Individuals with disabilities stay an untapped resource in the country's labor force, dealing with a joblessness rate of 70 percent. NISH, a not-for-profit company that aids protect federal contracts for firms that utilize individuals with handicaps with the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Program, is functioning to change the status quo.
The company has actually introduced a brand-new program wherein agencies assigned as "Centers of Quality" act as advisors to various other firms to aid them improve the quality of the product and services they offer to the federal government. The Javits-Wagner-O'Day Program is the biggest single resource of jobs in the U.S. for individuals with impairments.
Usually referred to as the JWOD program, it supplies employment possibility for more than 45,000 individuals that are blind or have other serious impairments. Through the JWOD program, NISH collaborates with a network of greater than 600 nonprofit agencies that use and educate individuals with handicaps.
The program comes from the Wagner-O'Day Act, come on 1938, which gave employment possibilities for the blind by allowing them to make sponges and mops to offer to the federal government. In 1971, Congress changed the act to include people with severe handicaps as well as to permit the companies to provide solutions along with items. According to a recent Harris Interactive survey, two out of 3 people with handicaps that are not working wish to work, but the lack of chances and availability concerns prevent them from finding work.