(Press-News.org) West Orange, NJ. July 26, 2012. For the 22nd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Kessler Foundation and the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development released a new research brief on disability employment. "Strategies to Support Employer-Driven Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Employees with Disabilities" explores a growing trend among employers to establish initiatives to increase the participation of workers with disabilities in their workplaces. Authors are Elaine Katz, MS, CCC-SLP of Kessler Foundation, Meg O'Connell of the National Organization on Disability (NOD), and Robert Nicholas, PhD, of the Heldrich Center.
These initiatives involve partnerships with local workforce and disability service organizations. Coordinated by a single agency (or small number of agencies), employers gain access to assistance and support services for recruitment, training, and job retention for employees with disabilities. This new brief, one in a series on disability and employment, examines the successful partnership initiatives that have enabled employers to hire people with disabilities. "These initiatives are resulting in integrated workforces where people with and without disabilities work side by side," said Katz, "and employers are reporting benefits in their workplaces and to their bottom lines."
The brief profiles the following successful disability employment initiatives:
Walgreens Distribution Centers, which exceeded its target of hiring 30% of its Anderson, NC center's workforce through a partnership with disability service providers, and found that efficacy increased by 20%.
The NOD's Bridges to Business program, which helped Lowe's establish a successful and sustainable hiring initiative for its distribution centers.
The Connecticut Bureau of Rehabilitation Services' Industry-Specific Training and Placement Program, which provided grants to five community rehabilitation providers to partner with major employers, eg, Lowe's, HomeGoods, Mohegan Sun Casino, CVS and Walgreens.
Wal-Mart's partnership with Project SEARCH, a school-to-work transition program, provides real-life work experiences that help young adults with disabilities explore careers and sample jobs that suit their skills and interests. Wal-Mart was the first to license Project SEARCH for distribution centers. Project SEARCH's host employers also include banking, hospitals, and government agencies.
Reddwerks, a software company based in Austin, Texas, which responded to the needs created by disability employment initiatives. Reddwerks' disability-friendly distribution management systems software has enabled employers to expand their pool of job candidates with disabilities.
Tailoring disability employment initiatives helps businesses identify workers with the skills needed to fill new employment opportunities. The brief also examines how state officials, local service and support agencies, and employers can foster continued growth of initiatives that meet workforce needs while providing jobs for people with disabilities.
###
About the Heldrich Center
The John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, based at the Edward Bloustein Center for Public Planning and Policy at Rutgers University, is a dynamic research and policy center devoted to strengthening the nation's workforce. It is one of the nation's leading university-based centers devoted to helping America's workers and employers respond to a rapidly changing 21st century economy. http://www.heldrich.rutgers.edu
About Kessler Foundation
Kessler Foundation is one of the largest public charities in the field of disability. Kessler Foundation Research Center focuses on improving function and quality of life for persons with injuries of the spinal cord and brain, stroke, multiple sclerosis, and other chronic neurological conditions. Kessler Foundation Program Center fosters new approaches to the persistently high rates of unemployment among people disabled by injury or disease. Targeted grant-making funds promising programs across the nation. Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, people recovering from catastrophic injuries and stroke, and young adults striving for independence are among the thousands of people finding jobs and training for careers as a result of the commitment of Kessler Foundation.
Find us at www.KesslerFoundation.org
Like us at http://www.facebook.com/KesslerFoundation
Follow us @KesslerFound http://twitter.com/#!/KesslerFound
Carolann Murphy, PA 973-324-8382; Cmurphy@KesslerFoundation.org
Lauren Scrivo; 973-324-8384; LScrivo@KesslerFoundation.org
Kessler Foundation and Heldrich Center issue brief on hiring workers with disabilities
Katz, O’Connell & Nicholas author research brief: 'Strategies to Support Employer-Driven Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Employees with Disabilities. Brief Profiles Successful Disability Employment Initiatives by Walgreens, Lowe's, Wal-Mart'
2012-07-26
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Terrorism and the Olympics by-the-numbers: Analysis from UMD-based START
2012-07-26
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - History offers a warning, but no clear pattern on the true risk of terrorism at the Olympic Games, concludes a new report by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) based at the University of Maryland.
The Olympic Games have been terror targets on three separate occasions since 1970, claiming 22 lives and wounding more than 100, the report says. It compiles and analyzes data from START's comprehensive Global Terrorism Database (GTD).
"The heightened profile of these events might increase the likelihood ...
Delving into the molecular mechanism behind deep-sea bacteria's pressure tolerance
2012-07-26
The Mariana Trench is the deepest feature of the Earth's surface. The water column there exerts a pressure of more than one thousand times normal atmospheric pressure at sea level, enough pressure to crush an SUV. Yet many organisms thrive in this seemingly inhospitable environment. A Japanese research team has been investigating how deep-sea bacteria adapt to such high-pressure conditions. They have identified a structural change that confers pressure-resistant properties on a particular protein found in bacteria. The findings, which the team will present at the meeting ...
Speed and power of X-ray laser helps unlock molecular mysteries
2012-07-26
By outrunning a laser's path of destruction, an international research team has created 3D images of fragile but biologically important molecules inside protein nanocrystals. Using the Linac Coherence Light Source (LCLS), a powerful X-ray laser at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park, Calif., the scientists fired femtosecond (one quadrillionth of a second) bursts of light at a stream of tumbling molecules, obliterating them as they pass, but not before capturing otherwise illusive images of their crystalline structures.
An overview and early results ...
Researchers dig through the gene bank to uncover the roots of the evolutionary tree
2012-07-26
Ever since Darwin first published The Origin of the Species, scientists have been striving to identify a last universal common ancestor of all living species. Paleontological, biochemical, and genomic studies have produced conflicting versions of the evolutionary tree. Now a team of researchers, led by a professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo and including area high school students, has developed a novel method to search the vast archives of known gene sequences to identify and compare similar proteins across the many kingdoms of life. Using the comparisons ...
