Overview of Project Vision: Connecting Disabled U.S. Latinos to Employment Opportunities
By Kathy Martinez, Project Director (Kathy@wid.org)
On behalf of the project partner organizations and staff of Proyecto Vision, I would like to welcome you to "The Bridges To Employment Conference for Latinos with Disabilities". This is the first conference of its kind specifically dedicated to obtaining information about where and how to find meaningful employment, how to find mentors, developing resumes and preparing for interviews, understanding the benefits to work process, knowing your rights and responsibilities under specific disability-related legislation, and developing networks and friendships to provide support and camaraderie in the process of increasing employment opportunities for Latinos with disabilities.
The project goal
The purpose of this project is to give people choices-some will end up working and some won't, but they deserve information and the opportunity to get to know other Latinos with disabilities so that they can determine whether or not they want to work, can work and if they decide to work, what is the best approach to obtaining or retaining employment.
The goal of this project is to provide opportunities so that Latinos with Disabilities can work if that's what they and their families choose. They won't get that choice if they don't know we exist.
What do we have to offer?
What do we have to offer? To start with, we have some first person experience with being disabled and working anyway. The majority of people working on this project could qualify for disability benefits, and maybe got them in the past, but now are working. We will hear their stories later in the program. Most of the people connected with this project also have experience working with federal or state groups responsible for delivering services to a diverse disability population. And, thirdly, we have spent the last year collecting all the information we can find about how Latinos can get better access to internships, training opportunities, advanced education, assistive technology, employment networks, job banks, support groups and any other "loose change" that other groups already know how to access. We have also been collecting information around the country about "success stories," disabled Latinos who are already working-because we all need to know about and start documenting our progress. Today, most of that information is on our website (www.proyectovision.net) in both English and Spanish. Tomorrow, we have to start taking this information directly to the Latino and disability communities.
Your role
As participants, you have another job to do here besides learning about employment-related information. You have to help us recruit people to participate in this project so that we can take our place in both the disability community and the Latino community as a viable, powerful and dignified population who must have a voice and actively participate in the decision-making processes of both communities or it will fail. Due to poverty, poor health care, violence and shame, many of our disabled brothers and sisters are hidden away in their homes or in institutions.
It's our job-and your job-to let them know that Proyecto Vision exists for them and their families. It's our job to let them know that there will be four more conferences and we want them to be there with us. I also have another request. Beginning in September, Proyecto Vision will be recruiting nine reporters to contribute articles to our website. Each reporter will be paid for accepted articles. We need nine people who want to report on what's going on in their region with regard to U.S. based Latinos with Disabilities-this could mean interviews with someone who they think would be a good role model, provide job leads, information about successful programs working with either Latinos or disabled people and how other Latinos can get involved-the possibilities are endless, those are just a few examples. If you are Latino and live in the U.S., contact our editor of Proyecto Vision, Rosangela Berman Bieler via phone 301 309 9469 or email projvision@aol.com in either English or Spanish.
Net year -focus on leadership
Also, during the second year of the project, we will hold our first leadership seminar. The purpose of this seminar is to train participants how to work with businesses and social service agencies in their communities by providing the businesses and agencies information about employing people with disabilities. This will be an intensive two and a half day training where participants will really learn new information and develop new skills. Applications for that will be coming out in October and the training is planned for January 2003-probably will be held in Oakland.
Conclusion
So you see, we expect you to take and we expect you to give. It's the only way this initiative will be successful. I want to end with some thoughts about success...what is it anyway? When I think back to my first success and the thrills that came with it, I was five years old, trying to figure out how to ride my first two-wheeled bike. I kept pushing off, then putting my feet down, which of course made the bike come to a complete stop. Frustrated, I asked my mother, "Mom, why can't I do it?" As usual my mother's response had nothing to do with my blindness. She said, "Well, Kathy, I think you are just scared. You are going to have to push off and just see how far you can go." So, I did and it was a great ride. Now, the neighbors were not so excited about having a blind kid riding toward them like a 'bat out of hell', but that's another story.
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