SOUTH CAROLINA EMPLOYMENT FIRST INITIATIVE
The three goals of the SC Employment First Initiative are:
- Equip high school students and recent graduates with intellectual and developmental disabilities with the skills, awareness, and confidence needed to enter competitive employment. How? By establishing statewide procedures for collecting student employment data, implementing an employment model and peer mentoring program based on current successful collaborative practices, and initiating a social media campaign focused on youth in employment.
- Unify and empower SC education professionals, employment service providers, families, and the community at large towards support of Employment First principles. How? By conducting a statewide campaign to improve community perception of disability employment, offering local benefits trainings to dispel myths regarding benefits and employment, providing Employment First training to service providers, and incorporating Employment First commitment into current policies for statewide educational and employment entities.
- Develop and expand supports for South Carolina-based employers who hire persons with disabilities in competitive, community-based positions. How? By providing disability etiquette and ADA trainings to employers, creating a business to business network group to focus on disability employment, publishing a list of supports for employers, and hosting an employer summit to promote inclusion in workplace.
The Initiative’s efforts are coordinated by the South Carolina Disability Employment Coalition (SCDEC), through collaboration with thirteen Project Partners. The SCDEC is a collaborative effort to address employment barriers for individuals with disabilities in South Carolina. It currently has more than 40 stakeholders statewide, representing employers, state, and private agencies.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Project Director:
Sandy Jordan, Able South Carolina
Director of Employment Programs
Telephone: (864) 235-1421 ext. 310
Email: sjordan@able-sc.org
Assistant Director:
Jerri Davison, Able South Carolina
Telephone: (864) 235-1421 ext. 302
Email: jdavison@able-sc.org
