The Technology Partners Increasing Employment through Coordinated Services (Tech PIECS) project proposes an integrated model of service delivery bringing together essential service organizations for individuals with disabilities in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) that includes the islands of Saipan, Tinian and Rota.
The project will provide personalized advanced technology services combined with comprehensive transition and reintegration services to disconnected youth and adults (DYA) with disabilities with the goal of increasing their independence, education and competitive integrated employment. Through the coordinated services made possible by utilizing the Integrated Resource Team (IRT) model (DOL-DEI, 2017), key service organizations will successfully address the challenges facing DYA with disabilities in CNMI including lack of access to advanced technology, low levels of educational attainment, behavioral health issues, criminal justice involvement, low financial literacy, lack of pre-employment skills, lack of job skills and work experience, lack of peer support, and lack of job development and placement services.
The Tech-PIECS project will combine advanced technology access, provision and training with transition and reintegration services for at least 200 DYA with disabilities that will lead to increased independence, education and employment. Services will be provided by Northern Marianas College’s (NMC) University Center for Excellence in Development Disabilities (UCEDD) in partnership with the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR), the Council on Development Disabilities (CDD), the Center for Living Independently (CLI), the Northern Marianas Technical Institute (NMTech) and the Interwork Institute at San Diego State University Research Foundation (SDSURF-II).