How People Get Jobs: Networking
Posted by Allison Hammond on Tuesday, April 16, 2013
How did you get your current job? Was it through a friend, a community connection, a teacher, a mentor? We know that 64 percent of people find their jobs through networking. I know that I found my current job through a friend who had the job. She was moving away and knew that I was looking for another job because I was tiring of a 40 mile commute. (By the way, my previous position was also found through a connection a friend made for me.)
People with disabilities have unique gifts that our community needs. However, finding the right fit between their gifts and what employers need to have done can be a challenge. This challenge is made greater because people with disabilities have limited networking opportunities for prospective employers to get to know their abilities. When people with disabilities spend most of their time in special education or services their opportunities to network in the community may be limited. Some people with disabilities may also be isolated from the community connections because of their living arrangements.
At the Arcadia Institute we are working with people with disabilities to find meaningful activities, employment and housing that are not segregated from the community at large. We are intentionally working to provide opportunities for people with disabilities to discover their interests and gifts in the community. Through these activities they are growing their community networks. At our recent Building a Community of Belonging Forum, 12 people with disabilities broadened their connections in the community. A couple of them now have more volunteer options. One person wants to help a woman we work with to get an assistant dog that might increase her ability to work. Another person is thinking about how to have another woman we work with have an internship in his program.
So far we have had one success in our organic approach. My husband mentioned to his co-worker that The Arcadia Institute was looking for places people with disabilities to work. That co-worker said that they had a part time job that might be an option. We are working with a young man who was a good fit for the job. My husband’s company is very much like a family and so far has embraced this young man. We check in, but he never he needs little support from us because the company supports him.
If you are employed in a paying job think about how you found it. And while you are thinking about that might you know of a unique job for a person with unique gifts?
Connect Kalamazoo: Making Space for the Care of Community Building
Posted by Allison Hammond on Wednesday, April 10, 2013
The blog this week was written by Beth Mount after her recent trip to Kalamazoo for the 4th Annual Building a Community of Belonging Forum.
How might we contribute to making our community a place that is welcoming, supportive, and respectful so that all people belong?
I have rarely seen the fruits of community partnership like I did during my recent journey to Kalamazoo, Michigan hosted by the Arcadia Institute. The Arcadia Institute is a small non-profit organization founded by George Martin in 1994. Arcadia is funded by the Department of Mental Health, and several local community foundations. Staff of Arcadia offer person-centered planning, brokerage supports and on-going support to 20 people with disabilities and/or their families.
In addition to person-centered planning, staff member Allison Hammond facilitates Connect Kalamazoo, a network of community leaders who gather monthly to reflect on this question:
How might we contribute to making our community a place that is welcoming, supportive, and respectful so that all people belong?
The Connect Kalamazoo partners are genuinely and enthusiastically bound by their mutual commitment to build a better community in which all members belong. The result is the naturally occurring presence and participation of growing numbers of people with disabilities who are WELCOMED in settings and associations such as the Boys and Girls Club, the YMCA, the Boy Scouts, the Public Library, the Nature Center, and various Arts Associations. People with disabilities are engaged in opportunities for inclusion that fit their unique interests and weekly schedules.
Connect Kalamazoo associational leaders are inventing local practices, accommodations, and partnerships that yield inspiring stories of belonging for people with disabilities which also benefit their collective membership. Examples of mutually beneficial innovation within various settings include the following:
The Portage Public Library created a collection of “Ready Read” books for adults–high interest, easier-to-read books for those who are learning English as a second language or those who need easier reading options. Additionally, the library curates a variety of art exhibits that telegraph an inclusive world in which diverse community members belong and contribute. The library is filled with small areas arranged for people who want to talk, work, and think together. People with disabilities of all ages are subtly engaged throughout this large sprawling library.
The Southwest Michigan Council of Boy Scouts demonstrates a strong commitment to Scouts with complex support needs who truly belong to various scout troops. Many boys and teens with disabilities are also fully included in the various summer camp experiences offered by the Boy Scouts, the Nature Center, the Boys and Girls Club, and the YMCA. The Portage Public Library offers specialized supports to Boy Scouts working on badges that relate to computer skills.
