ABILITIES COMMITTEE
MINUTES
March 3, 2011
PRESENT:
Anthony Davis, Mental Health Association
Lois Forman, Jewish Family Services
Angela Lucas, hireAbility
Jack Marcellus, Focus Academy
Jim Monaghan, Steininger Behavioral Services
Teresa Owens, DVRS
STAFF:
Sherriea Gorden, CCWIB
Jeffrey S. Swartz, CCWIB
Welcome
Jeff advised members that Sandi Kelly had a conflict with attending and welcomed attendees. Round table introductions were made.
Members were asked to provide a list of upcoming events for distribution and support.
Several documents were distributed including:
A News Release:
Camden County Freeholder Board and Workforce Investment Board Committed to Improving the Disability Employment Landscape
Camden County Freeholder Board is participating the Campaign for Disability Employment, a new collaborative effort to promote positive employment outcomes for people with disabilities.
The Campaign for Disability Employment is a national initiative designed to increase the employment of people with disabilities. Every day, people with disabilities can and do add value to America’s workplaces. However, in both good economic times and bad, people with disabilities have far fewer job opportunities than the general population. The Campaign for Disability Employment’s goal is to promote the hiring, retention and advancement of people with disabilities and dispel negative stereotypes about disability and employment.
“Camden County has always supported and advocated equal access and employment for those with disabilities,” said Camden County Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli, Jr. “We are proud to support this initiative.
In support of the Campaign, Camden County will promote the advocacy Web site, www.whatcanyoudocampaign.org, which offers users the chance to learn, express their commitment to disability employment efforts and share what they “can do.” The site also features grassroots tools and tangible ideas for supporting the Campaign’s goals, as well as video public service announcements (PSAs) that challenge assumptions about people with disabilities and employment. Included in the video library is the Campaign’s flagship “I Can” PSA, intended for nationwide television broadcast, and “Meet Sue”, the winner of the What Can YOU Do? video contest, which invited aspiring filmmakers to produce their own videos in support of the Campaign’s goals.
Specifically, the Camden County Workforce Investment Board Abilities Committee in cooperation with Camden County Economic Development will utilize the employer educational tools which include videos, posters and educational articles as part of their overall business outreach efforts and at various business and community related events.
The Workforce Investment Boards Abilities Committee is an advisory committee consisting of members from various agencies and the private sector whose mission is to raise awareness and help to address issues surrounding disability employment.
“I think it’s important to engage the private sector in Camden County in helping to educate our companies about the benefits of hiring persons with disabilities. This tool kit provides us the means to do just that”, said Sandi Kelly, chair of the Abilities Committee. Sandi is also responsible for the county’s economic development and business assistance program for the county, which provides services to businesses including site selection, workforce recruitment & training, and financing & incentives.
“We are thrilled that so many individuals and organizations are taking part in this groundbreaking campaign to advance America’s promise of opportunity for all,” said Louis Orslene, co-director of the Job Accommodation Network (JAN), a technical assistance provider to the Campaign for Disability Employment. “Together, we can drive positive change by illustrating that at work, it’s what people CAN do that matters.”
About the Campaign for Disability Employment
The Campaign for Disability Employment seeks to promote positive employment outcomes for people with disabilities by encouraging employers, and others, to recognize the value and talent that people with disabilities bring to the workplace, as well as the dividend to be realized by fully including people with disabilities at work. The Campaign is a collaborative effort between the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD); National Business and Disability Council (NBDC); National Council of La Raza (NCLR); National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC); Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM); Special Olympics (SO); and the U.S. Business Leadership Network (USBLN). The Campaign is funded by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), receives technical assistance from the Job Accommodation Network (JAN) and is supported by the Disability Policy Research Center (DPRC) at West Virginia University. For more information, visit www.whatcanyoudocampaign.org.
Hello, “I AM NORM” www.IamNorm.org campaign is to promote inclusion by seeking to redefine the meaning of “normal” in our culture.
In January 2010, twenty young people, with and without disabilities, flew from various locations across the United States to meet each other for the very first time in Washington, DC.
