People at ILR

Kim Osmani is an Extension Associate with the Yang-Tan Institute serving in two capacities. She works with the Vocational Rehabilitation(VR) Youth Technical Assistance Center (Y-TAC) and also the Transition Services Professional Development Center (PDSC) with the NY State Education Department. She initially worked with the Y-TAC for two years as a subject matter expert on transition while she was the Statewide Transition Coordinator for the Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services. She now serves as a Technical Assistance (TA) Liaison with the Y-TAC for Institute of Educational Leadership’s National Center for Workforce Development (NCWD). In this role, she provides direct support for state VR agencies seeking assistance with improving service delivery to transition aged youth under Title I of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). As a subject matter expert on VR, transition of youth and students with disabilities, and special education, she develops and implements training, resources, curriculum, and tools and provides TA in direct alignment with the needs of VR agencies. In turn, Kim uses evidence-based, research-based, and promising practices to aid in policy development and/or revision and to enhance the delivery of services to opportunity youth, including youth with disabilities.

In her role with the PDSC, she provides training, technical assistance, content for a professional web site, and other tools and resources to the NYSED Transition Specialists and other staff.

Kim holds two master’s degrees—one in Special Education from the University of Florida, and one in Educational Administration from the University of Oklahoma. Kim maintains K-12 teaching certification and Principal certification in Oklahoma. She is working on completing her Ph.D. in Special Education with an emphasis on transition at the University of Oklahoma. Kim has won national awards and is highly regarded as an expert in transition within the VR networks. She has presented all over the United States and in Europe sharing promising practices, partnerships, and innovative programs for students and youth with disabilities. Kim also completed a juvenile justice certificate program on the Oklahoma team through Georgetown University.

During her 9 years as Oklahoma’s Transition Coordinator, Kim developed several new programs, partnerships, marketing materials, and policies. Her main focus was to provide guidance and technical assistance to the VR specialists and other staff who worked with transition aged youth. Kim served as the liaison across the state to engage with schools, other state agencies, and organizations. She was charged with developing and monitoring contracts, maintaining budgets, serving on statewide committees and councils for youth initiatives, assisting with agency programs, and was the agency contact for Project SEARCH. Since 2004, Kim served as Chair of the Oklahoma Transition Council and planned/implemented the statewide transition conference for 12 years.

Prior to her work in VR, Kim was a special education teacher for 10 years and worked at the Oklahoma State Department of Education, Special Education Services, for 4 years. While there, Kim began as a monitoring and compliance coordinator, wrote and received an almost $5 million State Personnel Development Grant, and promoted to Associate State Director, where she supervised teams over contracts, professional development, data collection and reporting, transition, and mental health. It was during her time in this position that she began working closely with national technical assistance centers, such as NSTTAC, NPSO, NDPC-SD, and IDEA Partnership. Her love for transition grew tremendously in this role, and she began to build partnerships around Oklahoma through the Oklahoma Transition Council and through a transition goal in the State Personnel Development Grant.