Across town, Boy Scouts work on badges related to environmentalism and nature with the staff of the Kalamazoo Nature Center. The Nature Center embraces a vision of “No Child Left Inside,” and staff demonstrate a robust and creative commitment to providing nature and camp experiences to as many children as possible!
Meanwhile, the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Kalamazoo has implemented a thoughtful structure for belonging that brings out the best in all their members. The structure provides all 140 participants with choices and belonging as staff methodologically lift up examples of cooperative, welcoming, and constructive relationships throughout the group. The structure telegraphs that who we are to each other matters in every moment and every act. Students with disabilities naturally thrive in such a setting along with all the other members.
The YMCA has built a Family Locker Room that enables people to stay together (and help each other) during transition times such as changing clothes and organizing for workouts and other activities. This thoughtfully designed space creates a welcoming option for people to stay present to each other. I watched an older couple and a mother with children effortlessly negotiate the transition required of “changing clothes and getting organized,” and of course this space is a great help to those with different abilities who benefit from high levels of personal support.
The Director of the YMCA embraces the vision that “the YMCA is not a building but a mission.” In his words, “people come here to play in the starfish of hope, it is our work to create a hopeful space for all members, and for the community as a whole.”
Finally, The Media Arts Project “produces critically thinking social change artists” by supporting young people to be activists who capture injustices that youth face daily within health, education, and criminal justice systems. Young people engage in a variety of leadership development opportunities and young people with disabilities are naturally included.
We have much to learn from the intentional and consistent practice of collaboration growing through Connect Kalamazoo. The Arcadia Institute and community partners have created a shared space for wondering how to created a better community for all. The partners thrive in this space of “I don’t know how to do this, but I am open to discovering what more I can do to support all people to belong.” The structure and practice of mutual engagement is simple, yields profound results.
The Acadia Institute is expanding a space in which possibilities grow through relationships and partnerships. In the words of Julie, a Community Supporter, “We all have a teacher and a learner in us. Gathering together creates an explosion of the winds of care that awakes something in all of us and leads us to act on behalf of people.” What might the world look like if all of us made more time and space for the winds of care to blow and move us to acts of welcome? Kalamazoo is clearly a place for us to discover the power of partnerships and conversation held in the spirit of “I don’t know, but I am eager to explore with others how I can make a difference so that all members belong.”
Beth Mount, Ph.D.
graphicfutures@earthlink.net
25 West 81st Street, 16-B
New York, NY 10024
212-362-9492
www.bethmount.org
www.capacityworks2.com
Possibilities
Posted by Allison Hammond on Tuesday, April 2, 2013
The blog this week was written by George Martin, President of The Arcadia Institute.
Our neighbor who avoids the outdoors in cold weather is now appearing regularly.
Several robins have appeared in my backyard.
The sun is shining, and when the sun is shining more things seem possible.
Beth Mount, who spent two days with us last week, gently pointed us toward thinking in terms of possibilities.
In Kalamazoo, we and the network we take part in have heard this message. Yet, in order to continue to focus on the strengths and capacities of people with disabilities, in order remember that it is not our place to assure anyone among us that he or she has a ‘place’ in our community, in order to continue to keep ourselves informed that admission to the community is no one’s prerogative to give, in order to keep it ever before us that being in community is a natural right, just as surely as it is self evident that all of us are created equal, it was good to have Beth Mount come to our town and remind us that the possibilities that each one of us can act on, are available to us all.
The fact that our ancestors did not understand that here in America that people of color and people with disabilities were actually part of our human compact, if not the social contract that our founders bought into, makes the common humanity of us all no less an entitlement. That compact gives assurance to all that all us have the same possibilities as a human right, and if we do not have the same capabilities to make them realities, we are entitled to get the learning possibilities and the support we need to pursue them.
Aligning the Stars at the 4th Building a Community of Belonging Forum
Posted by Allison Hammond on Tuesday, March 26, 2013
“Everyone here is a star, today we stretched and reached for the stars to make Kalamazoo a place where everyone belongs.”
