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The Long Island Association held a panel discussion Thursday to mark National Disability Employment Awareness Month.
Speakers at the event, held at LIA headquarters in Melville, included Chris Rosa, president and CEO of The Viscardi Center; John and Mark Cronin, co-founders of John’s Crazy Socks; and Ines Vanboom, assistant vice president for Workforce Readiness at Northwell Health.
“One of the LIA’s top priorities is to cultivate a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive economy because that will support the overall growth and prosperity of our region,” Matt Cohen, president and CEO of the LIA, said in an organization statement. “Businesses on Long Island that have hired people with disabilities have demonstrated you can be both inclusive and profitable.”
This year’s theme for National Disability Employment Awareness Month is “Disability: Part of the Equity Equation.” The LIA event was aimed at providing the business community with tools, guidance, and information to support expansion of their talent pool, enable them to foster a more inclusive workplace and understand how it can also lead to company growth.
“The Viscardi Center has more than 300 employer partners that provide mentoring, internships, and job shadowing opportunities for participants in our vocational training program so they can enter the workforce,” Rosa said in the statement. “This program allows them to see the real value and talent that people with disabilities bring to their companies.”
John’s Crazy Socks has been focused on developing a successful business model as a social enterprise.
“Our socks are the physical manifestation of our social mission to support people with differing abilities,” Mark Cronin said in the statement. “Our goal is to spread happiness – through donating 5% of our earnings to the Special Olympics, by making people happy through our socks, and by showing people what’s possible when they have an inclusive workforce.”
Vanboom said that Northwell Health, the largest private employer in the state, provides its employees with the tools to be inclusive in their everyday responsibilities through training and mentoring.
“We also have a breadth of long-standing programs to hire motivated and skilled individuals with disabilities, which ultimately enhances the patient experience,” Vanboom said.
Moderated by Ellen Labita, partner and professional practice leader at Baker Tilly, the event was hosted by the LIA’s Health, Education and Not-for-Profit Committee. The committee is co-chaired by Kimberly Cline, president of Long Island University and Dr. Patrick O’Shaughnessy, president and CEO of Catholic Health. It is co-vice chaired by Labita and Paule Pachter, president and CEO of Long Island Cares.
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Image and article originally from libn.com. Read the original article here.