Pitt to join job initiative for young people with disabilities
Pitt’s plans to participate in a United Way of Allegheny County employment initiative for young people with disabilities will be detailed as part of next week’s National Council on Disability (NCD) spring quarterly meeting.
The University is hosting the NCD meeting May 4 and 5 in the William Pitt Union. The event will focus on employment, education and transportation and will include panel discussions and town hall sessions.
21 and Able
Pitt will be the second area employer and the first university to participate in the United Way’s 21 and Able career transition project, which assists employers and helps young people with disabilities find jobs.
The initial career transition pilot program was launched in 2013 at Giant Eagle. The United Way earlier this year received a $378,300 grant from the Kessler Foundation to expand the career transition project, which will enable the program to expand to three-five additional large employers in the region.
The University is the first of these additional employers to commit to participating, according to United Way’s Heather Sedlacko.
The grant supports the hiring of embedded employment professionals, who help prospective employees who have disabilities navigate the hiring process and connect them with any needed support once they’re hired. The presence of a staff person expert in this area also benefits employers, Sedlacko said.
Michelle Fullem, director of recruiting and client services in Pitt’s Office of Human Resources, said that the program here would target adults with disabilities who have bachelor’s or graduate degrees in addition to those who are high school graduates.
“The most underemployed population are those with disabilities,” Fullem said, adding that both newer graduates and mid-career adults would be considered for various opportunities at the University.
The University has yet to set a goal for the number of individuals with disabilities it hopes to hire in conjunction with the program.
The first step is to get the liaison in place, hopefully by early summer, Fullem said.
Fullem said she and colleagues in HR are excited to launch this initiative at Pitt. “It’s another piece of the puzzle to show our commitment to a diverse workforce.”
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In a prepared release on the Kessler grant earlier this year, Giant Eagle’s Jeremy Shapira, senior director and HR business partner for the Market District and GetGo store formats, detailed the career transition program’s success there: “The key component to the success of this project is having the employment professional embedded within our organization, which is a vastly different approach than the job coach model.”
Giant Eagle’s embedded employment professional “is a member of the Giant Eagle team, which promotes a deeper understanding of both our corporate culture and operational practices. This knowledge, combined with her vocational rehabilitation background and community connections, helps her to best identify the opportunities that will serve the most young people.”
Giant Eagle exceeded its goal to employ 24 students in a two-year pilot that was launched in September 2013, employing 27 in the first 15 months of the program.
Shapira is scheduled to be a panelist in a May 4 NCD session on “Transition Age Youth Getting to the Marketplace.”
NCD’s agenda
The NCD is an independent federal agency that advises on policies and programs that affect people with disabilities. Its members are appointed by the president and Congress.
Pitt faculty member Katherine Seelman, associate dean for disability programs in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, was appointed to the NCD in 2014. She will lead a May 5 panel session, “Renewing the Federal Commitment to Students With Disabilities.”
Others with Pitt connections will participate in a panel discussion, “We are the ‘ADA Generation.’”
Pitt alumnus Gabe McMorland, co-founder of the Pittsburgh-area Accessibility Meetup, will moderate the discussion. McMorland, a 2013 graduate of the Coro fellows program in public affairs, has a degree in urban studies from Pitt.
Panelists include Pitt sophomore Dan McCoy, USA Paralympics sled hockey gold medalist, and SHRS grad student Jonathan Duvall, a founding member and president of Pitt’s Students for Disability Advocacy.
Individuals interested in participating in public comment sessions must register by May 1. Details on participating in person, by phone or in writing are posted as part of the quarterly meeting agenda at www.ncd.gov/events.
Thornburgh to be honored for ADA efforts
Dick Thornburgh, former Pennsylvania governor and U.S. attorney general, will be honored for his efforts toward the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) at a May 4 reception on campus.
NCD in 1986 recommended enactment of ADA and drafted the first version of the bill, which was introduced in Congress in 1988.
The ADA, which provides equal opportunities for people with disabilities in employment, transportation, public accommodations, government facilities, public services and telecommunications, was signed into law in July 1990.
A celebration in Washington, D.C., is planned to coincide with the July 26 anniversary of the ADA’s signing. Anniversary celebrations are set around the nation as well, with a series of local events and initiatives scheduled to mark the landmark legislation’s 25th anniversary.
Visit www.fisafoundation.org to view a calendar of community-wide ADA 25th anniversary events in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.
—Kimberly K. Barlow