Post by stefanieoshea on Apr 13, 2016 18:00:40 GMT
Question 1
While I think everyone had really great ideas and the innovation was flowing, two that really stuck out to me were Rudy and Marie’s because these are two areas that we in Boston have had a lot of conversation around.
Rudy’s post about tech training is something that I think is a great idea because it is such a booming industry in which people can work at a variety of skill levels. Boston is very big in biotech and we recently brought Twitter, Google and Amazon into the area and have been looking at the different jobs that our program participants might be able to translate their training in and also how we might make a “train to order” for some positions. We have a new (to the entire state) contract working with high school aged disabled youth on career exploration and I feel like coding and other tech training would be very appealing and a realistic industry for many of them who practically come out of the birthing ward knowing how to unlock an iPad! I think that sometimes we think to black and white about the jobs that disabled people are capable of, especially if the jobs we are thinking about are ones that we cannot even do ourselves (no idea how to code, but my 4 year old can use an iPad better than me!), so we tend to put people into cleaning, food and mailroom/document work. Thinking outside and to the future with coding, app creation, etc is such a great idea and something that our own organizations may be able to create social enterprises around.
Marie’s post about assisting people who are interested in human services work to get into that field was also a great idea that we have talked about here since there are a number of certificate and associates programs at the state university (UMASS) as well as the community colleges that many of our participants can attend for free through the state voc rehab provider. When I worked in the prison system I had a number of clients who were taking online or in the prison classes on addictions counseling in the hopes of doing this work once released. A combination of their experiences and passion about the topic made them such great candidates, and the fact that they were living out the consequence behind bars seemed to me a great fit for working with young people who may be headed down that path. Who better to deter someone from relapsing than someone who has been addicted to substances and paid the ultimate price of losing their freedom? It would be great if our own programs could pick something up to teach this work and help guide program participants into these jobs, or even working for our own organization through peer to peer work and case management.
Question 2 (first option)
I think that Fedcap has quite a few tools that we can develop and market, especially if we are able to modify our products as we have for Get Ready ™ for use with youth, adults and people with intellectual disabilities. One of those tools is the Networking by Design program; although I have yet to see it in person, I have had my staff attend an event and we will be hosting our first here for the new youth program I mentioned above and I think it has even more potential with modifications for other populations. One tweak could be to do one based entirely in one industry, say, culinary. Get a bunch of people who are working in different jobs: line cook, produce buyer, restaurant manager, barista, uniform company staff, etc and allow our program participants who are in the food programs to speak to them and ask questions about all of the different positions and opportunities for growth that exist in the industry. This can similarly be translated for any training program: cleaning and maintenance, hotel and hospitality, even coding and tech jobs!
While I think everyone had really great ideas and the innovation was flowing, two that really stuck out to me were Rudy and Marie’s because these are two areas that we in Boston have had a lot of conversation around.
Rudy’s post about tech training is something that I think is a great idea because it is such a booming industry in which people can work at a variety of skill levels. Boston is very big in biotech and we recently brought Twitter, Google and Amazon into the area and have been looking at the different jobs that our program participants might be able to translate their training in and also how we might make a “train to order” for some positions. We have a new (to the entire state) contract working with high school aged disabled youth on career exploration and I feel like coding and other tech training would be very appealing and a realistic industry for many of them who practically come out of the birthing ward knowing how to unlock an iPad! I think that sometimes we think to black and white about the jobs that disabled people are capable of, especially if the jobs we are thinking about are ones that we cannot even do ourselves (no idea how to code, but my 4 year old can use an iPad better than me!), so we tend to put people into cleaning, food and mailroom/document work. Thinking outside and to the future with coding, app creation, etc is such a great idea and something that our own organizations may be able to create social enterprises around.
Marie’s post about assisting people who are interested in human services work to get into that field was also a great idea that we have talked about here since there are a number of certificate and associates programs at the state university (UMASS) as well as the community colleges that many of our participants can attend for free through the state voc rehab provider. When I worked in the prison system I had a number of clients who were taking online or in the prison classes on addictions counseling in the hopes of doing this work once released. A combination of their experiences and passion about the topic made them such great candidates, and the fact that they were living out the consequence behind bars seemed to me a great fit for working with young people who may be headed down that path. Who better to deter someone from relapsing than someone who has been addicted to substances and paid the ultimate price of losing their freedom? It would be great if our own programs could pick something up to teach this work and help guide program participants into these jobs, or even working for our own organization through peer to peer work and case management.
Question 2 (first option)
I think that Fedcap has quite a few tools that we can develop and market, especially if we are able to modify our products as we have for Get Ready ™ for use with youth, adults and people with intellectual disabilities. One of those tools is the Networking by Design program; although I have yet to see it in person, I have had my staff attend an event and we will be hosting our first here for the new youth program I mentioned above and I think it has even more potential with modifications for other populations. One tweak could be to do one based entirely in one industry, say, culinary. Get a bunch of people who are working in different jobs: line cook, produce buyer, restaurant manager, barista, uniform company staff, etc and allow our program participants who are in the food programs to speak to them and ask questions about all of the different positions and opportunities for growth that exist in the industry. This can similarly be translated for any training program: cleaning and maintenance, hotel and hospitality, even coding and tech jobs!
