Community Level Transition Teams

While many people are involved in helping improve transition services for students at an individual level, there is a movement to improve the transition system at the community level. Many states have created community groups that help with planning at the local level. They may be called by different names, such as "community transition team," "interagency community council," or "local transition advisory group." No matter what they're called, these teams usually include representatives from disability-related agencies and the community who come together with the mission of improving the transition of young adults with disabilities from school to adult life. The idea behind developing these community transition teams has been that they are operated locally and therefore are able to:

• share resources and funding,
  
• hold information fairs,
  
• try out new ways of serving youths and young adults, and
  
• help change or influence policies and procedures.
  

Transition teams can be a strong force within the community. Their primary purpose is to assess how a community's transition services system works and to develop policies and procedures to make this system work better. They can identify the best ways to meet the needs of youth with disabilities leaving the local schools within their community. They can promote actions through school boards and other governmental entities in areas such as policy and funding.

To find out if your community has a transition team and how you can get involved, contact your:

• Local school or school district's department of special education: Ask to talk to the person in charge of the transition of students with disabilities in the district.
  
• Parent Training and Information Center (PTI): If you don't know how to get in touch with your state's PTI, call NICHCY for the number or look at our State Resource Sheets on the Web.
  
• State Transition Systems-Change Project: Call the National Center on Secondary Education and Transition (see "Organizations," at the end of this publication).
  

If a community-level transition team does not already exist in your area, you can take steps to create one. When participating agencies and the community at large support community transition teams, they have the potential to create a well-connected, culturally diverse, and very responsive transition services system. Here are some steps you can take to get a community transition team started:

• Find out what your community is already doing. Assess the range of transition services going on in your school and community by talking with school professionals, parents, and community and parent groups.
  
• Identify areas that need improvement. Decide what transition services are lacking and which of the these service gaps you want to address.
  
• Make a plan. Talk with school professionals, parents, community and parent groups, and others about ways to address these service gaps (e.g., starting a career development center at school, holding information meetings, doing research on other communities' transition systems).
  
• Measure your success. Agree on what you will use to determine if your efforts are successful (e.g., every student will be involved in at least three job shadowing experiences, the school district will hold two transition information fairs each year).
  

See the Publications section at the end of this publication for more resources on starting teams.