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"Heart of the City" Works at Circuit City
2006-12-10 17:11:00
In the past month, I learned about a customized employment arrangement negotiated with Circuit City by one of my organization's brightest and skilled job placement specialists, Ms. Melissa Reller. Reller works with our talented team in St. Cloud, Minnesota called Central Minnesota Work s. Reller and I collaborated on this feature below. As part of a growing trend to employ Minnesotans with significant disabilities, Circuit City - St. Cloud has tapped into an unconventional resource and is partnering with Rise Incorporated’s Central Minnesota Works (CMW) Office in St. Cloud, Minnesota. This unconventional workforce strategy is called customized employment.In 2006, Circuit City rolled out its new Hear t of the City corporate campaign. And General Manager, Shawn Pettigrew, had been looking for an opportunity to help his St. Cloud store connect with the community. The national electronic retailer is encouraging its individual stores to facilitate their own community outreach and integr...
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Whenever they say this, what they REALLY mean is...
2006-12-03 14:30:00
Almost one year ago, I wrote what has become one of my most popular posts on the blog. The post was entitled Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions. This article was a satirical look at silly questions I fielded in 2005 and some of faulty reasoning leaking through about why customizing employment was not a possibility for people with significant disabilities. The title Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions was borrowed from a popular feature run in MAD Magazine and written by one of the great social philosophers of our generation Mr. Al Jaffee.Well anyway, I am proud to announce that I'm still MAD! I am sure this news comes as a great shock and surprise to many of my readers and colleagues. And so to further demonstrate that "you just can’t take the MAD out of the boy," I offer yet another satirical feature from the archives of this irreverent but socially relevant magazine. This classic featured in MAD was entitled: Whenever they say this, what they REALLY mean is... Alright, so let's...
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Wage Compensation: Attracting & Retaining Qualified Professionals
2006-11-08 04:30:00
Two days ago, somebody who chose to remain anonymous left a comment on my blog in response to a recent post entitled Strolling Down Memory Lane. This individual’s comments were a bit off topic and not directly related to my post. However, I thought the visitor made some interesting points making it worthy of uploading as a post of its own. I have included this visitor’s unedited comments below. Immediately following the visitor’s remarks, I offer a reaction of my own. Please feel free to offer your own responses or viewpoints on this subject in the comment section to generate discussion. "I know this is not a related topic but I wanted to get peoples’ thoughts and opinions on the internal and external perceptions of being a Vocational Rehabilitation Prof ession al. I recently completed an AmeriCorps term with a large vocational rehab company in the metro area. First off I would like to say that the company I worked for did a very good job of trying to provide quality services ...
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Strolling Down Memory Lane
2006-11-05 07:19:00
It’s a quiet November evening and I’m just sitting here reminiscing about how much the times have changed during my lifetime. For example– Do you remember when we used typewriters to type our letters and important documents? The advance of personal computers has sure made writing and printing letters or documents much easier.Do you remember when we bought vinyl records, eight-track tapes, or cassette tapes to listen to music? The introduction of ipods and CDs have sure changed how we listen to our favorite tunes.Do you remember how once all of our mail was sent by postal delivery and it took a few days to receive it? Today, who can operate without the instant speed and ease of Internet email?Do you remember when we wanted to watch television how we only had three major network stations to select from? Today, the phenomenal growth of cable and satellite TV has produced hundreds of stations and possibilities for viewers to choose from.Do you remember when we wanted to change a t...
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Epilogue: The Role of Expectations in Customized Employment
2006-10-27 15:50:00
Only an hour or so after I uploaded my recent post Thomas Jefferson: The Author of Custom ized Employment , I received a telephone call from my daughter Kelly Lavin. As I have shared here before, Kelly is an employment specialist who works for Kaposia, Inc. in St. Paul, Minnesota. Kelly was calling me from Illinois where she had just finished running in the Chicago Marathon on Sunday. It was Kelly's first marathon and she had trained hard for months to compete in it. She finished the race successfully but shared with me her internal doubts and struggles during the race.Kelly indicated that she found herself "hitting the wall" at a certain stage of the race and was laboring to continue. It was a horrible internal fight between her mind and physical strength. She said she wasn't sure at one point that she would be able to finish the race. Suddenly, another runner could see that Kelly was struggling by the look on her face. He came over and took the time to offer his encouragement. He ...
