ICW, along with its partners the Families and Work Institute and the Twiga Foundation, have released the 2009 installment of the annual Guide to Bold New Ideas for Making Work Work. The guide, part of the national When Work Works initiative, features the latest winners of the Alfred P. Sloan Awards for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility and their innovative workplace practices that underline the many positive business impacts of providing a flexible and effective work culture.

National Summit on Disability Policy 2010 Website
National Council on Disability
http://www.neweditions.net/ncd2010/index.html
This event, which will take place on July 25-27, 2010 in Washington, DC, is hosted by the National Council on Disability. The theme—ADA 1990-2010 Retrospective and Future Policy Directions—will include a comprehensive dialogue to shape the national disability agenda.

Anyone hoping to become a delegate to the summit in July of 2010 should review the Website and complete the application as quickly as possible. A delegate selection will be done later this fall, but people should assure that they do not miss any deadlines.

PUBLICATIONS OF THE WEEK

Effective Emergency Management: Making Improvements for Communities and People with Disabilities
National Council on Disability

The National Council on Disability (NCD) has been interested and involved in emergency preparedness, disaster management, and recovery since 2003. NCD’s first evaluation of federal government work in this area was published in April 2005 in the report Saving Lives: Including People with Disabilities in Emergency Planning. That report laid out a scenario of a major hurricane striking the Gulf Coast and outlined steps that the federal government should take to include people with disabilities in emergency preparedness, disaster relief, and homeland security. Hurricane Katrina struck four months later.

As a result of NCD’s work, the 2006 Homeland Security Appropriations bill’s Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act (PKEMRA) (H.R. 5441) required FEMA to employ a National Disability Coordinator and to interact, consult, and coordinate with NCD on a list of eight other activities. These duties included interacting with stakeholders regarding emergency planning requirements and relief efforts in case of disaster; revising and updating guidelines for government disaster emergency preparedness; evaluating a national training program to implement the national preparedness goal; assessing the nation’s prevention capabilities; identifying and sharing best practices; coordinating and maintaining a National Disaster Housing Strategy; developing accessibility guidelines for communications and programs in shelters and recovery centers; and helping all levels of government in the planning of evacuation facilities that house people with disabilities. Congress provided $300,000 in the FY 2007 appropriations bill to enable NCD to fulfill our assigned duties under the PKEMRA. That funding has enabled us to complete this report.

Based on its ongoing policy and research work in the area of homeland security, NCD identified a major gap in the government’s knowledge base. That gap involves the availability and use of effective practices for community preparedness and response to the needs of people with disabilities in all types of disasters. In 2008, NCD began to review the spectrum of available studies and defined a set of best and promising practices for emergency management across the life cycle of disasters (preparedness, response, recovery, mitigation) and geographic areas (urban to rural locations). In addition, NCD collected more information about promising practices from emergency management presentations, a public consultation, and public testimony received in writing and at Council meetings held throughout the country.

In this report, NCD offers information and advice to assist all levels of government in its work to establish evidence-based policies, programs, and practices across the life cycle of disasters. This report provides examples of effective community efforts with respect to people with disabilities, and evaluates many emergency preparedness, disaster relief, and homeland security program efforts deployed by both public and private sectors.

Some of the recommendations and interventions include:

• Federal Recommendations
  • Continue strengthening efforts to enforce compliance with Federal Communications Commission policies regarding emergency broadcasting to reach people with disabilities.
  • Complete the FEMA Comprehensive Planning Guide (CPG) series—including 301 Special Needs and 302, which includes service animals—in sync with other CPG series guides.
  • Hire disability coordinators at the FEMA regional offices.

• State-Level Interventions
  • Task a state official with disability and disaster issues.
  • Involve disability community organizations and state offices or agencies in all state efforts regarding natural hazards, terrorism, technological or hazardous materials concerns, and pandemic planning.

• Local-Level Interventions
  • Local jurisdictions should create working groups to review and revise emergency operations plans, mitigation plans, and recovery plans to address the issues of people with disabilities..
  • Cross-training on disability and disaster issues should be conducted among emergency managers, first responders, voluntary agencies, and disability agencies.

• Individual-Level Interventions
  • Accept personal responsibility for preparedness in a disaster context; where that is challenging, involve caregivers in such efforts.
  • Create contingency plans for evacuation and other protective action, shelter life, medical care, and service animals.
    

Corporate Social Responsibility: Reflecting America's Values
U.S. Department of Labor Office of Disability Employment Policy
August edition of Business Sense

Over the past year, a confluence of events has prompted many Americans to rethink where they spend their money. Corporate ethics scandals, the economic downturn and heightened awareness of the wide-reaching impact of organizations' actions have increased interest in patronizing socially responsible businesses. In short, today's consumers expect more of businesses than just goods and services. They expect good corporate citizenship.

Of course, as smart business owners have long known, responsible business practices and profitable businesses go hand in hand. Efforts such as employee volunteerism, philanthropy and community outreach boost the bottom line through increased customer loyalty, brand trust and shareholder value. Another important indication of good corporate citizenship is an inclusive workforce. For businesses both large and small, this means a workplace welcoming of the talents and skills of all community members, including those with disabilities.

Access the URL to read more.

Survey Results from a National Survey of Community Rehabilitation Providers holding Special Wage Certificates
Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation 30 (2009) 67–85 67
DOI 10.3233/JVR-2009-0454
IOS Press

[The following is excerpted from the article’s abstract.]

The purpose of this paper is to present the findings from a national survey of a random sample of community rehabilitation programs (CRPs) that hold Special Wage Certificates established under Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. 214(c). The intent of the survey was to identify the types of services provided, the trends in the employment services, and the factors that were perceived as inhibiting and facilitating integrated employment outcomes. The survey results are categorized for this report in the following three areas: 1) characteristics of community rehabilitation programs, 2) organizational change trends, and 3) factors that influence the type of employment program utilized by consumers with disabilities.

Representative results from the survey are that overall, facility-based programs continue to be the predominant service provided by community rehabilitation programs holding 14(c) certificates. Of the 20,075 staff members identified as serving consumers, only 1,741 (8.7% are reported as working with individuals earning at least minimum wage. Although competitive employment and individual supported employment services among these CRPs are growing at a faster rate than other services, use of facility-based services continues to expand. Overall, the findings indicate that the organizations that provide daily services to those Americans with disabilities utilizing 14(c) certificates are continuing to predominately support facility-based work and non-work activities versus services leading to integrated employment outcomes.