Business-Workforce Partnerships Find Job Seekers with Disabilities are "Ready and Able" People with disabilities can work, and want to work. Growing evidence of their ability to match or exceed the job performance of co-workers without disabilities shows that the current high unemployment rate, and low labor force participation rate, of Americans with disabilities is depriving the nation of a valuable pool of talent. That's the conclusion of a detailed NTAR Leadership Center report entitled Ready and Able: Addressing Labor Market Needs and Building Productive Careers for People with Disabilities Through Collaborative Approaches. It presents 13 in-depth profiles of diverse business-workforce partnerships nationwide that use market-driven strategies to help employers recruit, hire, train, and retain employees with disabilities. Among the findings: Employers respond to a business case for employing people with disabilities. Employers believe that people with disabilities who possess the skills needed for the job add value to the employer and positively affect the "bottom line." Innovative collaborations with and between workforce-supplying organizations strengthen employer efforts to hire and train employees with disabilities. Employers want a single point of contact to coordinate the employment and training assistance and supports they require. Collaborations ensure that workers are qualified and productive. Many effective projects feature internships, mentorships, and opportunities for workers to earn credentials, along with accommodations that help employees to be successful once on the job. Successful collaborations nurture and reward continuous leadership. Leaders in the partnerships studied showed a willingness to develop, coordinate, nurture, and manage the collaboration. The Ready and Able report reflects six months of research and one-on-one interviews with employers throughout the United States. It was co-authored by Kathy Krepcio, Director of the NTAR Leadership Center at the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University; Dr. Robert Nicholas, Senior Visiting Fellow for Disability Research at the Heldrich Center; Ronnie Kauder, the Heldrich Center's Senior Practitioner-in-Residence; and Dr. Dan Baker of the Elizabeth M. Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Read the report Listen to the podcast interview with Deb Russell, Manager of Outreach and Employee Services at Walgreens Read a transcript of the podcast | 