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Thomas Jefferson: The Author of Customized Employment?
2006-10-21 17:53:00
One-by-one, the invited stakeholders shared their views with the group’s facilitator. It was the usual chorus of proclamations:"We definitely need more money to increase employment results," offered one participant."Jobs are really tough to come by in rural Minnesota," said another."You know, transportation access is a huge barrier," echoed someone else to the affirming nods of other group members."We need for more employers to get on board and take an interest," another person shared."It’s going to take better training and pay for our direct service practitioners to make a difference," exclaimed another.As we moved around the large table, I was eventually the next person in queue. I offered the following: "We need to increase our expectations."Looking somewhat confused, the event’s participants and facilitator stared in my direction as though dementia had finally set in on the old boy. It was the look that said: "This guy has three decades of management experience in providin...
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Mentoring: A Powerful Tool in Organizational Change
2006-09-19 16:29:00
Recently, Dr. John Butterworth, Project Director for the University of Massachusetts’ national Training & Technical Assistance Program (T-TAP), approached me about writing a paper to share successful elements associated with my agency’s organizational mentoring experiences. As a member of T-TAP’s Community Rehabilitation Program (CRP) Leadership Network, I have had the opportunity to work with representatives from the federal Department of Labor (DOL) as well as colleagues from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and UMASS to help roll out T-TAP’s strategies. A significant element in T-TAP’s design is supporting CRPs that are interested in promoting organizational change and increased access to customized employment in the workforce for their participants with significant disabilities.As a part of this process, my organization (Rise, Incorporated) was invited to participate in a structured mentoring program designed to offer peer support to an organization embracing sys...
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Deaf2Work: Taking a Peek into the Future
2006-09-04 01:52:00
"I lost my hearing due to an illness when I was only one-year old. I asked my family–where did my ears go?" This was part of a fascinating personal story shared by "Joseph" through an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter.Joseph is a middle-aged man and immigrant from Romania who is also deaf. He was speaking with a small group of professionals visiting him at his new job at a Home Depot store in Minneapolis. Joseph was hired by Home Depot through a creative private-public business partnership called Deaf2Work . Joseph is one of 12 individuals with significant hearing loss recently hired in Minnesota through this employment initiative involving Home Depot, Minnesota’s Division of Rehabilitation Services (RS), and Minnesota Employment Center for People who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (MEC).The Deaf2Work program originated in Georgia and is the brain child of Barbara Chandler, a Vocational Program Coordinator working in the Atlanta area. Chandler approached Home Depot’s Headqu...
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Customized Employment: Making the Business Case-Part II
2006-08-23 20:00:21
Editors Note: A little more than one year ago, I posted an article entitled Customized Employment : Making the Business Case . The point of this article was that customized employment makes very good business sense and the time has come for employers to consider hiring the abilities of adults with significant disabilities. Recently, I read an article published in the Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation entitled A national survey of consumer attitudes towards companies that hire people with disabilities . This national study, conducted by the Gallup Poll in association with the University of Massachusetts and America?s Strength Foundation in Maryland, offers new support in making the "business case" as to why employers should hire people with disabilities. The article below identifies some of the study?s interesting findings and its implications for businesses who choose to hire people with disabilities. Whenever we examine the core reasons behind the high unemployment ...
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Customizing a Niche in the Workforce
2006-08-08 19:33:16
"No! I don?t think he is employment ready." This was the professional judgment of a "collaborating" vocational rehabilitation (VR) counselor in response to an inquiry from other members of the community support team. The VR counselor was responding to a request for funding assistance to purchase job placement services for "Bill." Bill, a middle-aged man who resides in Anoka County, Minnesota, was unemployed due to symptoms of a serious and persistent mental illness (SPMI). His Assertive Case Management Team (ACT) was now weighing the possibility of integrated employment in the community workforce as a goal. In Anoka County, the ACT Team supports adults who have the highest level of need for mental health treatment and community living assistance. This intensive support is designed to address the overall community living goals of its residents with SPMI and prevent the need for institutionalization. Bill had experienced multiple hospitalizations during his lifetime due...
