Puerto Rico is Ready to Work. ¡Ahora!

The President is focused every day on strengthening the American economy and creating good jobs. As part of his year of action, the President will do whatever he can to help put Americans back to work.  Just last week, the Obama Administration announced several steps to promote employment opportunities, including a U.S. Labor Department grant of $7 million to develop the Puerto Rico Technoeconomic Corridor which will promote job training for the long-term unemployed. This grant was announced  as part of a nearly $170 million "Ready to Work" programs to support and scale innovative collaborations between employers, nonprofit organizations and federal job training programs to help connect ready-to-work Americans with ready-to-be-filled jobs.

Federal funds of $7,026,880 will be allocated to Puerto Rico’s Technoeconomic Corridor to provide long-term unemployed workers with individualized counseling, training, supportive and specialized services that lead to rapid employment in the western municipalities of Aguada, Aguadilla, Añasco, Moca, Rincón, Cabo Rojo, Lajas, Hormigueros, Maricao, Las Marias, Mayagüez, San Germán, Sabana Grande, Isabela, Guánica, Quebradillas and San Sebastián.  The Puerto Rico Technoeconomic Corridor is a non-profit established to enable Puerto Rico’s economic development by stimulating innovation-inducing collaborations among industry, academia and government.

This grant aligns closely with the job-driven training principles outlined in Vice President Biden’s report reviewing federal employment and training programs, which highlights successful job-driven training strategies, details executive actions that are being taken by the Federal Government, and includes new commitments by employers, non-profits, unions and innovators to share best practices and help Americans attain and advance in in-demand jobs and careers.

This grant follows a significant investment announced in April 2014 by Puerto Rico’s Governor and the Department of Commerce regarding Lufthansa Technik’s plans to build a new aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul ("MRO") facility in Puerto Rico to service short-haul and medium-haul aircraft. The government of Puerto Rico secured this investment through the efforts of the President’s Task Force on Puerto Rico, the Department of Commerce’s SelectUSA’s program and the advocacy of several high-level U.S. officials, including the Vice President and the Secretary of Commerce.

And today, the Department of Agriculture announced $237 million in new funding for 91 projects in 38 states, including the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to establish broadband and wireless internet services, install infrastructure, and provide advanced communications technology to help rural public television stations complete the transition from analog to digital broadcast signals. This funding will provide critical resources to further bolster Puerto Rico’s economic development. The Obama Administration is committed to working through the Puerto Rico Task Force to identify collaborations that will advance Puerto Rico’s economic development priorities. This recent grant and initiatives to help long-term unemployed with opportunities to get back to work and maximize their full potential are part of a series of steps taken by the President to continue to expand opportunity for all and ensure that Puerto Rico’s best days are ahead. 

Chris Lu is the Deputy Secretary of Labor. James Albino is the Executive Director of the President’s Task Force on Puerto Rico.

Recruitment of All Abilities Is Just Good Business

Oswald Mondejar is being honored as a Disability Employment Champion of Change.

As an immigrant from Cuba, my mother cherished the American virtues of freedom, independence, and opportunity. She told my sister and me that, in this country, anything is possible. The honor of being selected as a Champion of Change by the White House is proof of that. It’s so humbling because I know that I’m merely representing the work and voices of so many others who paved the way.

Growing up with a limb difference, I learned from an early age that my biggest challenge would always be overcoming others perceived “limitations” of what I could and could not do. There’s no place that another’s perception about your abilities has a greater impact than in the workplace. I got my first job at age 13, and seeing my name on a paycheck for the work I’d done was empowering. A job wasn’t simply about survival; it provided dignity, camaraderie with coworkers, and a fully independent life.

Fast forward to a career spent in Human Resources, and what I have seen is that people with disabilities are seldom given a fair chance to show what they can do. To many employers, the workplace is full of impediments (physical barriers, policies and, yes, attitudes), that make it “too much trouble” to hire them. While we’ve made great progress, there’s more work to be done.

Unemployment and underemployment for people with disabilities remain incredibly high, and that is a call to action for all of us. Our charge is to seek out and find creative solutions to these old challenges.

