Introduction
Lisa Newman, Program Specialist, Montana Job Training Partnership, Inc.
The Montana/Wyoming Careers through Partnerships Project was a Job Training Partnership Act and Workforce Investment Act demonstration project funded by the U.S. Department of Labor and administered by Montana Job Training Partnership. Key collaborators were the University of Montana Rural Institute, University of Wyoming Institute for Disabilities, job seekers with disabilities, and a variety of service providers throughout Montana and Wyoming.
Partnering was key to the success of this project; there were no lone wolves, struggling alone to find successful employment. Agencies, funding sources, and individuals worked together to build successful outcomes. In this publication, we have focused on our customers, since they are truly the ones to credit for the success of this project. In the following pages you will find snapshots of people with disabilities who partnered with us to start their own small businesses.
When the Montana/Wyoming Careers through Partnerships Project was originally designed in 1998, three goals were set:
- support customer choice and self-determination,
- increase the knowledge of a variety of disability issues within the workforce system, and
- be available to provide technical assistance when needed to do so.
First, supporting customer choice and self-determination means that providers need flexibility to customize services for people with disabilities. Workforce development systems of the past often tried to fit people into jobs that were locally available. Most often these jobs had nothing to do with an individual’s interests or aspirations. Sometimes workforce staff even suggested that people leave their rural communities and relocate to more populated areas to find work. This not only could potentially remove people from their support network, but studies have shown that out-migration results in the loss of human capital, which economically and socially devastates rural America.
Supporting customer choice is all about listening
to what people want to do and finding a way to help them reach
their goals. It isn’t about convincing people that their
career goals are impossible, not feasible, or unrealistic. Guess
what? Generally, we found that most individuals knew the kind
of work they wanted to do. People who are empowered to determine
their career goal are more successful because they are personally
invested in their future, and they are doing something they want
to do.
Regardless of the customer’s choice, this project was able
to provide a variety of goods and services to support that choice
without using a “cookie-cutter” approach. Individual
requests for funding were as unique as the individuals and their
employment goals. A few participants used funds for training,
but most participants accessed funds for post-employment services
such as tools, equipment, assistive devices, job coaching, and
other financial support services. The project exceeded planned
enrollments because sponsoring organizations were successful in
leveraging funds and in-kind services from a variety of local,
state, and federal sources.
In three and one-half years we helped more than 140 people, 70
percent of all participants, find work. Half of those who entered
employment did so by starting a business. The majority are microenterprises
in small town America. They fill a niche by providing goods or
services that local citizens need. From east to west, north to
south, the project helped start businesses like a second hand
store, jerky manufacturing, photography, lawn maintenance/snow
removal, gourmet dog biscuits, website design, auto diagnostics,
office aquatics, nutritional supplement sales, jewelry design,
toy soldier and accessory manufacturing, signs and graphics, painting,
greeting cards, guitar repair, upholstery, and custom embroidery.
The project was a success and serves as a model for workforce
development programs throughout the country.
Several of the participants accessed funds through Social Security Plans for Achieving Self Support (PASS). You can learn more about PASS at the Social Security Administration’s website: www.ssa.gov. To view sample PASS plans, visit the Rural Institute’s website www.passplan.org.
Enjoy reading the participant profiles!