Employment Solutions, UCP's supported employment program, recently hosted the first annual AbilityAware event. The purpose of the event was to honor employers who have hired individuals with disabilities. Twenty-four local employers were invited to receive an award!

Everyone gathered at The Cleaners (owned by the Ace Hotel) in Downtown Portland. Four employed individuals (Renea Azeltine, Phillip Klover, Dan Waugh and Jacque Straub) and their managers told their employment stories, talking about what it's like to work together at Supportland, Whole Foods, Sugar Wheel Works and Hippocrate's Secrets. Renea, Phillip, Dan and Jacque did an amazing job delivering their speeches.

UCP's Executive Director, Bud Thoune, was a featured speaker. As he later said, "It was a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the past concept of supported employment, and to envision an even better future." Forty years ago when Bud first started at UCP, if people with disabilities were employed, they were often employed in "enclaves" or "sheltered workshops". In other words: places that were segregated from the community. This event highlighted how far society (and UCP) has come--supported employment can and should look radically different than a workshop or enclave.

After the speeches were delivered, a video of three job-seekers was shown. The video production was donated by Grandient Productions, and featured Valentino Guerrero, Rachel Black and Tyler Chism. Rachel was present at the event, and was approached by an employer and offered an interview! Here's a link to the video on YouTube.

During the award ceremony, all the employers came to the front of the room to be honored. A standing ovation erupted from the crowd. Everyone in the room felt the power of employment! The event got such positive reviews that we plan to do it annually.

UCP would like to thank the hardworking members of Employment Solutions who made this event possible: Melissa Miller, Sheila Forget, Nicholas Von Pless, and Xochil Springer. All of them managed to provide excellent services to their customers while simultaneously planning a huge event that totally rocked! Thank you all!