Working with Out-of-School Youth from Minority Backgrounds: What CILs Offer and What They Value

The transition from school to postsecondary life can be difficult. Research shows that youth with disabilities are less likely than their nondisabled peers to successfully make this transition. The disparities in outcomes are larger for youth with disabilities who are from racial and ethnic minority groups. Minority youth are also more likely to be disconnected.

This Minority Youth and Centers for Independent Living (MY-CIL) practice brief is the fourth of a series in which the project will share key takeaways from its research with Centers for Independent Living (CILs) and other stakeholders about promising, evidence-based, and evidence-informed practices.

In this brief, we describe services CILs have provided to out-of-school youth (OSY) from minority backgrounds, and the extent to which CILs believe specific services are critical to successful independent living. We used data from 218 CILs that completed a survey focused on services for OSY. The survey collected information on the characteristics of OSY served by CILs, the breadth of services provided, services CILs deem most effective, and challenges CILs face in increasing and improving services for these youth.