[nfbmi-talk] peckham awarded by nish a month ago

[joe harcz Comcast]

NISH Announces AbilityOne Network Award Winners

 

May 23, 2012 — NISH, Creating Employment Opportunities for People with Significant Disabilities, announced today the recipients of their AbilityOne® Network Awards, as part of the 2011 NISH National Awards. These awards recognize outstanding nonprofit agencies (NPAs) that produce products or provide services under the AbilityOne® Program. AbilityOne is the largest single source of employment for people who are blind or have significant disabilities and currently provides employment opportunities to more than 50,000 people nationwide. 

 

“Over the years, the AbilityOne Program has established great partnerships employing millions of people with significant disabilities” said Bob Chamberlin, President and CEO of NISH. “The organizations receiving these awards have continued the long tradition and commitment the program has to serve these citizens. LifeROOTS, CW Resources, BH Services and Peckham are being honored today but they are only four of the more than 500 NISH-participating nonprofits who make AbilityOne what it is today.”

 

The Network Awards are divided into five Performance Excellence categories. Those categories include:  Using the AbilityOne Program to further its Mission, Hiring Veterans with Disabilities, Grassroots Advocacy, Government Contracts and Quality Work Environment. 

 

The recipients of the 2011 AbilityOne Network awards are:

 

·         LifeROOTS in Albuquerque, NM for Performance Excellence in Using the AbilityOne Program to Further its Mission—This award recognizes an NPA for its efforts to focus on how the AbilityOne Program specifically supports its mission and the overall effort to support people with significant disabilities. LifeROOTS serves more than 1,500 people with disabilities each year by providing them with the resources and support they need to achieve their fullest potential. LifeROOTS longstanding AbilityOne contract with Kirkland Air Force Base has enabled them to provide 50 people with disabilities with jobs ranging from switchboard operators to custodial and janitorial services. Among success stories that have resulted from this contract is Gloria Silva who has risen through the ranks of the very demanding Switchboard Department and now supervises, trains and professionally nurtures a staff of 10 people with disabilities. The opportunities LifeROOTS provides have allowed for people with disabilities to prepare for more complex work on other AbilityOne contracts. 

 

·         CW Resources, Inc. in New Britain, CT for Performance Excellence in Hiring Veterans with Disabilities— This award recognizes an NPA for outstanding outreach and support in recruiting, hiring and training veterans with disabilities. CW Resources conducts job fairs and reaches out to local NPAs and veteran groups to identify and recruit Wounded Warriors or other veterans with disabilities seeking employment. Today, they employ more than 60 former members of the Armed Forces with disabilities and have established a veteran recruiting pipeline for its AbilityOne program contracts. CW Resources offers competitive management, supervisory and lead position opportunities in the custodial, grounds keeping, galley operations, ship provisioning, facility operations, commissary operations, housekeeping and food packaging areas.  By offering employment opportunities, CW has transformed the lives of countless veterans with significant disabilities.  

 

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·         BH Services, Inc. in Rapid City, SD for Performance Excellence in Grassroots Advocacy— This award recognizes an NPAs effective, creative approach for engaging and educating local, policymakers at the local, state or Federal level about the AbilityOne Program. BH Services, Inc. employs a variety of grassroots advocacy efforts to connect with and educate government representatives about issues that impact people with significant disabilities. BH Services’ outreach methods involve direct contact and relationship building with influencers such as Senator Mike Johanns of Nebraska who has already visited their contracts at Offutt as a result of their outreach.  In addition, AbilityOne employee and NISH board member, Tom Miller, has developed personal relationships with Senators Tim Johnson and John Thune of South Dakota. BH Services makes it a priority to show political leaders firsthand the quality of work being completed by AbilityOne employees and establish strategic partnerships in order to ensure support and help create jobs for people with significant disabilities. 

 

·         Peckham, Inc. in Lansing, MI for Performance Excellence in Government Contracts—This award recognizes and encourages excellence in AbilityOne contract performance and serves as an example to other nonprofit agencies. Peckham, Inc. is highly distinguished for its world-class level business performance across several, very different, service and product lines. Its apparel manufacturing, call centers, warehousing and custodial businesses are equally famed for meeting top international standards of quality. Every year, their success brings in more than 30 representatives from other NPAs to Peckham to learn from their best practices and implement them at each of their NPAs.

 

·         Peckham, Inc. in Lansing, MI for Performance Excellence in Quality Work Environment— This award recognizes an NPA for outstanding support in providing employees with disabilities enhanced employment opportunities, improved wages and upward mobility. Peckham, Inc. has made extraordinary gains in employee and client satisfaction during the last year by completing and incorporating into their business plan guidelines for a Quality Work Environment (QWE). In fact, they just finished their 3rd quarter after the creation of their QWE with the highest scores ever on their internal satisfaction services.  This process has helped Peckham undertake sustained efforts to identify and strengthen weaker areas, develop a focus on new employee mainstreaming, restructure its orientation process and increase upfront training to provide better opportunities for success. The organization established specific goals for upward mobility within all of its business lines and surpassed them by 150 percent in 2011. 

 

The NISH National Awards serve to recognize organizations that have demonstrated outstanding support for the AbilityOne Program and people with significant disabilities, as well as individuals with significant disabilities whose lives have been impacted by the AbilityOne Program. Nominations for these awards may be submitted by an AbilityOne-affiliated nonprofit agency (NPA) or a Federal customer. 

 

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NISH–Creating Employment for People with Significant Disabilities

Established in 1974, NISH (www.nish.org) is one of two national, nonprofit agencies designated by the U.S. AbilityOne Commission™ to support nonprofit agencies (NPAs) participating in the AbilityOne Program. NISH provides employment opportunities for people who are blind or have other significant disabilities by procuring Federal contracts for goods and services. Headquartered in Vienna, Va., NISH supports a network of more than 1,200 NPAs as well as Federal customers by providing legislative and regulatory assistance, communications and public relations materials, information technology support, engineering and technical assistance, and extensive professional training needed for successful contract management.

 

                                                                                                                     

AbilityOne Program

Providing employment opportunities to more than 50,000 people, the AbilityOne Program is the largest single source of employment for people who are blind or have other significant disabilities in the United States.  More than 600 participating nonprofit organizations employ these individuals and provide quality goods and services to the Federal Government at a fair market price.  The AbilityOne® Program is administered by the U.S. AbilityOne Commission (www.abilityone.gov), an independent Federal agency, with assistance from National Industries for the Blind (NIB, www.nib.org) and NISH—Creating Employment Opportunities for People with Significant Disabilities (www.nish.org).