www.njbln.org

Welcome

Speaker:Dana Egreczky

Vice President

Workforce DevelopmentNew JerseyChamber of Commerce

President

Chamber of CommerceFoundation

SETC Meeting

Overview of a Partnership:

The DDS andThe NJCC Foundation

February 19, 2008

www.njbln.org

Welcome

Speaker:Dana Egreczky

Vice President

Workforce DevelopmentNew JerseyChamber of Commerce

President

Chamber of CommerceFoundation

NJCC Foundation

• Established in 1996• Mission:

Build a highly qualified workforce through innovative collaborations with K-12 education and the workforce training and preparation system

• Three areas of interest: K - 12 education Nurse (nurse faculty) shortage People with disabilities

www.njbln.org

Welcome

Speaker:Dana Egreczky

Vice President

Workforce DevelopmentNew JerseyChamber of Commerce

President

Chamber of CommerceFoundation

NJBLN

• Business Leadership Network Established in 2006 with funding

from Kessler Foundation Sanctioned affiliate of USBLN Employer-led

• Mission: Address the business imperative

of including people with disabilities in the workforce

Promote positive employment outcomes for people with disabilities

www.njbln.org

Welcome

Speaker:Dana Egreczky

Vice President

Workforce DevelopmentNew JerseyChamber of Commerce

President

Chamber of CommerceFoundation

Inaugural Decisions

• Established leadership committee

• Differ from other BLNs across country (50+) by focusing on programs, not membership

• Also differ by focusing on skills of candidates rather than employer interest in hiring

www.njbln.org

Welcome

Speaker:Dana Egreczky

Vice President

Workforce DevelopmentNew JerseyChamber of Commerce

President

Chamber of CommerceFoundation

Original Scope of Work• Provided public relations

support for Disability Mentoring Day(significant increase in business participation)

• Established online job board:www.AccessibleEmployment.org

• Career webinars for students in middle and high school featuring people with disabilities

• SKILLSFirst Conference

www.njbln.org

Welcome

Speaker:Dana Egreczky

Vice President

Workforce DevelopmentNew JerseyChamber of Commerce

President

Chamber of CommerceFoundation

Current Scope of Work• Provides foundation for

partnership with DDS

Promote Disability Supplier Diversity Program

Promote Disabilities At Work

Increase skill levels of people with disabilities

www.njbln.org

Welcome

Speaker:Dana Egreczky

Vice President

Workforce DevelopmentNew JerseyChamber of Commerce

President

Chamber of CommerceFoundation

DSDP

• Promote Disability Supplier Diversity Program (DSDP) Program of USBLN

Process leading to national credential certifying that a business is ‘disabled-owned’

Enables corporate strategy of diversifying supplier chain

www.njbln.org

Welcome

Speaker:Dana Egreczky

Vice President

Workforce DevelopmentNew JerseyChamber of Commerce

President

Chamber of CommerceFoundation

NJBLN Role in DSDP

• Recruit disabled-owned businesses into process

Status: 2 businesses completed application and awaiting site visits; 3 others in hopper

• Recruit and train volunteers for mandatory site visits to applicant businesses

• Help successful applicants be ‘ready for prime time’

• Promote use of credential among businesses in state

www.njbln.org

Welcome

Speaker:Dana Egreczky

Vice President

Workforce DevelopmentNew JerseyChamber of Commerce

President

Chamber of CommerceFoundation

Disabilities At Work

• Effort to identify and reward businesses that go ‘beyond compliance’ in hiring practice and/or support people with disabilities in other ways

• Encourage consumers to patronize businesses that have earned the right to display the DAW logo on wall plaques, windows, websites

People with disabilities control over 200 million dollars in disposable income

www.njbln.org

Welcome

Speaker:Dana Egreczky

Vice President

Workforce DevelopmentNew JerseyChamber of Commerce

President

Chamber of CommerceFoundation

www.njbln.org

Welcome

Speaker:Dana Egreczky

Vice President

Workforce DevelopmentNew JerseyChamber of Commerce

President

Chamber of CommerceFoundation

DAW Radio

• VoiceAmerica Business Channel – Live Internet Talk Radio

• Live on April 14, 2010 Promote the DAW mission –

feature business that support people with disabilities

Include areas of broad interest to people with disabilities, their families, their employers.

Show sponsorships available

www.njbln.org

Welcome

Speaker:Dana Egreczky

Vice President

Workforce DevelopmentNew JerseyChamber of Commerce

President

Chamber of CommerceFoundation

Third Component

• Least defined• Focus on skill levels

Glaring incongruity between available jobs and skill levels most pronounced among people with disabilities

• Exacerbated by lack of understanding of demands of workplace

www.njbln.org

Welcome

Speaker:Dana Egreczky

Vice President

Workforce DevelopmentNew JerseyChamber of Commerce

President

Chamber of CommerceFoundation

Build Understanding• High School teacher who

tells her special needs students that they don’t have to work as hard as other students and will never have to worry about getting a job because companies want to hire people with disabilities

www.njbln.org

Welcome

Speaker:Dana Egreczky

Vice President

Workforce DevelopmentNew JerseyChamber of Commerce

President

Chamber of CommerceFoundation

Build Understanding• Service provider who

announced that she tells her clients to lie on their resumes(number two reason for termination)

• Statements from multiple human resource individuals saying that people with disabilities come to interviews under-prepared and under-dressed

www.njbln.org

Welcome

Speaker:Dana Egreczky

Vice President

Workforce DevelopmentNew JerseyChamber of Commerce

President

Chamber of CommerceFoundation

Build Understanding• Employer stated that she hired

13 people with disabilities but wound up with 39 service providers on site every week who took all parking spaces

• Chamber survey that indicated that 94 of 100 business people did not know where to start in the system to find qualified people with disabilities(six cited Department of Veteran Affairs)