Goodwill hopes to help unemployed with disabilities

BY AMY FLOWERS UMBLE

Date published: 7/14/2008

BY AMY FLOWERS UMBLE

Goodwill's main mission is to help people with disabilities find employment.

But only one-fifth of the people who use Rappahannock Goodwill's job-help centers have a disability.

The agency knows more people in the area have disabilities: A 2000 census found 16,000 area unemployed adults with disabilities.

Goodwill officials also read studies saying about 50 percent of unemployed adults with disabilities can and want to work. So they figured about 8,000 area adults with disabilities need a job.

But those people aren't coming to three job-help centers Goodwill operates in Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania and Stafford, said Megan Bergen, director of mission services.

She found one main barrier: The complicated government benefits system.

When people did come to the job-help center, they expressed concern about losing Medicaid or Medicare.

Government-sponsored health insurance is critical for the disabled, said Kim Baker, a community works incentives coordinator certified through the Social Security Administration.

Many assume if they go to work, they'll lose that insurance.

"But they don't necessarily have to," Baker said.

The rules, however, are complicated. And Goodwill's employment specialists needed additional training. So Goodwill partnered with Baker and trained its staff in Social Security disability regulations.

"Our mission is to serve people with disabilities, and so we want to serve more people with disabilities in our job help centers," said Sherry Davis, manager of workforce services. "Of course, we can't guarantee a job to all 8,000 people, but we are an employer, and we employ the largest number of people with disabilities."

Goodwill has a variety of jobs--working at the agency's laundry, in its thrift stores and in other stores and businesses with which Goodwill contracts.

But employment specialists in the centers also help people get jobs in the community. With the tough economy, specialists have had to get creative to find those jobs, Davis said.

But employees with disabilities tend to stick with their jobs longer and show greater commitment, she said, which helps employers.

"And we create new taxpayers, so it kind of benefits the community as a whole," Davis said.

Amy Flowers Umble: 540/735-1973
Email: aumble@freelancestar.com

Rappahannock Goodwill Industries' job-help centers are free and open to the public at: Fredericksburg: 1409 Princess Anne St. Stafford County: 72 Doc Stone Road Spotsylvania County: 10070 Jefferson Davis Highway

Date published: 7/14/2008