Printer-Friendly Version
OPA News Release: [11/21/2002] Contact Name: Elissa
Pruett Phone Number: (202) 693-4676
U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao Presents First
New Freedom Initiative Awards
WASHINGTON, D.C.Three
organizations and one individual have been named recipients of the U.S.
Department of Labors first New Freedom Initiative Awards, which were
presented by Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao on November 21, 2002. The awards
recognize exemplary and innovative public-private partnership efforts in
furthering the employment objectives of the Presidents New Freedom
Initiative. Awardees are:
- Lift, Inc. of Warren, N.J., a non-profit organization that
places information technology professionals with significant disabilities in
corporations and government agencies across the United States.
- Able-Disabled Advocacy of San Diego, California, a non-profit
organization that provides employment and training services to people with
disabilities.
- Vocational Advancement and Social Skills Training (V.A.S.T.) and
Office Skills Training Program of the Houston, Texas, Community College
System, which provides employment-focused post-secondary education to persons
with developmental disabilities.
- Bruce Borden of Middleton, Wisconsin, founder of the
Wheelchair Recycling Program and the Economic Benefit through Individualized
Disabled Employment (EBTIDE), a non-profit organization that seeks to create
opportunities that maximize employment and economic advancement of people with
disabilities.
Workers with disabilities represent an under-utilized pool of
talent. We need that talent today more than ever, Secretary Chao said.
The New Freedom Initiative paves the way for more Americans with
disabilities to enter the workforce and enjoy community life.
W. Roy Grizzard, Assistant Secretary for Disability Employment Policy,
congratulated the recipients and urged them to become trailblazers. If we
are to see significant progress in the employment of people with disabilities,
your success can and should be replicated, said Grizzard. I
encourage you to work in partnerships within your states and communities to
multiply the impact and, most importantly, the end results.
President Bush introduced the New Freedom Initiative within the first 30
days of his Presidency, on February 1, 2001. The New Freedom Initiative
represents a comprehensive set of proposals designed to ensure that Americans
with disabilities have the opportunity to learn and develop skills, engage in
productive work, make choices about their daily lives, and participate fully in
their communities. The Office of Disability Employment Policy in the Department
of Labor has the key responsibility for implementing the employment-related
aspects of the Presidents New Freedom Initiative.
* * *
New Freedom Initiative Awards 2002
Lift, Inc., Warren, NJ
Since 1975, this small national nonprofit has placed information
technology professionals with significant disabilities at more than 80 of the
most prestigious corporations and government agencies in the country. By means
of an intensely individualized, comprehensive and innovative six-step program
of project planning, recruitment, skills development, contract employment,
direct placement, and career-long follow-up, Lift has placed professionals with
quadriplegia, blindness, deafness, and muscular dystrophy in meaningful
long-term careers.
In the project planning phase, Lift works with management at its
corporate clients companies to identify long-term solid career
opportunities for IT professionals. In the recruitment phase, Lift recruits
individuals with significant disabilities and strong analytical ability to fill
the positions targeted.
In the skills development phase, Lift provides training at no cost to
the trainee in whatever skills are needed for the position. The training, which
is full-time and can last anywhere from zero to six months, is designed to
emulate the actual job. Trainees use the software, hardware, and accommodations
they will use for the work. In addition, they attend regular meetings with
their corporate team managers, and have e-mail and phone access to both the
Lift team and their client teams from day one for support.
Following successful completion of the training phase, graduates are
hired to work for Lift and assigned full-time corporate clients for a one-year
apprenticeship. Lift continues to manage the process closely to ensure that
each individual is able to work at his or her personal maximum productivity
level. Salaries are paid to match corporate client pay ranges.
More than 95 percent of the participants who enter the apprenticeship
phase are hired by participating corporate clients at the conclusion of the
apprenticeship, and more than 88 percent are still with the same employer five
years after placement. The starting annual salary for a participant in the
apprenticeship program has averaged $45,000 over the past three years.
Able-Disabled Advocacy, San Diego
Able-Disabled Advocacy is a non-profit organization residing in San
Diego County since 1976, which has provided employment and training services to
people with disabilities. This organization serves youth and adults with all
types of disabilities, including but not limited to orthopedic, vision, and
hearing impairments, psychiatric conditions, and learning disabilities.