A tapestry of people from throughout Kalamazoo gathered at the Kalamazoo Nature Center for the 4th Building a Community of Belonging: A Forum of The Arcadia Institute and It Partners. Beth Mount, our guest facilitator, created opportunities for people with disabilities we have worked with to share their stories in small groups – that became small communities for that day. In the afternoon, the groups made colorful collages that represent not only the hopes and dreams for the person focused on – but also for our community.
A theme throughout the day was stars. Stars are symbols of so many things: hopes, dreams, the future, light, – you continue the list. Beth also mentioned that stars are symbols throughout world religions. The Connect Kalamazoo Network introduced their new logo – in it there is a star.
Soon we will have a blog in which Beth will share her reflections of her time in Kalamazoo. In the meantime, here are some comments from the evaluations of the Forum:
• It is very important to make connections naturally in neighborhood, people around already
• Too many to list! But there are a few that stand out: 1. Listen with care 2. Find the key 3. Connect to a place and we are all pieces of a mosaic picture. Everyone has value.
• That each of us have to be an ambassador to build our “community of belonging”
• The core of community is relationships, not services.
A special thank you to our Partners, Supporters and Sponsors for not only supporting the Forum financially, but also being part of the day. All of our stars are aligning toward creating a community that is welcoming, supportive and respectful of everyone, especially those with disabilities.
Building a Community of Belonging Forum Partners
The Arcadia Institute
YMCA of Greater Kalamazoo
Kalamazoo Nature Center
Boys and Girls Club of Greater Kalamazoo
Southwest Michigan Council of Boy Scouts
The Portage District Library
The Media Arts Academy
Advocacy Groups
ARC of Michigan
ARC of Western Wayne County
Disability Network of Southwest Michigan
Sponsors
Center for Disability Services
Residential Opportunities, Inc.
Family & Children Services
Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency
Supporters
Kalamazoo Community Mental Health & Substance Abuse Services
Julie Pell
USA Tae Kwan Do
YMCA Sherman Lake
Kalamazoo Metro Transit
People’s Food Co-op of Kalamazoo
Additional Funding
Kalamazoo RICC
Support for this forum was provided by a grant from the
Kalamazoo Community Foundation.
Beth Mount is an Important Part of our History in Kalamazoo
Posted by Allison Hammond on Tuesday, March 19, 2013
The blog this week was written by George Martin, President of The Arcadia Institute.
In the spring of 1985, I organized a workshop on employment here in Kalamazoo. At that time I was part of a task force that was attempting to determine what agency should be funded to run a sheltered workshop. Beth Mount organized the workshop for us and caused our task force to take an entirely different direction. Because of her influence we shifted our focus from sheltered work to competitive community employment.
Beth worked with a group of volunteers and professionals over a three-day period. She led us through the steps our community planning, using her trademark skills of facilitation combined with graphic depiction of our conversations. She organized three presentations: One on sheltered work in Seattle where people with severe disabilities were earning good wages. The second, also in Seattle, on groups of individuals working in enclaves within industry. The third was on people with disabilities in Tifton, Georgia, who working in the community in individualized competitive employment.
Before she left Kalamazoo, Beth told us about a conference held annually in Ellensberg, Washington on supported community employment. Dave Gardiner, then Executive Director of MRC Industries, Marilyn Anderson, a Board member at MRC, and I attended that conference. When we returned, Dave asked the Mental Health Board for start up funds for a pilot supported employment program at MRC. This was the beginning of this community’s focus on people with disabilities working in the community in paid jobs.
Beth came back several years later as a featured speaker at a statewide conference on community Participation that I organized. Her thoughts, along with the O’Brien’s were highly influential in the development of our Community Participation Initiative and later Community Brokering. An essential element in that work is the individualized personal futures plan. Beth’s graduate work at the University of Georgia was a driving force in the use of Person Centered Planning in Kalamazoo, in Michigan and the nation.
We are excited to welcome back this week for our fourth Forum.
