One of the Workshops included in the agenda of the Proyecto Visión Conference was about Employment Opportunities with Government Agencies. This session provided an opportunity for participants to learn about internships and job opportunities at the Department of Labor, Veterans Administration, Department of Defense and other government agencies.

Presenters were Rudy Rodriguez Sr., Employment Program Representative at the California Employment Development Department, and Bob Brostrom, Special Assistant at the Office of Disability Employment Policy in the U.S. Department of Labor.

Employment Development Department

The California Employment Development Department (EDD) is able to help Californians with disabilities find jobs in the government, and a few of their web page links may also help people in other states, said Rodriguez. "People are the most important resources at EDD," said Rodriguez. "We treat everyone with courtesy, dignity, and respect. We volunteer in the community where we work.

Among other services, the EDD is able to provide labor market information. They can also provide information to aspiring professionals about what training they need to enter certain fields, such as art engineer, and what it's like to work in these fields. The job services branch of EDD assists job hunters with resume development, job listings, and local and national job referrals.

Programs within the EDD

An Initial Assistance Workshop is designed for the needs of individuals who want to obtain long-term employment but who have not worked for a long time, said Rodriguez. EDD's Rapid Response program launches into action when there is a massive layoff or other employment-related crisis in California; representatives from EDD speak to laid-off employees to share tips on finding a new job. EDD also helps develop new jobs, and contacts employers to persuade them to list jobs with the EDD.

EDD helps educate people about Work Opportunity Tax Credits (WOTC), a program that gives employers incentive to hire people with disabilities. Employers who hire workers with disabilities are able to obtain $4000 tax credit for the first 400 hours that the worker remains employed.

A pilot project, "Jobs for All," (JFA) has recently been initiated in some areas of California, Rodriguez indicated. The JFA project helps people with disabilities who want employment and who are ready for work. JFA helps these clients improve their interview skills and provides other assistance such as job search assistance, job placement, and referral services. Most assistance, including job interview rehearsals, is provided on a one-on-one basis. "People are at different levels," said Rodriguez. "Some just need job leads. Some need practice and practice."

A Youth Employment Opportunity Program (YEOP) provides services to at-risk youth, ages 15 to 21, including peer advising, workshops, referrals for supportive services and training, and job referral and placement assistance. "At risk" youth include offenders, individuals with poor literacy or limited English skills, members of minority groups, individuals affiliated with a gang, homeless youth, and teen parents.
EDD resources, within California and nationally.

Individuals in Orange County, California who wish to use EDD services may contact Rudy Rodriguez, "Jobs for All" Employment Specialist in the Employment Development Department at 2450 E. Lincoln Avenue, Anaheim CA 92806, (714) 518-2341.

Information about unemployment insurance in California is available at: 900 300-5616 (English), 800 326-8937 (Spanish), (800) 547-3506 (Chinese), and 800 547-2058 (Vietnamese).

The CalJOBS web service provides links to America's Job Bank, lists job openings, and allows users to post their resumes. Currently, 8000 job hunters have active resumes filed on the site. Their web page is available at http://www.caljobs.ca.gov. The page is mainly in English with some limited Spanish translation available. Job listings include both federal and California state jobs.

Other helpful web sites include: http://www.edd.ca.gov, http://www.calmis.ca.gov, http://www.spb.ca.gov, and http://www.governmentjobs.com.

National resources on the EDD page

Job hunters in states other than California may still find it useful to connect to http://www.spb.ca.gov/s2otherrd.cfm. This page includes links targeted at employees who want to work in California and employees in any state who want to work in federal jobs. The page also lists links to job boards for most states in the United States.

U.S. Department of Labor programs

Brostrom introduced audience members to a new office, Office of Disability Employment Policy, within the U.S. Department of Labor. The new office merges the old President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities that began just after World War II and the Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities that began under President Bill Clinton's Administration. "We're not a direct job assistance place," said Brostrom. "We work on new policy."

He explained: "there is a very high rate of unemployment of people with disabilities in the US; the estimates are probably around 70% and there is really no easy way of getting an accurate count. Now we are working with the Bureau of Labor Statistics from the Department of Labor to see if we can get them to include people with disabilities like they do with other groups of minorities so, we can get an accurate count. They tell us that this should happen soon".

President George Bush's New Freedom Initiative

Soon after taking office, President George Bush introduced the New Freedom Initiative, which is targeted at improving employment among people with disabilities in the United States. "Bush says that 'employment is the key,'" said Brostrom. "If you can work, obviously there will still be problems, but that's a big step to improving other things.

The New Freedom Initiative, among other projects, includes a focus on improving transportation services for people with disabilities. "If you can't get to your job, you can't work," said Brostrom. Another project, the Telework project, promotes telecommuting for individuals who find it easier to work from home. Banking and a wide range of service and other professions can be adapted for work at home with the appropriate computer and other technology, Brostrom indicated.

Some states support telecommuting as a way to reduce traffic problems, as a way to reduce pollution, and to provide "reasonable accommodations" to employees with disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Employees with disabilities, however, are not forced to work from home if they would prefer to work in the office. "Everything we do is based on consumer choice," said Brostrom.

Other Job Opportunities

Bob Brostrom also shared some resource information on places where Latinos with disabilities can search for job opportunities within the Government. He mentioned the website USAjobs (http://www.usajobs.opm.gov/) as being a great source for finding out jobs. He explained that, due to the fact that his office is a new one, they are looking to hire. Previously they had a total of 23 open positions but more will be available soon.

"There is also going to be a new website that we are mostly responsible for. It will be announced by the President in October and it will be called "Disability Direct". This site will be like a One-Stop Career Center where disabled people can go and get links to all sorts of information" he said.

According to Brostrom, one of the areas that is not being utilized enough by people with disabilities, is what's called a schedule "A" appointment in the Federal Government. This means that if you are identified as a person with disability in need, you can be appointed to a job outside of the competitive process. This will give you quite an advantage and what it is required is that you get a certificate from either your vocational rehabilitation counselor or from a Veteran's Administration office. He continued: "For instance, in an agency like ours which is hiring now, we would have the ability to hire a person who is qualified and has a disability, without having another job out there, outside of the competitive process."

Audience discussion

Members of the audience responded to Rodriguez's and Brostrom's presentations with questions, comments, and stories from their own experiences in the employment field. One employer once asked an audience member, "Why hire your people if we can get normal people?" Reports were shared of clients who had been unemployed for upwards of a year and a half who now believe they are "worth less" than other employees.

Stereotypes of people with disabilities continue to abound among some employers, said some workshop participants. Among them is the assumption that people with disabilities will necessarily become sick more frequently than other employees. Participants raised the need to educate employers and change their attitudes toward workers with disabilities. One individual pointed out that surveys say that networking is the best way to get a job.

One audience member shared her experience educating people about Schedule A, a federal service that can make it easier for applicants with disabilities to obtain government jobs. Even some vocational rehabilitation counselors who have worked at their agency for several years are not aware that Schedule A can help some of their clients with disabilities get jobs. The audience member indicated that, when she encounters ignorance, she asks to speak to the manager to urge them to improve their training of vocational rehabilitation counselors. Schedule A sometimes has different names in different states, but is a federal program.

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