Over the past month, two of RespectAbility’s major workforce initiatives, the Building Better Futures initiative (BBFI) and our Enabling Economic Independence to Work program (EIW), made great strides forward.
The BBFI program, which is made possible by the support of the James Irvine Foundation, is creating employment pipelines in the information technology and job coaching spaces for disabled people with multiple marginalized identities who don’t currently have college degrees. The program aims to establish partnerships between the disability community, educational institutions, industry, and government agencies in Southern California. Furthermore, the partners that RespectAbility has brought together are exploring the possibility of collaborating on larger statewide initiatives. We are excited about the program models that will emerge from these partnerships and hope they will be replicated throughout the country to bring about a meaningful and lasting change in disability employment nationwide. [continue reading…]