They come from diverse backgrounds and places, but they share some common ideas. They believe that diversity makes us stronger, and that discrimination breaks us down. They know that hatred is a learned behavior, and that they can all strive to rise above fear and prejudice. They understand firsthand what they gain when everyone is included in our schools and our communities, and how much they lose when anyone is left out. They are united in our commitment to a world where people of various abilities have equal opportunities.
The youth who met that January wanted to see a change. In just one weekend, they designed a campaign in hopes of bringing about that change. Through this campaign, they hope to raise awareness about inclusion, provide opportunities for youth to share their ideas about inclusion, and promote inclusive practices in schools and communities. They want to encourage the acceptance, respect, and full inclusion of all youth, including those with disabilities, in schools and communities.
They think that people should not have to fit a mold in order to fit into a classroom or a community. They want the world to abandon its perceptions of normalcy, and to learn to embrace and appreciate diversity among individuals. They want to show people to see that real inclusion can only happen by bringing together diverse groups of people and ensuring that everyone is supported, understood, and respected.
They are an initiative designed by young people to promote the acceptance, respect, and full inclusion of youth with disabilities in schools and communities. Our work is driven by a Youth Inclusion Taskforce and supported by a coalition of youth-serving partner organizations. Visit the website for additional material if you are interested in integrating I Am Norm into your curriculum.
The National Organization of Disability and Bridges to Business
A packet of information was distributed which describes the three phases in the development of employment programs:
Phase I-New Initiatives
Employers new to disability employment. Focus is on identifying and screening local partners, training, policy and program development. Identification of hiring targets and metrics is also critical during phase I.
Phase II-Consistency, Growth & Expansion
Employers with established programs looking to expand, typically in the 3 & 5 year mark. Focus in on programmatic consistency, institutionalized training, increasing hiring targets, etc. Program expansion is key during this phase.
Phase III-Innovation
Targets employers with mature disability programs, typically at the 5 year mark. Focus is on continued expansion (6-10 additional locations) universal design and increased hiring goals, and tracking promotion rates.
Bridges to Business
Mr. Anthony R. Camuso, NJ Project Director can be reached at 908-458-6867, the website for additional information is 222.NOD.org. Jeff suggested the committee consider having Mr. Camuso provide the committee with the presentation.
Angel Lucas, Hirability distributed a Job Fair Flyer for:
Thursday, March 17, 2011
10:00 AM 2:00 PM
Camden County College
Connector Building Atrium, 200 College Drive, Blackwood, NJ
Additional information is available at 856.374.4921
Next Meeting
The next scheduled meeting for the Abilities Committee is Thursday, May 5, 2011.
Submitted by:
Sherriea Gorden
January 11, 2011
Dear Abilities Committee Members:
I would like to thank all of you for your service to this very important committee and to your commitment to individuals with disabilities in the community every day.
For those of you who could not attend the meeting we discussed the WIB’s goals for the coming year and how our committee could be a part of meeting those goals to specifically benefit the population we serve.
We determined that we should focus on raising awareness among the business community about the benefits and value of hiring people with disabilities with a focus on youth. One of the ways we can easily do this, is to take advantage of the “What can YOU do?” campaign for disability employment. This program is a collaborative effort between several non-profits and is funded by the US Department of Labor. It includes a variety of free tools which we can utilize to meet our objectives.
As discussed at the meeting, I’d like for each of you to check out this valuable resource and think about how we can apply the tools made available to our community. Some ideas brought up at the meeting were:
1) Include educational handouts as part of economic development/business assistance marketing package (Sandi/Teresa)
2) Provide handouts at conferences we attend as stakeholders (all committee members)
3) Give a presentation at a business event (All committee members)
4) Do a joint press release in support of the campaign (All committee members)
5) Support the campaign by listing the web link on our respective websites, newsletters, etc. (All committee members)
6) Use current county cable TV spots to run Public Service Announcements, DVD’s are also available and can be ordered at no cost (Sandi/ County)
Please check out the website www.whatcanyoudocampaign.org and let us know what your ideas are.
We also spoke about various events that either promote our mission or provide an opportunity to promote it. I’d like to keep a schedule of events to distribute regularly, so please send a list of events you know about, so we can all help to cross promote them.
Thank you again for your continued support of the WIB and our community!
Sincerely,
Sandi Kelly
Abilities Chair
ABILITIES COMMITTEE