The NTAR Leadership Center, housed at the Heldrich Center and established in September 2007, is a collaboration of partners with expertise in workforce development, disability and employment, economic development, financial education and benefits planning, and leadership development. The NTAR Leadership Center's mission is to increase the employment and economic independence of adults with disabilities by promoting engaged and sustained leadership and partnerships within and among states. Key strategies and initiatives to be undertaken by the Center include:

• State Leadership Development Institute. The NTAR Leadership Center will competitively select three states for participation in an intensive 15-month Leadership Development Institute. The NTAR Leadership Center will equip these state teams with access to nationally respected experts who will provide intensive and customized technical assistance, leadership development, and sustainability training. The NTAR Leadership Center’s goal is for these two states to emerge as the nation’s leaders in pioneering systems change and sustainable models to improve the employment and economic status of adults with disabilities.
• State Peer Learning Network. The State Peer Learning Network will facilitate information exchange, continuous learning, and the sharing of promising practices and strategies for a select group of state policymakers interested in putting these practices to work. Technical assistance as well as access to topical teleconferences, webinars, and virtual seminars will be available through the NTAR Leadership Center.
• Virtual Leadership Institute (VLI). Recognizing the importance of leadership development to promoting systems change, a virtual leadership institute will be offered to government and public/private sector leaders through a series of quarterly webcasts. The Internet-based VLI will assist participants in setting active goals and enhancing organizational performance in order to improve outcomes for individuals with disabilities along with building a network of peers.
• Knowledge Development and Dissemination. The NTAR Leadership Center will conduct research driven by the needs of policymakers and practitioners, including a national study of emerging trends in disability employment state policy and practice.
• Knowledge Exchange. The NTAR Leadership Center website will serve as a vehicle for knowledge exchange and information sharing, and will provide state and local policymakers and practitioners with information, research, and learning tools needed to design policies and partnerships that strengthen leadership efforts to improve the employment and economic self-sufficiency of adults with disabilities.

(Funded by a 24-month grant from the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy)