Partnerships
Building Business Partnerships
You’ve heard the adage “When times get tough, the tough get going.” In this economic environment, Aspire has to work smarter and harder to develop employment opportunities for adults with disabilities and to increase our bottom line funding.
Thus, the birth of Aspire’s new approach to job development and funding for services, called the Aspire Business Partnership Initiative. The initiative is a proactive way to build long-term relationships with local companies and develop job opportunities for Aspire participants, while finding new revenue through those alliances and partnerships. Another key goal is to reduce Aspire’s reliance on the state for financial support.
Aspire has always worked hard to provide its participants with job opportunities, both at Aspire Industries (our employment workshop for adults with developmental disabilities) and through area businesses. “But the recession has made it hard out there for people with developmental disabilities,” says Jim Kales, Aspire’s President and CEO.
Nationally, the unemployment rate for people with any type of disability is 70 percent, but that climbs to 90 percent for people with intellectual or cognitive disabilities. Given these trends, says Kales, a bold, new approach is needed. “Our model in the past has been to seek out job, sponsorship and employee volunteer opportunities on a sort of piecemeal basis, but now we are tying those opportunities together in a more coordinated fashion,” says Kales. “Rather than have several different representatives from Aspire approach businesses for different “asks”, we’re now visiting with, for example, the vice president for community affairs at a company and saying, ‘how can we work together?’ It’s a more coordinated approach that’s reaping good results,” says Kales.
Kales says the early response to the initiative has been very encouraging. “The doors have been open. Businesses are interested in hearing about us and want to get involved.” The benefits to the company may include recognition of its business and employees in media stories and on Aspire’s website, the promotion of the business’ name and logo in sponsored events, and advertisements in Aspire’s program books.
Here are a few basic ways businesses can partner with Aspire:
- sponsorship of an Aspire program or event
- subcontracting work to Aspire Industries (e.g. packaging, collating, or sorting jobs)
- volunteer team building projects at Aspire for the company’s employees
- hiring an adult with a developmental disability through Aspire’s Community Employment program
For more information about Aspire’s Business Partnership Initiative, email Burt Petkus, our Business Partnership Developer, or call 224.623.3958.
