eFedLink A Community of Practice (CoP) Website Advancing the Federal Employment of People with Disabilities

Persistent Challenges The challenges around employment of persons with disabilities in the federal sector remain with us. We need to try additional ways. We need to reach across agencies and geography to connect more frequently with federal peers who are doing similar work and have similar needs. We need our group wisdom to work “smarter, not harder.” We need to construct our answers to challenges together while sharing different situations requiring different responses. 2

Sharing Best Practices Across Agencies Colleagues Helping Colleagues Collaboration, Individual and Group Learning 3 A Tool By Us, for Us Sponsored by the U.S. Department Of Labor, Office Of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) as part of the National Employer Technical Assistance Center.

A New Tool, A New Way of Working Together A Community of Practice is a 4

What Do Communities of Practice Do? Seek and invite others interested in shared work Share learning within organizations, agencies and roles Share learning across organizations, agencies and roles Decide to do things together that will address a shared concern Create new knowledge grounded in ‘doing’ the work Slide courtesy IDEA Partnership 5

Professional Development Policy & Regulation Strategic Planning Service Delivery System Data Collection Program Initiatives Why do we need the eFedLink CoP? To Shift: From Isolated, Single Agency Activities to Cross-Systems, Cross-Stakeholder Efforts 6

YOU & eFedLink Perspectives Conference HR and Hiring Managers Section 508 Coordinators DPM: Disability Program Managers RAC: Reasonable Accommodations Coordinators FDWC: Federal Disability Workforce Consortium ?? & many more! SPC Roundtable: Selective Placement Coordinators Communications and networking hub for the federal disability employment community. 7

How Can Separate Work Become Linked Work? By Inventing new ways to connect & collaborate: Discussion Threads Issue Focused Practice Groups/Learning Communities Involve Practice Groups in identification of best practices, gap analysis of existing resources and advising creation of new resources & tools Electronic vehicle for building ‘our community’ – Using Plan together, create together Share materials, training & events Make it ‘the way you work’, not an ‘add on’ 8

eFedLink.org The purpose of eFedLink.org is to advance employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities in the federal government. 9

Key Features of eFedLink.org Dashboard – A launch pad for essential info and tools Federal Initiatives –Current key information Collaborate – Send messages, post discussions, join groups Resources – Helpful links, documents, media, get assistance Planning – Create a plan in 45 minutes or less 10

Dashboard – A launch pad for essential info and tools 11

After log-in…the dashboard is your own special page Recent announcements Active threaded discussions Messages from other members Upcoming events Current status of any planning Favorite resources 12

Federal Initiatives – key items 13

The Federal Initiatives page will provide you with basic information regarding the Workforce Recruitment Program (WRP), the Section A Hiring Authority and the Executive Order: What are they? How do we get started? Where can we get help? 14

Collaborate – Send messages, post discussions, join groups 15

Once a planning group is created, members of that group can engage in closed discussions, and share documents to work out ideas without having to meet in person. Join a group 16

Discuss with group members or send individual messages 17

Plan activities and post documents 18 Here you can choose to post to the group only

Resources – Helpful links, documents, media and assistance 19

Searchable resources are organized by topic. A resource map of the United States will be created so that eFedLink.org federal offices will be able to find local resources that will be of assistance by topic. efedlink members are also able to view documents, media and ask for help. 20

Current events and new resources 21

Openly shared documents 22 Here documents can be made available to all registered members

Media resources 23

Getting Started – Create an Account Go to and click on “Register here!” 24

Getting Started – Create an Account Fill in the registration Form completely. Within one business day you will receive a username and password. 25

For more information Please go to the website or contact one of uswww.efedlink.org Thank you for your attendance and interest today! Akinyemi Banjo Policy Advisor U.S. Department of Labor Office of Disability Employment Policy dol.gov Jennifer Croft Gioffre Targeted Recruitment Program Manager, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce noaa.gov David Brewer National Employer Technical Assistance Center