USBLN, Biz2Biz Report
A Monthly Publication of the
USBLN®
VOLUME THREE, ISSUE NUMBER TWO, FEBRUARY 28,
2010
Message from John D. Kemp USBLN®
Executive Director & General Counsel
Beth Butler, Board of Directors Chair, and I extend a warm welcome to our new representatives on the USBLN® Board of Directors for 2010. Our esteemed members include Deborah Dagit, Chief Diversity Officer and Vice President of Merck & Co. Inc.’s Diversity, Work Environment & University Relations; Roy E. Flora, Group President of Microtel Inns and Suites and Baymont Inn & Suites; Lori Golden, Inclusiveness Consultant and Lead of Ernst & Young’s firm-sponsored inclusiveness initiative, AccessAbilities; and Susan Palmer Mazrui, AT&T’s Director of Public Policy.
The full USBLN® Board of Directors then elected Beth Butler, Vice-President and Disability Consultant for Wachovia Corporation – A Wells Fargo Company, as Chair and Deb Russell, Manager, Outreach and Employee Services, Walgreens Company, as Vice-Chair returning to the Board in their incumbent seats with Martha Artiles, Global Chief Diversity Officer, Manpower Inc., newly elected to serve as Secretary/Treasurer.
“On behalf of the US Business Leadership Network, I am proud to welcome our new Directors to the Board. Each individual's experience both personally and professionally will serve to enhance and expand our organization’s reach into industries including hospitality, pharmaceutical, telecommunications and finance,” shared Beth Butler, Chair of the USBLN® Board of Directors. “This valuable diversification of our board will help challenge companies to begin thinking innovatively about the value of disability inclusion in the workforce, marketplace and supply chain and its positive impact on our nation.” Butler further stated, "Each of our Directors brings a strong background and overall business acumen that significantly supports the USBLN’s® strategic growth. I know the experience and dedication of Debra, Lori, Roy and Susan will result in significant accomplishments for our organization, but most importantly for the advancement of disability inclusion in America's workforce.”
The USBLN® Board of Directors is also comprised of existing members: Debra Ruh, President & Founder of TecAccess, Inc.; Frances West, Director, IBM’s Human Ability & Accessibility Center; Kevin Bradley, Director, Inclusion & Diversity, McDonald’s Corporation; Kevin Foster, Director of Motorola’s Quality Master Black Belt; Marthalee Galeota, Program Manager of Starbuck’s Accessibility; Michelle Maybaum, Director, Employee Relations for Qualcomm, Inc.; Michael Takemura, Director, Hewlett-Packard’s Accessibility & Aging Program Office; and Scott Williams, Vice President of E-Commerce, Sam’s Club.
We look forward to collaborating with our Board of Directors, family of BLN Affiliates, Corporate Members and Partners in 2010 to further the advancement of disability inclusion in workplaces, marketplaces, and supply chains.
Sincerely,
John D. Kemp
CALL FOR RECRUITING RESOURCES
In response to corporate member’s needs the USBLN® is looking for recruiting resources with a proven track record in delivering quality candidates with disabilities. If you have utilized a recruiting resource that assisted you in delivering quality candidates with disabilities to your company please contact us at anita@usbln.org and provide us with the company name, website, contact person and contact information. The USBLN® is seeking to develop a list that can assist our corporate members and affiliates in filling employment opportunities with qualified candidates with disabilities.
Source: US Business Leadership Network
ODEP’s Listening Tour – “A New Day: We’re Listening”
In early 2010, the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) and its Federal partners will hold a series of six Listening Sessions across the country on disability employment. Each Listening Session is an opportunity for members of the public to provide input to senior Federal officials on their ideas for more effective ways to employ all people with disabilities, including women, Veterans and minorities with disabilities and what is currently working in their regions to increase employment of people with disabilities.
ODEP seeks input particularly from:
Our Partners Include:
Registration for the Boston, MA, March 3,
2010 Event is Open! To register, please visit:
https://www.disabilitylisteningtour.com/register/index.php?cityclicked=Boston
Event is open to residents of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands (DOL Region I). For more information, visit: www.disabilitylisteningtour.com.
