The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Office of Human Resources Management (OHRM) and the Office of Operations TARGET Center partnered with the National Disability Mentoring Coalition (NDMC) to create this online mentoring toolkit.  The site is a central hub for USDA, federal agencies and others interested in leveraging mentoring to support the recruitment, placement, retention and advancement of individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in the workforce.

The toolkit is the second outcome of a Memorandum of Understanding between USDA and the NDMC.  First, the two organizations partnered to provide a nation-wide training session on the importance of mentoring as a disability inclusion strategy.  After that national training session, USDA and NDMC collaborated on a flash mentoring event for USDA employees with disabilities and other rising professionals with disabilities in the Washington, DC area.  

As new resources become available, the toolkit will be updated to ensure USDA and supporting partners are able to locate and utilize resources and programs to leverage mentoring as a disability inclusion strategy.

For more information on the USDA and NDMC mentoring collaboration, please contact:

• Alison Levy, USDA Disability Program Manager, alison.levy@dm.usda.gov
• Roderick Mance, USDA Mentoring Program Manager, roderick.mance@dm.usda.gov
• USDA Office of Operations TARGET Center, target-center@usda.gov 
• Derek Shields, Co-Chair, National Disability Mentoring Coalition, dshields@forwardworks.net