The Olympic Games are not always profitable
2012-07-26
The economic impact of the Olympics has not been the same for all host countries. According to the Olympic Studies Centre at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the games held in the Catalonian capital 20 years ago were a resounding and incomparable success. But it is not always the case.
The Olympic Games have always been thought of as a great opportunity to give a long-term boost to the economy by taking advantage of a short-term event. But before embarking on the costly effort of organising the Olympics, each candidate city should evaluate their own goals and capacities ...
A further step towards preventing diabetes
2012-07-26
Pancreatic beta cells produce insulin, responsible for controlling blood sugar levels and thus essential for our survival. Among the numerous factors that affect the workings of these cells, a protein called Cx36 was identified a few months ago by a research team at the UNIGE. The scientists there had demonstrated that in transgenic mice, suitably modified so as not to produce any Cx36, synchronization of the beta cells ceased and insulin production went out of control. This de-synchronization of insulin secretion is the first measurable sign in people suspected of developing ...
German National Academy of Sciences issues a critical statement on the use of bioenergy
2012-07-26
In a statement on the chances and limits of using bioenergy, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina has come to the conclusion that in quantitative terms, bioenergy plays a minor role in the transition to renewable, sustainable energy sources in Germany at the present time and probably in the future. Bioenergy requires more surface area, is associated with higher greenhouse gas emissions and is more harmful to the environment than other renewable sources such as photovoltaic, solar thermal energy and wind energy. In addition, energy crops potentially compete ...
Unique scientific collaboration reveals hard facts on European drug use
2012-07-26
Amsterdam, July 26, 2012 - Surveys of drug use form an important basis for the development of effective drug policies, and also for measuring the effectiveness of existing policies. For the first time in history, scientists have now made direct comparisons of illicit drug use in 19 European cities by a cooperative analysis of raw sewage samples.
To date, questionnaire-based studies have been the most common measurement method. Such studies are performed amongst different segments of society including partygoers, drug addicts and the general population. Additional information ...
The fin whale, under more threat in the Mediterranean than thought
2012-07-26
Until now it was thought that fin whales in the Strait of Gibraltar and the Alboran Sea made up part of the distribution of this species of whale in the Mediterranean. However, an international team of scientists led by a Spaniard has revealed that their population has been overestimated by including specimens from the Atlantic that visit at certain times the western Mediterranean, where the noise generated by human activity affects their survival.
In 1991 the fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) population in the Mediterranean Sea was estimated at 3500 specimens. A new study, ...
Genome analysis of brain tumors showing the way to new treatment strategies
2012-07-26
Brain tumors are the primary cause of cancer mortality in children. Even if a cure is possible, young patients often suffer from the stressful treatment which can be harmful to the developing brain. The most common childhood brain tumors are medulloblastoma and pylocytic astrocytoma.
In order to find new target structures for more gentle treatment methods, cancer researchers are systematically analyzing all changes in the genetic material of such tumors. This is the mission of the PedBrain consortium, which was launched in 2010 as the first German part in the International ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Thirty-year mystery of dissonance in the “ringing” of black holes explained
Less intensive works best for agricultural soil
Arctic rivers project receives “national champion” designation from frontiers foundation
Computational biology paves the way for new ALS tests
Study offers new hope for babies born with opioid withdrawal syndrome
UT, Volkswagen Group of America celebrate research partnership
New Medicare program could dramatically improve affordability for cancer drugs – if patients enroll
Are ‘zombie’ skin cells harmful or helpful? The answer may be in their shapes
University of Cincinnati Cancer Center presents research at AACR 2025
Head and neck, breast, lung and survivorship studies headline Dana-Farber research at AACR Annual Meeting 2025
AACR: Researchers share promising results from MD Anderson clinical trials
New research explains why our waistlines expand in middle age
Advancements in muon detection: Taishan Antineutrino Observatory's innovative top veto tracker
Chips off the old block
Microvascular decompression combined with nerve combing for atypical trigeminal neuralgia
Cutting the complexity from digital carpentry
Lung immune cell type “quietly” controls inflammation in COVID-19
Fiscal impact of expanded Medicare coverage for GLP-1 receptor agonists to treat obesity
State and sociodemographic trends in US cigarette smoking with future projections
Young adults drive historic decline in smoking
NFCR congratulates Dr. Robert C. Bast, Jr. on receiving the AACR-Daniel D. Von Hoff Award for Outstanding Contributions to Education and Training in Cancer Research
Chimpanzee stem cells offer new insights into early embryonic development
This injected protein-like polymer helps tissues heal after a heart attack
FlexTech inaugural issue launches, pioneering interdisciplinary innovation in flexible technology
In Down syndrome mice, 40Hz light and sound improve cognition, neurogenesis, connectivity
Methyl eugenol: potential to inhibit oxidative stress, address related diseases, and its toxicological effects
A vascularized multilayer chip reveals shear stress-induced angiogenesis in diverse fluid conditions
AI helps unravel a cause of Alzheimer's disease and identify a therapeutic candidate
Coalition of Autism Scientists critiques US Department of Health and Human Services Autism Research Initiative
Structure dictates effectiveness, safety in nanomedicine
[Press-News.org] Kessler Foundation and Heldrich Center issue brief on hiring workers with disabilitiesKatz, O’Connell & Nicholas author research brief: 'Strategies to Support Employer-Driven Initiatives to Recruit and Retain Employees with Disabilities. Brief Profiles Successful Disability Employment Initiatives by Walgreens, Lowe's, Wal-Mart'