Source: Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP)
SAVE THE DATE for the Federal Hiring Event for People and Veterans with Disabilities in Washington, D.C. on April 26, 2010
The Time is Now: Begin Your Career of Service
What: Federal Hiring Event for People and
Veterans with Disabilities
When: April 26, 2010
Where: Washington, D.C.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Department of Labor (DOL) is sponsoring a Federal Government Hiring Event.
BE READY
To help prospective candidates prepare for this invitation-only event, three webinars will be offered on:
Representatives from many agencies will be reviewing resumes prior to the event, and inviting prospective candidates for interviews.
For more information on the webinars please visit the USAJOBS website (www.usajobs.gov/hiringevents.asp) after March 8, 2010.
Source: Office of Personnel Management and the U.S. Department of Labor
Reception Hosted to Honor DOE’s Assistant Secretary Posny and Commissioner Ruttledge
On February 22nd the USBLN® was proud to partner with the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation (CSAVR) and the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE) to host a reception for Alexa Posny, Assistant Secretary of Education for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services and Lynnae Ruttledge, Commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration. The reception was held at the SunTrust building in Washington, DC to honor these two outstanding individuals that were selected and confirmed to lead the Department of Education’s efforts to see that people with disabilities are on a level playing field with all Americans.
Welcoming remarks were offered to guests by Carl Suter, CSAVR and Bill East, NASDSE followed by congratulations extended to Posny and Ruttledge on their appointments from Beth Butler, USBLN® Board of Directors Chair and Vice-President and Disability Consultant for Wachovia Corporation – A Wells Fargo Company, and Kareem Dale, Associate Director, White House Office of Public Engagement & Special Assistant to President Barack Obama for Disability Policy. Both Butler and Dale expressed their enthusiasm in working with Commissioner Ruttledge and Assistant Secretary Posny closely to continue to improve the quality of life of all people with disabilities.
Alexa E. Posny, was chosen by President Barack Obama to run the Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services as Assistant Secretary and previously served in a similar capacity for the Bush administration, after holding various education administration posts in Kansas for many years. She was confirmed by the Senate in October of 2009. In 2005, while Posny was still deputy commissioner, the Kansas State Board of Education gained national attention for its controversial efforts to promote the theory of intelligent design over evolution in school curriculums. Posny often clashed with conservatives on the board over this issue and others. Posny relocated to Washington, DC, in 2006 to serve as director of the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) in the Education Department during the George W. Bush administration. She assisted state and local efforts to educate children with disabilities, and served as liaison between OSEP and constituencies. In 2008, President Bush appointed Posny to be a member of the National Institute for Literacy Advisory Board. Posny attended college at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, where she double majored in sociology and psychology. She moved to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for graduate school, earning a master’s in behavioral disabilities and a PhD in education administration.
Lynnae M. Ruttledge has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Commissioner, Rehabilitation Services Administration, U.S. Department of Education in December 2009. Ruttledge had served as the director of the Washington Department of Social and Health Service, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation since 2005. She was responsible for leading Washington’s vocational rehabilitation program, working annually with more than 23,000 individuals with significant disabilities to achieve their vocational goals. Previously, Ruttledge served in leadership positions at the Oregon Department of Human Services, Office of Vocational Rehabilitation Services for more than 17 years. Ruttledge began her public service career in Michigan as a classroom teacher in the public school system. She has received numerous recognitions and awards including serving as a Mary E. Switzer Scholar on Emerging Workforce Issues with the National Rehabilitation Association in 2000 and being honored with the Oregon Governor’s Award as Disabled Oregonian of the Year in 2000 and the Washington Governor’s Award for Leadership in Management in 2007. As a person born with a disability, Ruttledge received assistance from the vocational rehabilitation program and graduated from the Northern Michigan University with a B.S. in Education.
Source: US Business Leadership Network & U.S. Department of Education (DOE)
Call for Disability-Owned Businesses
The USBLN® is pleased to announce the launch of the Disability Supplier Diversity ProgramSM! This program offers businesses that are owned by an individual(s) with a disability, including service disabled veterans, an exciting opportunity to increase their access to potential contracting opportunities with major corporations, government agencies, and one another. If you or someone you know is a business owner with a disability, and would like to learn more about how to get Disability- Owned Business Enterprise Certification through this program, please contact Aditi Dussault, Director of Affiliate Relations and the Disability Supplier Diversity Program, at aditi@usbln.org or 202.487.5868.