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Legions of Job Coaches?
2006-08-06 19:30:01
Have you ever thought about what it?s going to take to level the playing field? I have. The national research data tells us that only about 3 out of 10 adults with significant disabilities have jobs in the competitive workforce. Just about everyone laments this high unemployment rate of people with disabilities. However, a ready solution often seems elusive. And a wide unemployment gap continues to exist between adults who live with and without disabilities today. Despite increased advocacy efforts, this gap remains stubbornly high. Despite federal laws mandating an individualized public education, the gap continues. Despite increased government investments in disability, welfare, health care, and rehabilitation services, the gap has not narrowed significantly. And despite increased research about effective employment practices, this gap remains unacceptably high. Why is this so? Ah yes, I know what you are thinking. We need more public money, right? This is a common resp...
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Truth Happens!
2006-08-06 19:30:01
"The first time I viewed the video ad, I was blown away. The second time I viewed it, I was mesmerized by its creativity. And the third time I viewed it, I saw us." These were my opening remarks to colleagues during a keynote address I delivered at the Minnesota APSE Annual Conference on May 4th in Hinckley, Minnesota. I was making specific reference to a creative advertisement that I had viewed recently and had become the inspiration for my morning message. The clever ad was made by Linux, a computer operating system that is working to penetrate a market so thoroughly dominated by Microsoft, the mega-software corporation. The Linux advertisement is appropriately titled Truth Happens! Truth Happens sends its viewer on a three and a half minute journey through time and it certainly captured my imagination. The ad sets back the clock and recalls some of the prophetic wisdom made by so-called "experts" of their day. Here are some of the gems shared by the ad?s creator Red Hat...
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Keeping the Faythe
2006-08-06 19:30:01
Last October 2005, I posted an article entitled Morning in the Garden of Promise & Opportunity. It was the story about an agency in Savannah, Georgia that was working hard to transform its services from a center-based service model to integrated, customized employment in the workforce. My association with Coastal Center for Developmental Services (CCDS) as a mentor was arranged by the national Training and Technical Assistance Program or T-TAP. T-TAP is sponsored by the Department of Labor, Office on Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) and managed jointly by the University of Massachusetts? Institute on Community Inclusion and Virginia Commonwealth University?s Rehabilitation Research & Training Center on Workplace Supports. T-TAP offers a broad range of training activities and targeted technical assistance support for community rehabilitation programs who are interested in taking significant steps in progressive organizational change and offering customized employment.At the r...
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The AmeriCorps I-Team
2006-08-06 19:30:01
After about 30 minutes or so of give and take, the trio looked back at me with amazement and bewilderment. I was getting these long confused looks that communicated without words?"What on earth have we gotten ourselves into?!" The dialogue went something like this: AmeriCorps Members: What is this program all about? Lavin: Well, it?s really not a program. I would consider it to be more of a "community service." AmeriCorps Members: What is the difference? Lavin: Well, most programs have a lot of rules, procedures, restrictions, and structures attached to what they can do. And this service will have very few if any at all. AmeriCorps Members: So does this community service have a name? Lavin: Actually, no. I thought I would leave it to you folks to come up with one. AmeriCorps Members: Is there a brochure or some literature about this new service? Lavin: Um, no. Since this service doesn?t exist, I don?t have a brochure or detailed description about it. I only have ...
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A Conversion Story
2006-08-06 19:30:01
This past week, I had an interesting lunch meeting with a colleague and friend of mine, Becky Bazzarre from Lifetrack Resources in St. Paul, Minnesota. Becky and I have been collaborators and co-managers of a unique supported employment program called the Minnesota Employment Center (MEC) for Persons who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing for more than 13 years. My employer, Rise, Incorporated, and Lifetrack are organizational partners and jointly run MEC as a free-standing interagency program for Minnesotans with significant hearing loss and related job barriers. Together, our agencies have created customized and supported employment outcomes for more than 600 deaf and hard of hearing adults through MEC since its inception. After concluding our quarterly budget and management meeting for MEC, Becky and I decided to go to lunch and catch up on other matters. As our Chinese dinners arrived to the table, I asked how Becky how her conversion was coming along. No, Becky isn?t a recent ...