Able-Disabled Advocacy emphasizes the need for and training in assistive
technology to enhance employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
Consequently Able-Disabled Advocacy has been heavily involved in numerous
activities that increase access to assistive and universally designed
technologies. These include converting the state of California Employment
Development Departments (EDD) training manual for accessing the statewide
job bank system to Braille: increasing universal access at San Diegos
One-Stop Career Centers by co-location of Able-Disabled staff, and providing
assistive technology, technical assistance, computer labs, computer skills
training, and customized employment services; assisting employers and
participants in negotiating job modifications and needed accommodations;
developing and circulating an Assistive Technology Survey to more than 150 San
Diego employers; and offering consulting, training, and technology assistance
at no cost.
Able-Disabled Advocacy also has a number of innovative training programs
which utilize computerized labor market information and job search training,
entrepreneurial or e-business training, and online computer technology
training.
Program year goals for 2002 included enrolling 444 participants and
placing 318 in jobs. As of July (the deadline for the award application),
Able-Disabled Advocacy had enrolled 464 participants and had placed 280 people
with disabilities.
Vocational Advancement and Social Skills Training and
Office Skills Training Program, Houston Community College System
These two programs serve individuals with developmental, learning and
physical disabilities functioning at the kindergarten to 8th grade
level. The V.A.S.T. program provides unique post-secondary educational
opportunities focused on in-demand employment training, hiring and retention
strategies. It assists students with making realistic career choices, building
self-esteem and self-confidence by improving basic skills, participating in
campus activities, improving social skills, and enhancing independent living
skills. V.A.S.T. offers 32 courses per semester in basic academics and life
skills, personal/social adjustment, computers (at a slower pace than in the
office skills program), career vocational, independent living, job readiness,
and various enrichment courses (plus work etiquette, job club, internships,
interviewing, resumes, and dress for success).
The Office Skills program offers customized training to students with
disabilities in the office occupations skills. This program includes a 10-week
internship and provides course work in business communications, filing, general
office, procedures, intermediate keyboarding, and PC fundamentals (Word, Excel,
Power-Point).
As part of the overall program, students participate in special
activities. For example, a College Day brings area high school students to
visit the college. The Eagles Club, an organization for students with
disabilities, sponsors an Ability Day in October, with all activities focused
on the abilities of individuals. Students also participate in the national
Disability Mentoring Day, which provides on-the-job mentoring or job shadowing
within the college and at business sites in the community.
The two programs serve approximately 400 students per year.
Approximately 10 percent of the students in V.A.S.T. move into standard college
credit courses or certificate programs. About 30 percent of the VAST students
go on to the Office Skills Training Program. The remaining students either
become employed at their particular skill level or are able to live more
independently in the community after completing the program.
Bruce Borden, Middleton, Wisconsin
Bruce Borden, a person with quadriplegia, operates programs that serve
individuals with a wide range of disabilities directed toward increasing
employment opportunities through assistive technology and in other ways. He has
also been influential in establishing affordable housing for people with
disabilities in Wisconsin. In 1991, Mr. Borden established the Wheelchair
Recycling Program, an organization that has collected, repaired, and
distributed more than 150 tons of wheelchairs and other medical equipment to
uninsured individuals throughout Wisconsin and to more than 50 foreign
countries.
In 1996, he founded EBTIDE (Economic Benefit through Individualized
Disabled Employment), a non-profit organization that seeks to create
opportunities that maximize employment and economic advancement of people with
disabilities. In conjunction with EBTIDE, the State of Wisconsin implemented
Pathways to Independence, a Social Security Administration and Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation demonstration project. This project gives participants
simplified, coordinated access to comprehensive assistance in attaining their
employment goals. The local Comprehensive Assistance Networks also recruit
employers to match abilities of the individual with the employers
requirements. In addition, Pathways to Independence has had success in removing
employment barriers resulting from public policy, including implementation of a
Medicaid Purchase Plan designed to provide access to health care to people
without current coverage who meet the SSI disability test, and an SSI waiver
providing for a gradual reduction of cash assistance on a sliding scale for SSI
recipients who want to work.
Mr. Borden has also been influential in working with Wisconsins
Department of Workforce Development to conduct a demonstration project entitled
Making Work Pay to address financial disincentives to viable
competitive employment for people with disabilities.
This program envisions systems change that redirects existing
legislation, programs and public assistance into a streamlined one-stop portal
that creates a self-directed benefits package for people with disabilities who
are able to work and motivated to earn income above federally designed
caps.
The program also provides them with a hold-harmless guarantee regarding
eligibility in their respective public assistance programs should they
unexpectedly need to interrupt their employment for disability-related
reasons.
Mr. Bordens achievements include 150 tons of wheelchairs and other
medical equipment being distributed to individuals with disabilities, 110
families in Wisconsin becoming homeowners and serving more than 300 enrollees
this year alone in the EBTIDE program.
# # #
_________________________________________________________________
| |
|