This project was the result of a collaborative effort between Innovative Industries, Nishna Productions, Inc. and Southwestern Community College. In 1998/99, the three organizations were awarded a grant by the Region 14 Workforce Advisory Board to do three projects all having to do with the concept of "Transition". The collaborators felt that the whole process of "transition" would become much better in Area 14 if all the players (students, teachers, parents, administrators and service providers) had a better understanding of how the various services had to work together to provide a good transition between school and work.

First, a training session was designed to help school personnel and adult service providers better understand each other's roles and to outline the steps necessary to access services for adults. The second project was a Transition Fair for students, parents and teachers, where various service providers shared information about their services and gave information about how to access those services. The third project was the development of a resource notebook containing a page for each adult service provider in all of the eight counties in Area 14. These notebooks were distributed to school personnel and service providers throughout Area 14.

In 1999/2000, the grant was successfully sought again, this time with a few changes. Besides the training session for teachers and service providers and the Transition Fair, a day-long training session is planned for October, 2000, featuring Roberta Ginavan and Judy Hegenauer, nationally known experts in the field of Transition.

In addition, this Web site was developed. The site is an electronic version of the resource notebook developed and distributed a year ago.

Special thanks go to Sherri Clark of Nishna Productions, Barbara Stephens of Southwest Community College and Jean Rommes of Innovative Industries for their leadership in this project. Special thanks also to the members of the Region 14 Workforce Investment Board for their willingness to fund these projects.