human service and Jefferson Parish school systems.
We see this as an exciting addition to the Jefferson Parish community that helps us meet a need and fill gaps that have existed for many years but which have been exacerbated by the weather events of the last three years. We at the Chamber and the LBLN seek to offer this service as one way to help our parish and its citizens not just recover but thrive personally, educationally, vocationally, and financially.

For more information, contact:

Bridgette Boudreaux
Employment Recruiter
504-382-9796
LBLN

Katie Williams
Employment Recruiter
LBLN
832-259-6881

Elizabeth Homer
Executive Assistant
Jefferson Chamber Foundation
504-835-3880