Happy National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM)!
 
As you might have seen, we recently profiled one of UCP’s customers, Emanuel. Emanuel uses supports from UCP Oregon to work at a Portland-area hospital as a Transportation Aid.
 
So now we’re profiling one of our employees, Lara, who works with Emanuel. Lara is a Job Coach at UCP, and has been working for UCP for three years.
 
Here’s what Lara has to say about working with Emanuel:
 
How long have you been working with Emanuel?
 
“Emanuel and I began working together early in 2021. At that time, our Supported Employment team wasn’t providing in-person supports due to the pandemic, so initially, Emanuel and I communicated primarily through text message. Over time, we developed the plan we have now, which is a combination of remote and in-person support.”

How would you describe Emanuel?

“Emanuel has incredible perseverance; he maintains his job as a front-line worker in the pandemic while also balancing time consuming personal obligations every day. I appreciate that, despite working exhaustingly long hours, Emanuel still has the capacity to be a forward thinker and outline aspirations for his future. Emanuel is an incredibly caring person and a thoughtful communicator.”

Thanks for the info, Lara!

PS: You can learn more about UCP Oregon’s Supported Employment division (“Employment Solutions”) here.

​For National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM), we thought it would be cool to profile one of UCP’s customers, Emanuel.
 
Emanuel uses services from UCP’s Employment Solutions division. He works at a Portland-area hospital, and has had his job (Transportation Aid) for more than six years.
 
Here’s what Emanuel has to say about his job:

It is with a heavy heart that we announce changes to UCP Oregon’s Supported Employment Department (“Employment Solutions”).
 
Employment Solutions supports adults who experience disabilities to find and keep fulfilling jobs in the community. As you might imagine, COVID-19 has had a huge effect on this department.
 
In March of 2020, most of the department’s employed customers lost their jobs due to COVID-19 restrictions, with very few able to be rehired in a contracting economy.
 
Over the intervening months, we have attempted to keep the department as whole as possible. We applied for (and received) COVID-19 relief grants. But three layoffs were necessary in July, and we are now forced to restructure again.
 
Department changes include:

• Eliminating the Department Director and two full-time Job Coach positions.
• Phasing out UCP’s employment services in Washington County. (We will to offer services in Multnomah and Clackamas counties.)
• Exiting a few customers from our services.
• Becoming more selective about the job seekers we support.

These changes will have a tremendous impact on UCP Oregon’s community. We are saying goodbye to some of our best and brightest, including our Employment Solutions Director, Melissa Miller. Read more about Melissa, and her contributions, here. 
 
Affected customers and employees have been informed, but if you have questions or need support, please don’t hesitate to contact us. 

As many of you know, UCP has been forced to implement layoffs in our Supported Employment Department.
 
One of the biggest changes was that the department’s Director, Melissa Miller, was laid off. We’d like to take a moment to celebrate and honor Melissa’s achievements at UCP.
 
Melissa started at UCP more than 17 years ago. She applied to be a “Roommate” (a live-in caregiver), hoping to get a job and a place to live. As she says, though, she ended up finding “a family, a community and a mission.”
 
That mission? As Melissa says, it’s to “PUSH THE ENVELOPE and NEVER STOP PUSHING for those who need support.”
 
Over the years, Melissa worked in many of UCP’s departments, supporting and interacting with hundreds of customers and employees. She met her husband at UCP, and started her own family. Meanwhile, Melissa was creating a new department, Employment Solutions, and serving as a statewide advocate and voice.
 
As UCP’s Executive Director, Ann Coffey says, “Melissa is bold, fearless, opinionated, hard-working, and full of gusto. She moves mountains. And she will continue to push the envelope for equity and justice, wherever she may roam.”
 
Melissa’s right-hand woman, Nicole Vivanco, will step into a new role as manager of the Employment Solutions team.
 
Learn more about recent changes to Employment Solutions here.

Happy NDEAM to you!

Wondering what NDEAM means? It stands for "National Disability Employment Awareness Month," and it happens every October.

The 2020 NDEAM is pretty special. That's because we're celebrating both the 75th observance of NDEAM... and the 30th anniversary of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act)!

Both milestones are being celebrated across the country with a range of events, all centering on the theme "Increasing Access and Opportunity."

UCP Oregon's fantastic supported employment division (Employment Solutions) creates "access and opportunity" every day!