Our July Spotlight! is shining brightly on the San Diego Metro Region Career Centers—operated by KRA Corporation for the San Diego Workforce Partnership (SDWP)—and a new collaborative effort created to address the workforce services needs of jobseekers with disabilities.
On July 22nd, in conjunction with partner-representatives from the San Diego District of the Department of Rehabilitation, Deaf Community Services, and the Oliver McMillan I CAN! Center of the San Diego Central Library (SDCL), Terrance Bowens, KRA Workshop Facilitator, facilitated the inaugural Employment Workshop for special-needs jobseekers who are already working, or who want to explore employment opportunities.
San Diego Central Library
Bowens reported, “This partnership has launched a unique, much-needed community service…a series of workshops targeted to topics of concern to jobseekers with disabilities. Our first session prompted a flood of questions related to How to Collect Benefits and Still Work. We anticipate a similar reaction to our August 26th workshop, Understanding Reasonable Accommodation, which will include discussion on how to talk about it with employers.”
All Employment Workshops will be held in the I CAN! Center, which according to the SDCL website, “provides services, programs, resources and professional assistance for persons with disabilities in a safe and comfortable environment”, which includes “two private study rooms and 16 computers equipped with assistive software, enlarged screens and adjustable-height tables. The Center features e-readers, large print-books, Braille books and other materials, including digital Talking Books.”
Maxine Suka, Program Manager, concluded, “KRA/San Diego became a member of the SDCL family in September 2013, when we began operating the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Workforce Development Center (WDC). So, operating the WDC in the same building as the I CAN! Center, where the workshops are held, is a value-added component of our service delivery system for jobseeker-customers with disabilities. We are indeed fortunate to have the Center as a partner in this new collaborative endeavor.”
Dr. Boone’s 20+ years’ experience in the industry is extensive and her expertise in private-, public-, and non-profit sector workforce-services organizations is unparalleled, particularly in the Baltimore–Washington Metropolitan area.
