The Yang-Tan Institute on Employment and Disability is part of a partnership that has been awarded a $4 million grant by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy to operate a policy development center focused on youth with disabilities.

The Council of State Governments is the lead agency; also partnering is the Transition to Adulthood Center for Research at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Andrew Karhan, program director of workforce development at the institute, said the joint effort has many goals.

“We will seek to assist states in identifying the needs of workforce systems,” he said, “[and in] conducting research and policy analysis that will address those problems, and in developing and disseminating resources to policymakers and state partners that will offer solutions to the issues related to employment and youth with disabilities.”

During the center’s tenure, the institute and its partners will expand on the work of the federal labor department’s Office of Disability Employment Policy National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth, which aims to develop and influence policies and practices improving employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

“This will be a national technical assistance center,” Karhan said, “with an impact that will be broad-reaching across all states.”

This is the second multimillion-dollar grant awarded to the Yang-Tan Institute this summer. In August, the U.S. Office of Disability Employment Policy awarded $2 million for the first year of a four-year, $8 million agreement for the institute to operate and manage the Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability Inclusion, the employer-focused policy development and technical assistance center.

Julie Greco is a communications specialist with the ILR School.