Goodwill Industries is a community-based employment program that helps people with disabilities prepare for and enter the job market. According to Tammy Deininger, Senior Director of Workforce Development at Goodwill Industries, San Antonio, the organization started out with sheltered work centers teaching job readiness to people with disabilities. Sheltered work, says Deininger, may be appropriate for individuals who need significant supports and may not have the skills necessary to become competitively employed.

In 1997, Goodwill began using their retail stores for job preparation, creating an opportunity for training in an integrated environment for the first time in the organization's history. Deininger says they eagerly undertook the program, creating a 40-hour weekly work schedule made up of 32 hours of work in the store and 8 hours of job search and job readiness training. Trainees learn skills such as workplace etiquette, time management, financial literacy and communication. "The training is important," said Deininger, "not to teach people how to work retail, but how to work period."

Educating Employers, Training Jobseekers in Miami
Supported employment is another option for people with disabilities who may not have the skills to go straight to competitive employment. Kevin Devine, Program Supervisor of Best Buddies Jobs in Miami, says the goal of supported employment is to help an individual with a disability learn to perform a job, and ultimately be able to do the job independently.

Best Buddies Jobs, says Devine, has helped employers reduce turnover, add diversity, and educate themselves on resources available to them. A key component to the process is the employment consultant, the person who works most closely with jobseekers. Loaidyn Gomez is an employment consultant who works with Devine at Best Buddies.

The employment consultant wears many hats, the most important of which is ensuring smooth communication is facilitated between the employer and the participant. Gomez says it is important for her to get to know the participant first in order to make a good job match. Their clients may shadow a couple of weeks with a job coach, and the employment consultant meets with them for two hours a week for an indefinite period of time as long as they need the support.

In spite of the fact that there's a third person involved in the employment relationship, the employment consultant never meets with the employer without the participant present, says Devine. Confidentiality, he says, is paramount; thus, the employment consultant can't disclose any information about the participants to the employer without their consent.

Gomez says her role is multifaceted. She researches the companies, visits the job sites, and talks to employers about Best Buddies. She also helps the participant learn how to interview and prepare for the interview. Once a participant is hired, Gomez goes to the site with the participant and helps them learn their job. She spends a significant amount time over the first couple weeks working one-to-one with the participant. Once they've settled into the job, Loaidyn visits about 10 hours a month.

"Open communication is important," says Gomez. "I might talk to the supervisor, coworkers or others. I help keep the lines of communication open between the participant and their coworkers and managers." Gomez is also available to educate the employer on how to work with individuals with intellectual disabilities.

Job coaching is another component of the supported employment relationship. Gomez says that a participant with a brain injury might use a job coach to help them with organizing their workspace and learning strategies to stay on task.

According to Devine, the employers who work with Best Buddies by and large have a positive perception of supported employment. Their statistics show 91.8 percent of employers that participated in the supported employment program at Best Buddies had a positive attitude toward their employees with disabilities and 98 percent would recommend supported employment to other employers.

Devine regularly makes presentations to the Miami Dade County Business Leadership Network on the Best Buddies Jobs program. He tries to increase the number of CEOs who hire people with disabilities through educating them on the benefits and advantages of hiring. Devine likens the process to farming. "First you plow the field, then plant, then tend to it. Then you get the fruit."

Working in LA
People with disabilities, says Keith Miller, Program Manager at Westside Center for Independent Living in Los Angeles, want to work. "Jobs," says Keith Miller, "are the number one priority in Los Angeles, even before housing." Not surprisingly, though, the fear of losing their benefits has kept many people with disabilities, not just in Los Angeles but nationwide, from trying to work.

Miller works with people with disabilities in conjunction with the Department of Rehabilitation Services to enable clients to return to work. One mechanism he has used successfully is the Plan for Achieving Self Sufficiency, or PASS plan. These allow an individuals to set aside a portion of their Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for a particular vocational rehabilitation related purpose such as the purchase of a vehicle or a piece of assistive technology.

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