2020-2025

Your 5-Step Action Plan to Improve Quality Employment Outcomes

Community Agencies, News, State VR Administrators, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors, VRTAC-QE

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Last week we shared TACQE’s Legacy Toolkit: Resources That Work—a look at the lessons, best practices, and tools created over the past five years.

This week is about you. What do you do next? How do you take those resources and keep making progress in your own practice, agency, or community after TACQE ends on September 30, 2025?

Here’s a simple 5-step action plan to help you move from “resources on the shelf” to “real impact in the field.”

Clarify Your Purpose

Before jumping into new strategies, ask yourself: What’s the one outcome I want to strengthen right now?

  • •Is it improving employer engagement?
  • •Expanding outreach?
  • •Supporting youth or transition-age students?

Action:

Write down one specific, measurable goal for the next 90 days.

QE Partner Tip:

“A clear purpose keeps the whole team moving in the same direction.”

Pick One Tool to Try

You don’t need every resource at once. Start small.

  • •Choose one TACQE tool (VR Outreach Guide, Career Pathways Toolkit, or another that fits your focus).
  • •Make a plan to test it in your daily work.

Action:

Schedule one meeting this week to introduce the tool to your team or apply it with a client.

QE Partner Tip:

“It’s better to use one tool well than collect ten you never touch.”

Engage a Partner

Change sticks when it’s shared.

  • •Identify one employer, school, or community organization you could connect (or reconnect) with.
  • •Share what you’re working on and ask how you can support their goals.

Action:

Reach out to one partner this month—an email, call, or quick visit is enough to start.

QE Partner Tip:

“One good employer conversation can open the door for many clients.”

Build in Accountability

Plans often fail because no one tracks them.

  • •Set a milestone: by next month, what will you have tried, tested, or shared?
  • •Decide who you’ll check in with—a colleague, supervisor, or peer group.

Action:

Add a reminder to your calendar for a 30-day progress check.

QE Partner Tip:

“Accountability doesn’t have to be formal, sometimes it’s just telling a colleague, ‘Ask me about this in two weeks.”

Reflect and Adjust

Not everything will work perfectly the first time, and that’s okay.

  • •Ask: What worked? What needs tweaking? What should we drop or try next?
  • •Use data and client feedback to guide adjustments.

Action:

Hold a short team debrief after testing a new approach. Capture one lesson learned and one change to try next.

QE Partner Tip:

“Continuous improvement is a habit, not an event.”

Final Thought

The TACQE project may be closing, but the impact continues through what you do next. This 5-step plan is designed to be simple:

  • •Clarify your purpose.
  • •Pick one tool.
  • •Engage one partner.
  • •Hold yourself accountable.
  • •Reflect and adjust.

Small, consistent steps build long-term change.

Put your plan into action with TACQE’s Legacy Toolkit.

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