Employment NOW is a new grassroots coalition that seeks to promote employment for persons with disabilities. The Transition Subcommittee focuses on addressing the issues necessary to increase employment opportunities for young people with disabilities. We are still very much in the formation stage, but have identified a DRAFT (and I emphasize the word "draft") list of goals, which will need further paring down and refinement. These include the following: 1) Incorporating requirements for helping youth with building blocks for employment (e.g. pre-vocational skills building) into state agency contracts pertaining to youth in transition. 2) Increase opportunities for youth to participate in summer jobs and after-school activities 3) Enhance peer and mentor support networks among youth with disabilities and their families 4) Raise parental expectations and involve parents in our subcommittee to identify and implement strategies for this goal. 5) Raise public awareness of the Benefits Planning organizations' role with regard to transition-age youth. 6) Encourage Best Practices in Education   a) Get school systems to adopt best practices for transition, including teaching the building blocks for employment-related skills.    b) Improve the transition process and reinforce the capacity of young people to navigate process.    c) Enhance Dept. of Education data collection and dissemination.