Champions of Change Blog

Promoting Libraries for Affordable Care Act Outreach

Posted by Jamie Markus on October 27, 2014 at 10:35 AM EDT

Jamie Markus is being honored as an Affordable Care Act Champion of Change.

As the Library Development Manager at the Wyoming State Library, I spend my time creating and coordinating programs that enhance library services offered to our state’s 580,000 residents. The Library Development Office staff manages, promotes, and supports many exciting statewide library projects.

In July 2013, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the American Library Association, and other partner organizations launched an e-health initiative, asking all types of libraries to support educational and outreach efforts surrounding the Health Insurance Marketplace. The Library Development Office at the Wyoming State Library took the lead in coordinating with potential partners in Wyoming.

As the project progressed, I realized that libraries would become key partners in the outreach effort due to their status as community centers and trusted sources of information. I met and talked with as many organizations as I could find to discuss how Wyoming’s libraries could help to support the efforts of Healthcare Navigators and those working to inform residents about the Affordable Care Act, the Health Insurance Marketplace, and the HealthCare.gov website.

The Wyoming State Library designed and supplied 15,000 Health Insurance Marketplace handouts to Wyoming libraries, including twenty-three public libraries, seven community college libraries, a tribal college library, and the University of Wyoming libraries. More than 90 library outlets in nearly every major community in the state had the opportunity to provide these handouts to library patrons.

I participated in an untold number of meetings, teleconferences, webinars, and email exchanges to promote the idea of using library public meeting spaces and public access computers to those groups involved in educational events and insurance sign-up workshops on the Affordable Care Act and Health Insurance Marketplace. I also coordinated the production of two state-wide webinars and two programs at the 2013 Wyoming Library Association Annual Conference, informing library staff about the Affordable Care Act, the Health Insurance Marketplace, our Wyoming partners, and available resources.

The demand for information about the Affordable Care Act was high. I was glad to be able to promote libraries as a safe and trusted place for outreach organizations to put residents in touch with the information they wanted and needed.

Jamie Markus is the Library Development Manager at the Wyoming State Library.

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You Too Can Make a Difference

Posted by Pat Halpin Murphy on October 27, 2014 at 10:35 AM EDT

Pat Halpin-Murphy is being honored as an Affordable Care Act Champion of Change.

I am truly grateful to have been selected as a White House Champion of Change. I can’t tell you how much it means to me to be honored with this award.

As the President and Founder of the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition (PBCC), I lead a non-profit organization dedicated to finding a cure for breast cancer now so that our daughters won’t have to. I’m a breast cancer survivor, and twenty-five years ago when I was diagnosed I found that there wasn’t an organization in Pennsylvania dedicated to supporting women and families facing breast cancer. I founded the PBCC in 1993 to fill this void. In our twenty-year history, the PBCC has paved the way for countless legislative victories that support women and families across the state.

The best part of my work is talking to women about their experience with breast cancer and finding out what we can do to help meet their needs. For instance, we learned that many women were diagnosed with breast cancer in late stages because they have dense breast tissue. Upon learning this, we didn’t just sit by and wait for something to be done. Rather, we sprang into action and convinced Pennsylvania State Senator Bob Mensch to introduce legislation to help women with dense breast tissue receive improved information and screening so that they could be diagnosed at an earlier stage.

I believe that we all have the capacity to make a difference in our communities. Former U.S. Senator Harris Wofford made a tremendous impression on me as a leader. He recognized that each person has so much to contribute if only given the opportunity. He listened to people’s ideas and encouraged them to make those ideas become realities. Senator Wofford believed that everyone could contribute to their community. I truly believe that we can all make a difference. That’s the best part of this work. I’ve come to realize that, by simply standing up and taking action, we can all be “Champions of Change.”

Pat Halpin-Murphy is the President and Founder of the PA Breast Cancer Coalition.

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ABLE to Work

Posted by Alexandra McArthur on October 20, 2014 at 3:00 PM EDT

Alexandra McArthur is being honored as a Disability Employment Champion of Change.

I love my job. As an Associate Consultant at the Taproot Foundation, I work with the country’s top companies to help them build high-impact corporate pro bono programs. I enable companies to use their most important resources, their people, to support nonprofits that are strengthening our communities. My position is challenging, fulfilling, and provides me with a livelihood. Seems pretty lucky, right?

