1. February 12, 2016
Ms. Bonnie Jean Smith
1334 Washburn Avenue North
Minneapolis, MN 55411
Dear Ms. Smith:
We are pleased to invite you to participate in an exciting opportunity to identify barriers to
employment for people with disabilities and provide state policy recommendations to address these
barriers and increase the workforce participation for this population.
The Council of State Governments, in partnership with the National Conference of State
Legislatures will create and convene a national task force and four subcommittees to address
workforce development and employability for people with disabilities. This effort is supported by the
State Exchange on Employment & Disability (SEED)—an initiative backed by the federal
Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy.
An estimated 54 million Americans live with a disability and a majority are either unemployed or
underemployed—despite their ability, desire and willingness to work in the community and
contribute to the economy. People with disabilities bring valuable skills to the workforce and hiring
them benefits the business community and employees alike.
People with disabilities can contribute to states' ability to build strong, inclusive workforces that
stimulate economic success. And "moving the needle" on this critical workforce issue will require
strong public policy at the state level that addresses systemic barriers in a number of key areas.
Your company/organization is known as a strong voice on workforce development policy, and your
expertise and leadership would be an asset to this initiative. Recognizing this background and
strong commitment to these issues, we ask you or an appropriate internal representative to serve
as a member of our Career Readiness & Employability Subcommittee.
The National Task Force will oversee the work of four (4) subcommittees, each focusing on a
unique policy area impacting the employment of people with disabilities: Career Readiness &
Employability, Retention & Reentry, Entrepreneurship & Tax Incentives, and Technology,
Transportation & Other Employment Supports. Each subcommittee will be composed of 10 state
leaders and four to six non-voting external advisors representing the private-sector, key
stakeholders and/or academia.

2. The National Task Force will be populated by the co-chairs of each of the four subcommittees and
co-chaired by the two of us. The subcommittees will develop policy recommendations for the review
of the National Task Force to be included in a policy framework.
CSG is uniquely poised to address the issue of disability employment with state policy makers.
Founded in 1933, CSG is the nation’s only non-partisan, not-for-profit organization serving all three
branches of state government. CSG’s nationally recognized experience as an impartial convener of
state officials, a provider of training and technical assistance, and a primary source of educational
policy information, positions CSG to collaborate with the Department of Labor in its efforts to foster
a nationwide workforce more inclusive of people with disabilities.
We will meet on March 19-20 in Chicago and April 30-May 1 in Washington, D.C. We request that
you arrive the evening prior to each meeting.
The National Task Force will convene by conference call in May to review and, by consensus,
approve the policy options and case studies that will be advanced by the subcommittees to
comprise the national policy framework. In December, the 2016 CSG National Conference in
Colonial Williamsburg, Va., will serve as the national launch for the policy framework.
Please confirm your willingness to serve as a member of the Career Readiness & Employability
subcommittee to Elizabeth Whitehouse, CSG’s director of education and workforce development
policy, at ewhitehouse@csg.org or (859) 244-8142 by February 17th
.
Thank you for your service to your state and consideration of this appointment.
Sincerely,
Gov. Jack Markell, Delaware Sen. Beau McCoy, Nebraska
President, CSG Chair, CSG