To celebrate October’s National Disability Awareness Month, the Utah Center for Assistive Technology (UCAT) hosted an open house to showcase the different assistive technologies available in Utah. The open house gave the public an opportunity to see what assistive technologies are available through UCAT and its partners.

The open house featured Brian Lahti as the keynote speaker who is a former UCAT client. Brian has a spinal cord injury resulting from a car accident when he was a teenager. Working with UCAT, he was able to improve his mobility while attending school and his driving mobility. Brian has since married, had twins and graduated from law school. He shared his experiences at the open house to help attendees understand how UCAT staff can change lives with their services. More...

As part of the Department of Workforce Services’ comprehensive efforts to reduce the number of Utah families in intergenerational poverty (IGP), the Eligibility Services Division (ESD) has become a frontrunner in effectively engaging with and supporting these individuals and their families.

For a majority of Utah’s IGP population, contact with ESD is the only direct interaction they have with Workforce Services. ESD leadership recognized the unique opportunity their division has to become actively involved in serving these households. A work group was formed to identify what could be done to increase the division’s effectiveness in serving IGP customers. A significant outcome of this work group was the establishment of Community Resource Liaisons within ESD’s various teams. More...

NASWA awards five states for outstanding performance in handling unemployment insurance claims through electronic systems

Washington, D.C. — NASWA's State Information Data Exchange System (SIDES) division held their annual training conference in Kansas City, Missouri, this week and recognized five states for their Outstanding Performance in implementing SIDES Web Services, which provides a direct link between employers and state workforce agencies for Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefit claims processing.

The Outstanding Performance Awards go to five state agencies this year: Nebraska Department of Labor, Utah Department of Workforce Services, Arizona Department of Economic Security, Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, and Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. These awards are presented to states who have excelled in implementing their UI claims electronic response through SIDES. More...