Celebrating 75 Years AbilityOne Program

Envision was founded in 1933, amidst the Great Depression as the Wichita Workshop and Training School for the Adult Blind. Their purpose was to give individuals who were blind the skill set necessary to make and sell their own products. When the Wagner-O'Day Act passed in 1938, the Wichita Workshop and Training School began supplying the federal government (and the United States Army stationed during WWII) with pillowcases and brooms.

In 1938, after the Wagner O'Day Act was passed under President Roosevelt, people who were blind began to make mops and brooms for the federal government. This grew into a larger line of products and services, which in 1952 enabled the National Industries for the Blind to launch SKILCRAFT^®. SKILCRAFT now includes more than 3,500 products and services created by people who are blind and supplied to the federal market.

New Leaf began work on the first Javits-Wagner-O'Day Program services contract, performing grounds maintenance, as a pilot project at the Naval Air Station, Whidbey Island, Washington. The contract is now over 40 years old and employs over 150 people with disabilities who provide grounds maintenance, shelf stocking and custodial services.

When the Wagner O'Day Act was broadened in 1971 to the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act, coverage and opportunities for people with significant disabilities was expanded. In 1974, NISH was incorporated as a national nonprofit organization to provide technical assistance to the Community Rehabilitation Programs that were participating in the Program. NISH opened its operations in Bethesda, Maryland, and later broke ground on a new location in Virginia.

Melwood got its start in 1963 when a group of parents began teaching plant care to young adults with significant disabilities. Soon, Melwood began to provide landscape maintenance services and in 1975 secured its first horticultural service contract under the AbilityOne^® Program for the Department of the Treasury. In 1982, Melwood added custodial services to its list of capabilities while working with the Smithsonian Institution. Melwood now employs 1,000 people who are blind or have significant disabilities at over 70 sites in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Melwood's largest contract is a custodial contract for the entire U.S. Naval Academy, totaling more than 150 workers.

Black Hills Workshop and Training Center secures Federal contracts through the AbilityOne^® Program. Employing people with significant disabilities, they provide outstanding custodial services, business services and grounds maintenance at key federal locations. In providing custodial services for more than 31 years at Ellsworth AFB, they have never gotten an unsatisfactory report. And, in working with the Ellsworth AFB commissary, they helped the commissary earn the distinction of “Best large commissary store in Defense Commissary Agency in the US”. The group has earned other distinctions as well!

ReadyOne Industries evolved from its initial AbilityOne^® Program contract and skills into broader government and commercial opportunities. The skills learned through the initial Program contract of manufacturing corrugated materials ultimately led ReadyOne Industries to produce boxes for commercial clients like Ford Motor Company. Their sewing division expanded too and even bought the rights to the Sarah Sportswear Company. This acquisition increased the number of jobs for people with significant disabilities to almost 400.

Professional Contract Services Inc. (PCSI) in San Antonio, Texas started with just three employees, but in a few short years went on to employ more than 600 people with significant disabilities on 50 federal and state contracts. PCSI's greatest strengths are its ability to troubleshoot opportunities and match employees with work assignments. PCSI is able to operate solely on revenues generated from the services it provides. It does not rely on grants of funding to fund its operations.

Southeastern Kentucky Rehabilitation Industries (SEKRI) leveraged available financial assistance programs to begin manufacturing chemical protective suits for the Department of Defense. Because of this, SEKRI employs 190 people with disabilities to make 15,000 suits each month. In 2003, SEKRI hired more people in Kentucky than any other employer!

Job Options, Inc. of San Diego was able to expand its laundry facilities through an interest-free loan from NISH, an AbilityOne^® Authorized Enterprise. The new plant was necessary because their laundry business for the hospitality and medical industries had grown so much. The new plant created more than 15 full time jobs for people with significant disabilities.

The ARC of Richmond, Virginia serves more than 1,000 people with significant disabilities. In May 2002, ARC of Richmond won its first major janitorial contract cleaning the Defense Supply Center, Richmond. Due to their outstanding performance in training employees, facilitating communications and delivering high standards of quality, the contract expanded 8%!