Source: US Business Leadership Network
"What can YOU do?" The Campaign for Disability Employment
Every day, people with disabilities can and do add value to America’s workplaces. However, in both good economic times and bad, people with disabilities have far fewer job opportunities than the general population. The Campaign for Disability Employment’s goal is to promote the hiring, retention and advancement of people with disabilities and dispel negative stereotypes about disability and employment.
Working to raise awareness and change attitudes, What Can YOU Do? reinforces that people with disabilities want to work and that their talents and abilities positively impact businesses both financially and organizationally. The Campaign offers a range of education and outreach tools, all designed to engage employers, people with disabilities, family and educators, and the general public. These include the community-building Web site, www.whatcanyoudocampaign.org, which offers users the chance to learn about disability employment issues and express their commitment to advancing disability employment. It also allows people with disabilities, including youth, to share their job skills and career interests. Other sections feature grassroots tools and tangible ideas for supporting the Campaign’s goals, as well as a library of public service announcements (PSAs) that challenge assumptions about people with disabilities and employment. Included in the video library is the Campaign’s flagship “I Can” PSA, intended for nationwide television broadcast, and the winners of the What Can YOU Do? video contest, which invited aspiring filmmakers to produce their own videos in support of the Campaign’s goals.
About the Campaign for Disability Employment
The Campaign for Disability Employment seeks to promote positive employment outcomes for people with disabilities by encouraging employers, and others, to recognize the value and talent that people with disabilities bring to the workplace, as well as the dividend to be realized by fully including people with disabilities at work. The Campaign is a collaborative effort between the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD); the National Business and Disability Council (NBDC); National Council of La Raza (NCLR); National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC); Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM); Special Olympics (SO); and the U.S. Business Leadership Network (USBLN®). The Campaign for Disability Employment is supported by West Virginia University, receives technical assistance from the Job Accommodation Network (JAN) and is funded by the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP)/U.S. Department of Labor. For more information, visit www.whatcanyoudocampaign.org.
Source: Campaign for Disability Employment
At work, it’s what people CAN do that matters.
The Campaign for Disability Employment is a collaborative effort to promote positive employment outcomes for people with disabilities by encouraging employers and others to recognize the value and talent they bring to the workplace. Visit www.whatcanyoudocampaign.org for more information and to watch the “I Can” PSA and “Meet Sue” video.
Source: Campaign for Disability Employment
Using Humor in a Campaign Supporting Disabled People
By Stuart Elliot, New York Times
Published: January 28, 2010
A national effort to encourage businesses to employ workers with disabilities is not your father’s hire the handicapped campaign. A print ad from a new campaign using comical labels, intended to encourage employers to ignore labels when hiring people with disabilities. One difference is that the new ads are paid rather than pro bono, with an estimated budget of $4 million for the first two quarters of 2010. The ads will appear on television, in print, online and outdoors; there is also a sponsorship deal with NPR.
The ads are being financed largely by agencies in 30 states that provide employment services as well as health and human services to their citizens who are disabled. The agencies have set a goal of raising $10 million for the campaign’s budget for the full year. Typically, ads that seek to make a case for employing people with disabilities run as public service announcements. That makes them dependent on the kindness of media outlets to place them prominently on television, in print or online. “We’ll never have enough money to over saturate the media,” said Barbara Otto, executive director at Health and Disability Advocates in Chicago, which is overseeing the campaign, “but we wanted to do something different, something that didn’t look like a P.S.A.”
To that end, the campaign takes a light-hearted tack rather than a sober or earnest tone. The ads try to challenge conventional wisdom about workers with disabilities by offering humorous examples of people with “differences” already employed. For instance, in a television commercial, a worker in a wheelchair points out her colleagues who “you could label as ‘different.’ ” Among them are a woman dressed in a nightmare wardrobe of clashing patterns, who is “fashion deficient”; a klutzy young man at the copier, who is “copy incapable”; and a shouting man who suffers from “volume control syndrome.” The punch line of the commercial is that the worker in the wheelchair is different, too: Her skills at a basic office function are so bad that she is labeled “coffee-making impaired.”
