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October 27, 2009

By Connie S. Brown The Niagara Gazette Tue Oct 27, 2009, 10:42 PM EDT

October is “National Disability Employment Awareness Month” and is the ideal time to recognize and celebrate the more than 150 area businesses that partner with Opportunities Unlimited of Niagara to provide gainful employment for individuals with intellectual and other developmental disabilities.

The major challenges to productive employment of qualified people with disabilities are attitudes and false assumptions about what people can and cannot do. What people with disabilities CAN do is be productive if only provided an opportunity.

With the support of a federal program, AbilityOne, more than 40,000 Americans who are blind or have other disabilities receive rehabilitation, training and job coaching through qualified community-based nonprofit organizations such as Opportunities Unlimited of Niagara. The results are customized solutions for the federal government and our U.S. Armed Forces, and increased financial security through good wages and personal independence for thousands of Americans with disabilities. Program participants from our environmental services program work at the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station through a federal contract. They receive training and are paid to perform office-cleaning services.

Additionally, 150 other individuals are employed in local businesses through our P.A.R.T.N.E.R.S. in Employment program. This supported employment program provides companies with a tax incentive and qualified individuals assisted by a job coach. Moreover, nearly 200 additional individuals are employed by Opportunities Unlimited of Niagara, a United Way agency, in our subcontracting (assembly, packaging, mailing and inspection), food service and environmental services programs in our agency facilities and at business locations across the region.

On behalf of the individuals employed through programs at Opportunities Unlimited of Niagara, I want to thank the many types of manufacturing, scientific and assembly businesses, as well as the numerous restaurants, hotels, supermarkets and small businesses for their continued support of our vocational programs. By allowing us to be your business resource, you put people to work and truly change lives.

I am proud to be part of an organization that provides people with disabilities with the opportunity to reach their maximum potential, independence and integration into the community. If you can help provide employment opportunities to our program participants and fulfill America’s promise to people with disabilities, please call us at 297-6400 or 434-4050.

Connie S. Brown is the executive director of Opportunities Unlimited of Niagara.

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