As a person with a disability, a member of a population where only one out of three of adults ages 18-64 are employed, I’m more than lucky. Barriers, such as poor inclusion training, inaccessible workplaces, benefit systems that disincentive savings, and lack of financial literacy, are keeping talented persons with disabilities out of the workforce. Thus the poverty rate for people with disabilities is nearly double the U.S. national poverty rate.

This is why I work to reduce these barriers and change these statistics. In 2011, I was chosen as Ms. Wheelchair America on a platform of promoting workplace inclusion. In this position, I traveled across the nation to speak with corporations, associations, diversity groups, government officials, and job-seekers about how every sector can benefit from the talent, perspective, dedication, and creativity that people with disabilities bring to and encourage in their workplaces.

As a Co-Chair of the Junior Board of Resources for Children with Special Needs, I’ve helped to expose over 60 young professionals to the often-overlooked needs of the disability community. The Junior Board meets regularly to advocate for policy changes, volunteer with youth with disabilities, and to raise money for the organization. I’m thrilled that this year we chose disability employment as our advocacy focus. The board members now know how to make their workplaces, which include schools, investment firms, media agencies, just to name a few, more open to hiring people with disabilities and more accommodating to employees with disabilities.

There is much more work to be done to make improvements in the disability employment statistics, which have remained essentially unchanged since the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act nearly 25 years ago. Workforce development programs must integrate specialized programming for people with disabilities. Employers need training about the positive ways hiring people with disabilities impacts their bottom line, in addition to tangible strategies and avenues for recruiting people with disabilities. The disability community needs specialized financial literacy education.

But perhaps the most significant change needed is currently sitting in the hands of our lawmakers: the ABLE Act. Presently, a person with a disability who receives Social Security benefits cannot have more than $2,000 to their name without losing those benefits. $2,000. Total. The ABLE Act will provide the option for people with disabilities on benefits to earn a living and save for crucial expenses, such as retirement or medical equipment. Thus, it will allow gainful employment to be a realistic option and a true avenue for wealth accrual for people with disabilities.

I envision a world where people with disabilities are seen as assets in the workplace and are represented in the middle class. Through workforce development, financial education, and passing of the ABLE Act, let’s take steps together to make this vision a reality.

Alexandra McArthur is a Senior Associate Consultant at the Taproot Foundation and was Ms. Wheelchair America 2011.
Innovative Opportunities for Entrepreneurship

Posted by Dan Hromas on October 20, 2014 at 3:00 PM EDT

Dan Hromas is being honored as a Disability Employment Champion of Change.

I am the owner and operator of Prairie Pride Poultry, a small pastured chicken operation located on the northeast edge of York, Nebraska. I started the farm in 2013 in order to support the growing local food movement by providing healthy, farm fresh eggs to area consumers.

At the farm, we pride ourselves on the humane treatment of the flock of heritage Rhode Island Red chickens. The farm’s standards and practices are conducive to a happy and healthy flock. Coops are moved around the acreage, each one having plenty of floor area, roosting space, and nesting boxes. The flock’s pasture diet is supplemented with feed that does not contain any chemicals, hormones, antibiotics, or animal byproducts; the feed comes from only 14 miles away from a cooperative that has recently achieved HACCP Certification, the highest level of accreditation for food safety in the United States.

In addition to providing the local community with farm fresh eggs, Prairie Pride Poultry also assists in educating consumers and potential farmers about the “Incredible Edible Egg” by sharing interesting facts and information about the widely used and versatile protein source, as well as fostering an environment whereby everyone can feel welcomed at and connected to the farm. I’ve engaged local communities through the York Chamber of Commerce, establishing a great working relationship with Grand Central Grocery in York and participating in the Center for Rural Affairs’ “Farm to School” initiative by selling eggs to York Public Schools, setting up at local farmer’s markets, and raising awareness about importance of a healthy diet that can include eggs.

Before working on the farm, I served in the U.S. military in Iraq. I have also served as a Captain in the Nebraska Army National Guard as a Transportation Corps Officer. I am fortunate enough to have had my hard work receive national recognition through the Farmer’s Veteran Coalition’s national marketing campaign, “Homegrown by Heroes.” I have utilized services from the Nebraska Sustainable Agriculture Society, Center for Rural Affairs, and the Farmer Veteran Coalition as a platform for outreach to other fellow disabled military veterans so that they know a future exists for them in the field of agriculture.