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C-A-N
2006-08-06 19:30:01
Photo by Robert Oliver Last weekend, my youngest daughter Meghan Lavin , a senior studying Kinesiology at the University of Minnesota, dropped off a CD at home for my wife and I to watch. Meg said: "Dad, I think you will love this." The CD was a two-hour documentary about an Ironman Triathalon event held in Hawaii a few years back. For readers unfamiliar with the Ironman race, it?s a grueling test of athletic and mental endurance. The Ironman Triathalon includes a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike race, and a 26.2 mile marathan run! As I watched this Ironman race unfold, the 8 ½ mile run that I had taken earlier that morning was beginning to feel very wimpy with each passing event! Frankly, I couldn?t tell you who won the race because I was so distracted by the interesting "behind the scenes" stories of individual athletes who had competed in the race. Make no mistake about it, Meg had sent the CD my way because she knew I would be impressed by the inspirational story of Team ...

Many Roads, One Destination
2006-06-10 05:59:00
"In their heart of hearts, most Americans know that the best social program is a job..." Bill Clinton, 1992.Former President Bill Clinton made this prophetic statement on his Presidential Campaign Trail in 1992. Now 14 years later, it seems like almost everybody is beginning to get it. In recent weeks, I've been meeting with government policymakers, educators, workforce center managers, State agency directors, community employment providers, business leaders, family members, and people with disabilities about employment and workforce development services. You know, it sure seems like everyone is talking these days about the fundamental value of having a good job and its direct impact on social, career, and economic well-being.Trust me, this has not always been the case. For many decades, living with a significant disability in the United States meant you got a free pass. Going to Work? In most instances, a job in the workforce was considered beyond the reach and abilities of many y...
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Manpower & Rise: Powering New Opportunities Inside the Workforce
2006-03-21 05:55:00
Hey, I’ve got Manpower! Nah, I’m not taking testosterone injections. Nope, I’m not spending an inordinate amount of my time at the gym pumping iron either. And most assuredly, my machismo quotient is well within the statistical reach of Barney Fife, Mayberry’s fearless and "manly" Deputy Sheriff. Actually, I am referring to a completely different kind of Manpower. I am talking about Manpower, Inc., the largest private employment service company in the world. My employer, Rise Incorporated, just launched an exciting new initiative with Manpower called the Partnership Employment Project or PEP. PEP is the vision of the Rehabilitation Research & Training Center (RRTC) at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). A business-based collaboration and employment research project, PEP is sponsored at VCU by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). Our PEP site in Minnesota is one of six research locations around the United States studying new approaches...
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A Gold Medal Week for Disability Awareness
2006-03-05 13:41:00
Wow! What an incredible week of public education on disability awareness. It seemed I couldn’t escape the remarkable news stories all week about the inclusion of people with disabilities. Are we finally making some progress? As I reported in last week’s post entitled Customized Employment in Alaska’s Iditarod, Rachael Scdoris left the starting line today (March 4th) in Anchorage, Alaska to follow her dream to become the first legally blind athlete to complete the rugged 1,112 mile dog sled race. Scdoris, denied the opportunity to participate in the race twice by the Iditarod’s Board of Governor’s due to her visual disabilities, is presently competing in a field of 83 mushers in the world’s premier dog sledding event. Scdoris is competing in this race with technical support from a visual interpreter. The visual interpreter was authorized by the Iditarod's Racing Board so critical information about dangerous terrain along the route can be relayed to Rachael via two way ra...
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Defining Customized Employment
2005-02-11 14:38:00
It's no secret that the unemployment rate for Americans with disabilities is a national embarrassment. Despite our best efforts at "rehabilitation," most national studies consistently show the unemployment rate for people with significant disabilities to be in the range of 60-70%. And it has been estimated as high as 90% for some disability populations including adults with serious mental illnesses (President’s New Freedom Commission on Men tal Health, 2003).Due to low job placement performance, there has been increased pressure on both public and private employment and rehabilitation programs to produce better outcomes for people with disabilities. Its not that traditional job placement services don’t work for people with disabilities. They do indeed! The problem lies in the fact that they do not work for all people with disabilities. The high national unemployment rates, coupled with high enrollment rates within center-based work and non-work programs for many disability popul...
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