Milwaukee Public Schools, the Human Resource Management Association of southeastern Wisconsin, the state Division of Vocational Rehabilitation and the Milwaukee Center For Independence have created a new program to help students with special needs connect with jobs after they graduate from high school.
Named the Affirmative Recruiting Initiative, the program’s goal is to develop working relationships with Milwaukee area employers, who will employ students on a work-study basis while they’re in school and allow them to transition to full or part-time employment after they graduate.
Under the initiative, students will receive pre-job training at school and will receive school support while they’re in the work-study program. The state DVR will provide students with coaching and support, if needed, after they graduate.
“The need is for us to build a better bridge between employers and the public school system,” said Thomas Lutzow, MCFI vice president. “Let’s connect employers to the school system so they can connect to kids and get them ready. If they can connect early and have MPS support (students) in the transition, they will harvest good workers.”
MPS has a work-study program for special needs students, said Pat Yahle, director of MPS’ Department of Special Services. That program has about 500 jobs available per year. However, when students leave MPS, they almost always leave those jobs.
The Affirmative Recruiting Initiative aims to create at least 150 jobs for MPS special needs students over the next three years, which the students can stay with once they graduate, Yahle said.
“It seems to me that there are a lot of job openings in the Milwaukee area and there are a lot of kids interested in working,” she said. “The question is how do we match them up?”
Officials with MCFI and MPS hope to leverage HRMA’s membership to increase the number of employers that will pledge jobs to the initiative. Zachary Misko, HRMA president, said the group has about 1,000 members, who work for about 400 different companies.
“Through working with our members, we can help facilitate connections between them, MPS and DVR,” he said.
Five companies have expressed interest in the initiative, said Tom Lutzow, MCFI vice president. They are Alexian Village, a retirement home on the northwest side of Milwaukee, Roundy’s Supermarkets Inc., Palermo Villa Inc., Strattec Security Corp. and Lakeside Manufacturing Inc. Finalized agreements with the companies have not been reached yet, Lutzow said.
If planning goes smoothly, some students may be able to start work-study this school year, he said.
For more information about the Affirmative Recruiting Initiative, contact:
Pat Yahle, director of Milwaukee Public Schools’ Department of Special Services at (414) 475-8745 or yahlepa@mail.milwau-kee.k12.wi.us
Joe Dannecker, School Board President, Milwaukee Public Schools at (414) 507-1875, jdannecker@asapnet.net
HRMA is also creating a new Web-site where members can post job openings that can be filled by MPS special needs students. There is no domain name for the site yet, but it will be available from HRMA’s site, www.hrma.org.
Potential employers need to create a working relationship with MPS if they want to hire students who will take part in the initiative, Yahle and Lutzow said. That process will initially take six to eight weeks, to ensure the employer will be a good match.
MPS’ Department of Special Services starts job training programs for disabled students when they’re 14 years old, Yahle said. That training includes identifying jobs the student is interested in, as well as skills assessments to see what jobs they’re able to do.
Consistent monitoring of students’ job skills will come in handy when a new employer approaches MPS to inquire about the Affirmative Recruiting Initiative, Yahle said.
“When jobs are posted, we can help select jobs (the student is right for),” she said. “And we can help prepare the student for the interview, to make sure the student is pre-matched before they go to the interview.”
MPS has not had much success in recent years in building successful partnerships with the community, said Joe Dannecker, School Board president. Creating a program like the Affirmative Recruiting Initiative might be a step in the right direction, he said.
“We’re confident that if we have success, this will grow,” Dannecker said. “As employers see the benefits of it they will expand opportunities for the more challenging end of the spectrum. We hope we will gradually find places for most of them.”
Employers will be eligible for a $2,400 federal tax credit for each student hired through the initiative. The credits are funded through a federal grant from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said state Rep. Josh Zepnick (D-Milwaukee). The initiative is part of a larger plan being developed by the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services, named the Pathways to Independence Strategic Plan, aimed at helping more disabled Wisconsin residents find work.
“A lot of this is designed to re-tool how we deliver programs in state government so we can cut across state agencies,” Zepnick said.
The ultimate goal is to promote self-sufficiency for disabled persons, he said, and the Affirmative Recruiting Initiative will be a key piece.
“A lot of this is geared toward the individual disabled person,” Zepnick said. “We want to put them in the driver’s seat and show them that ‘With the right tools, you can take care of yourself.'”
Employers should consider hiring MPS special needs students as a way to diversify their workforce, Yahle said.
“Employers can bring themselves to a new level of diversity and employees can take away a sense of community beyond work,” she said.
The definition of diversity in the workplace has changed over the last 20 years to mean far more than just racial diversity, Misko said.
“Diversity is very important in the workplace today,” he said. “Diversity has exploded. People are finally getting it.”