To read the full article, visit: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/business/media/29adco.html
Source: New York Times
The DBTAC: Mid-Atlantic ADA Center is pleased to present their next quarterly training topic: MENTAL HEALTH and EMPLOYMENT
Thursday, March 11, 2010
9:00 am - 4:00 pm
Crowne Plaza Hotel located at 3 Research Court in Rockville, Maryland 20850
This Training will feature speakers from the Job Accommodations Network (JAN), and the DBTAC: Mid-Atlantic ADA Center; who will review the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) employment provisions and discuss the implications for applicants and employees with mental health limitations.
Who Should Attend this Training?: Mental Health and Employment is designed for human resource specialists, managers, employment specialists, ADA coordinators, disability advocates and others who would benefit from an overview of practical resources and guidance for working with applicants and employees with mental health disabilities.
How to Register: Registrations will be accepted with payment on a first come, first served basis. We have a maximum capacity for 45 participants. The workshop registration fee is $75, including continental breakfast, a buffet lunch, as well as a copy of the training materials. Method of Payment includes: Check, Credit Card, or Purchase Order. For additional details and to register for this event visit: https://www.regonline.com/mentalhealth
The deadline to register is Friday, March 5, 2010.
Accommodations: Call the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 301 840 0200 for hotel reservations and advise them that you are attending the Mental Health and Employment Training. If you have questions or would like more information, please contact Del Rae Conley via email at adatraining@transcen.org or by calling 1-800-949-4232 Voice/TTY (in DC, DE, MD, PA, VA, WV) or 301-217-0124 Voice/TTY.
Source: DBTAC: Mid-Atlantic ADA Center
Improve your Supplier Diversity Program with Certified Disability-Owned Businesses
The new USBLN® Disability Supplier Diversity ProgramSM (DSDP) offers major corporations and government entities a reliable source for identifying potential suppliers that are disability-owned businesses, including businesses owned by service disabled veterans. Through the DSDP, your organization can connect with a growing pool of qualified suppliers while meeting objectives for inclusion of entrepreneurs with a disability. Six major corporations have already made the commitment to include certified disability-owned businesses in their supply chain, and have joined as USBLN® DSDP - Founding Partners. If you would like your company to join Ernst & Young LLP, SunTrust Bank, KPMG, IBM Corporation, Merck & Co. Inc., and Freddie Mac as a Founding Partner, please contact Aditi Dussault, Director of Affiliate Relations and the Disability Supplier Diversity Program, at aditi@usbln.org or 202.487.5868.
Source: US Business Leadership Network
REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!
“Corporate and Organizational Infrastructure: Diversity Initiatives that Promote the Inclusion of Individuals with Disabilities”
The webinar is the third in a series of five being developed and delivered in partnership between:
The Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation – National Employment Team, DBTAC: National Network of ADA Centers, and the US Business Leadership Network
With support from the DBTAC: Southeast ADA Center and the Southeast TACE
The purpose of this webinar will be to learn from employers who have developed and implemented a wide range of diversity initiatives with the assistance of community partners that promote the inclusion of individuals with disabilities into the workforce, marketplace and supply chain. Participants will learn about specific corporate strategies related to:
Thursday, March 11, 2010 from 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm EST
Registration DEADLINE: March 9, 2010: http://sedbtac.org/webinars/register.php?eventid=527
Speakers to be announced.
Source: US Business Leadership Network
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Join the fastest growing national network of employers…BLN Affiliates
http://www.usbln.org/affiliates.html
Become a BLN Affiliate
The BLN is an educational organization. Members engage in networking discussions to increase their knowledge of community outreach, recruiting and interviewing, the accommodation process and barriers to employment. By participating in a business to business dialog, employers learn how to leverage their organizations for success. Being a part of the BLN sends a message to the community that the business is committed to including people with disabilities in the workforce. For more information on becoming a BLN Affiliate, please contact Aditi Dussault, Director, Affiliate Relations & Disability Supplier Diversity Program aditi@usbln.org or 202.487.5868.
Source: US Business Leadership Network
ADVERTISEMENT: 2010 USBLN Annual Conference
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