The Virginia Department of Rehabilitation Services (DARS) has a goal to provide virtual career workshops to students with learning disabilities across the Commonwealth.

To fulfill the mission, DARS needs high-quality instruction to make every online session engaging and impactful.

Enter Rubin’s Emerge employability skills curriculum and Aspire career exploration video platform.

We are proud to be an integral part of a new initiative called Virtual PERT 2.0. PERT stands for Postsecondary Education Rehabilitation Transition. The program allows the DARS team, like PERT Career Lab Instructor Allison Kennedy, to visit high school classrooms. Each time, she relies on Emerge for lessons on networking, social skills, basic financial math, LinkedIn and even how to use proper tone of voice. Kennedy also shares Aspire videos that showcase careers in STEM, manufacturing, the trades and more.

“It’s really nice to have a big content library to pick through and connect to our objectives,” said Kennedy.

The DARS team piloted Virtual PERT 2.0 in the city of Gloucester in fall 2025. The ultimate plan is to reach students in all corners of the state and particularly in economically-challenged communities like Southwest Virginia and the Northern Neck.

Wherever Kennedy and her team go next, Rubin will be right there too.

Listen to more of our conversation with Allison Kennedy.