Working at Spaulding Rehabilitation Network (SRN) has been a great opportunity. At SRN, I have helped develop the “Working Partners” program, a first of its kind public/private partnership focusing on providing people with disabilities the skills and support they need to join the workforce and improve their overall quality of life. Like any worthy endeavor, it takes an intrepid group of collaborators to be successful, and I am incredibly fortunate to partner with my colleagues from Partners HealthCare and the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission (MRC) to make this all possible. Through Working Partners, qualified candidates with disabilities work directly with an embedded MRC employment specialist and Spaulding’s hiring managers to navigate the employment process with the ultimate goal of job placement at SRN or within Partners HealthCare.

But Working Partners does more than provide assistance with finding a job. With their new positions, candidates are empowered to take more control over their lives. They feel the great sense of pride that comes with entering or re-entering the work force and contributing their talents to something far greater than themselves. 

While many businesses and agencies speak about diversity or inclusion, much of this talk is hollow. In order to truly progress, leading companies must see what efforts like Working Partners are; just good business. The productivity and talent that people with disabilities can contribute is only limited by our own perceptions of what is possible. 

Oswald “Oz” Mondejar is the Senior Vice President for Mission and Advocacy for Partners Continuing Care, the non-acute care division of Partners HealthCare based in Boston, Massachusetts. 

It’s the Economy!

John Robinson is being honored as a Disability Employment Champion of Change.

Did you know that individuals with disabilities have $2.7 trillion in annual disposable income in the United States? Did you know that the unemployment rate for individuals with disabilities is 12.3%, as compared to 5.5% for able-bodied citizens? Now imagine what the disposable income would be in the United States the unemployment rates of those two groups was the same.

It's the economy! We live in an economy that is built upon growth. Yet, we are seeing the baby boomers leaving the workforce. We see an increased population of individuals with disabilities in aging citizens, soldiers coming back from service injured, and individuals with developmental disabilities. We as a society need to be able to filling positions with individuals with disabilities. If our economy is to grow, this population must be utilized.

Twenty-five years ago, at the beginning of the Americans with Disabilities Act, I had just graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in television, radio, and film management. Many of my peers received job offers around the United States, while I moved back in with my parents and cleaned swimming pools to make ends meet. I had strong grades, had a successful internship in Boston, and was well prepared for an entry-level position. Unfortunately, society was not ready for a quadruple amputee looking for gainful employment in media. It took me four years before I was offered an entry-level position inside a television station.

Twenty-five years later, I am proud to have had a long career inside the television industry. I am equally proud of my advocacy work on behalf of individuals with disabilities. At Our Ability, we are working inside American companies to facilitate employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities. We are using our communications experience to help facilitate internal messaging. We are building disability etiquette training seminars inside companies. We are building an online portal for individuals with disabilities to be able to upload their skill set—Our Ability Connect. As the founder of Our Ability, I am very purposely building the foundation that I and so many others needed 25 years ago.

I know we are on the right path. With the changing regulations for federal contractors and subcontractors, there is now an increased interest from businesses to find out more about including people with disabilities in their workforce. I can see it in the seminars I give to human resource managers, who pick up the pens and take notes especially when I talk about disability etiquette and sensitivity. There is an increased awareness about communicating effectively with people who are deaf and visually impaired. This expanded understanding of how to communicate with coworkers is vital to a successful inclusive organization.

While it seems like an impossible goal to level the unemployment statistics between individuals with disabilities and able-bodied citizens, it is something we all need to work towards. Our global economy is built upon growth, and by including individuals with disabilities in the next 25 years we can increase that $2.7 trillion annual disposable income.

Why are the statistics so important? Employment is only one portion of the total self-worth of the individual, but it is quite possibly the most important. We all identify ourselves by where we work. It's one of the first things we mentioned when we introduced ourselves to someone new. We all understand how inferior we feel when we are unemployed or underemployed. This is especially true with someone with a disability. By opening opportunities for inclusive hiring inside major companies, we are not only affecting our economy but are also building the next generation of confident individuals. We as a society are truly becoming inclusive.

John Robinson is Managing Partner and CEO of Our Ability, a company owned and operated by people with disabilities for people with disabilities.