I am honored to receive this Champions of Change award. I hope that other veterans with disabilities will similarly find their own entrepreneurship opportunities, gaining meaningful employment and contributing to their local communities.

Dan Hromas is the owner and founder of Prairie Pride Poultry, a pasture-raised egg business in York, Nebraska.
Inclusion Is Imperative in Today’s World

Posted by Angela Mackey on October 20, 2014 at 3:00 PM EDT

Angela Mackey is being honored as a Disability Employment Champion of Change.

As an individual with a disability, I know all too well the barriers that those in this segment of our society face. Historically, opportunity and disability seldom go hand-in-hand. I grew up with a grandfather who also had a disability, and I learned that others sometimes used his disability as a reason for exclusion from privileges such as education, a meaningful career, and social acceptance. Being around him as a child, I knew the barriers I would also one day face. The conversations growing up between myself and my grandfather were motivational exchanges, in which he listened to me recite my goals for the future and, in response, offered words of encouragement regarding them coming to fruition. I often wonder what my fate might have been without those interactions.

I was fortunate. At an early age, I understood that through my own determination, hard work, and God, I could be more than just a person with a disability. I also knew that with an education, and eventually a career, I would have a voice. Without a job, I knew that it would be extremely difficult for me to feel like I was in control. In my mind, work equated to personal power. Work, in a lot of ways, leveled the playing field. I might not have the ability to run a mile or score a homerun, but I could operate a computer system with the best of them.

This ideology is why I believe inclusion is so imperative in today’s world of work. I often tell those I train that I am just as capable as someone without a disability, but until I am provided an opportunity to show what I can do, nobody believes it. Luckily, I have had two organizations, South Carolina Vocational Rehabilitation and Walgreens, to open their doors to me to show what I can do, and in doing so, I have assisted others in doing the same. Inclusion does not mean that we want an easier job or a different set of standards. We just want a chance to enter the door like anyone else.

Angela Mackey is a Human Resources Generalist at the Walgreens Distribution Center in Pendergrass, Georgia.
That Won’t Work—Let’s Do This Instead

Posted by Tim Springer on October 20, 2014 at 3:00 PM EDT

Tim Springer is being honored as a Disability Employment Champion of Change.

During the dot-com boom in the late 1990s, I was a student at Stanford working on the problem of the day: how to make it big. My friends and I were discussing a recent overseas trip. One of my fellow students, a wheelchair user, commented that some of the places he visited were inaccessible to him and that it would have been helpful if there had been a resource to consult regarding accessibility when traveling. That gave me a great idea about how to provide a valuable service to individuals with disabilities—by creating a website to provide this type of information online.

As it turns out though, we were not the only ones with this idea. While we were building the website, we found out that at least four other firms were working on similar projects. We realized that our project was probably not going to be successful.

But as part of our work, we had become familiar with the concept of web accessibility, which means ensuring websites and applications can be used effectively by people with disabilities. So, in industry parlance, we pivoted. A pivot is what an entrepreneur does when he or she is too dumb to quit when finding out that the business plan no longer makes any sense—“That idea clearly won’t work, so let’s do this other thing instead.” That pivot, however, gave us the chance to have a far larger impact. Instead of making one website accessible, we could make them all accessible. Out of this was born the heart of SSB BART Group. We had a vision of creating a world where all digital systems were accessible.

From the very early days we understood the value of hiring technologists with disabilities. Uniquely qualified to identify and develop working solutions to digital accessibility challenges, these creative, knowledgeable, and dynamic professionals have brought an unrivaled level of insight, passion, and dedication to our company. Today, nearly half of our team of accessibility analysts, developers, and consultants are individuals with disabilities. At SSB, we see this as a compelling competitive advantage. It allows us to offer solutions to our customers that address their core concerns. I am honored to work with such remarkable people on a daily basis.

At the end of the day, our team views access to technology as a profound empowering force in the lives of individuals with disabilities. On a fundamental level, I believe that everyone has the right to participate in society to the fullest extent of their abilities. It is my belief that society works best when we focus on accepting differences among people and facilitating broad participation in society. My goal is to provide a base for that participation and an even playing field in an increasingly digital economy. As CEO of SSB BART Group, I am dedicated to the realization of that dream.

Tim Springer is the founder and CEO of SSB BART Group, which provides technology accessibility compliance solutions to corporations, government agencies, and educational institutions.