[NFBP-Talk] FW: [Rehab] Federal Agency Recommends Ending Government Disability Jobs Program - Disability Scoop - October 19, 2020

[Jan Lattuca]

Sounds like very good news and a sound proposition.

Jan

On 10/20/20, Jim Antonacci via NFBP-Talk <nfbp-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rehab [mailto:rehab-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Nightingale,
> Noel
> via Rehab
> Sent: Tuesday, October 20, 2020 4:09 PM
> To: nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org; rehab at nfbnet.org; jobs at nfbnet.org
> Cc: Nightingale, Noel <Noel.Nightingale at ed.gov>
> Subject: [Rehab] Federal Agency Recommends Ending Government Disability
> Jobs
> Program - Disability Scoop - October 19, 2020
>
>
> https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2020/10/19/federal-agency-recommends-ending-
> government-disability-jobs-program/29041/
> Federal Agency Recommends Ending Government Disability Jobs Program
> By Michelle Diament
> Disability Scoop
> October 19, 2020
> An independent federal agency says it's time for a decades-old government
> jobs program for people with disabilities to come to an end.
> The National Council on Disability, which is charged with advising the
> president and Congress on disability issues, is calling for the AbilityOne
> Program to be phased out.
> The 82-year-old program funnels government contracts to a network of 500
> nonprofits across the nation that make products or provide services to
> federal agencies. At least 75% of the direct labor hours undertaken by the
> nonprofits must be performed by people who are blind or who have
> significant
> disabilities.
> However, in a report out this month, the National Council on Disability
> said
> the program is antiquated and is failing to increase employment
> opportunities for people with disabilities.
> "The AbilityOne Program is a federally sanctioned segregated jobs system,"
> said Neil Romano, chairman of the council. "Not only is its effectiveness
> in
> question based on our research, it is a policy relic in tension with
> current
> national disability policy."
> Currently, about 45,000 people with significant disabilities or blindness
> are employed through AbilityOne, according to NCD. And, in the 2018 fiscal
> year alone, the federal government allocated $3.6 billion worth of
> contracts
> to the program through a mandatory preference system.
> Nonetheless, the National Council on Disability found that in the last
> eight
> years of available data, employment of people who are blind through the
> program has stagnated and positions for those with significant disabilities
> have declined even as overall program sales have increased. Accordingly,
> the
> percentage of AbilityOne Program revenue going toward wages for people with
> disabilities has dropped each year since 2011.
> Meanwhile, there are concerns about transparency and oversight,
> particularly
> in regard to spending on executive salaries and lobbying. And, the NCD
> report said that the requirement that people with disabilities perform 75%
> of work hours reinforces an outdated model of employment.
> "The ratio inherently creates pressures on the AbilityOne (nonprofits) to
> place workers with disabilities into more segregated settings, whether as
> work crews or on the production floor, while the entire program perpetuates
> a separate system for people who are blind or have significant disabilities
> at the same time federal laws seek to achieve greater integration," the
> report states.
> Only about 4% of AbilityOne workers leave the program each year for
> competitive, integrated employment, the NCD report notes.
> The National Council on Disability is recommending that the government
> phase
> out the AbilityOne Program over an eight-year period. Instead, all federal
> contractors and subcontractors with at least $200,000 in contracts and a
> minimum of 50 employees should be required to hire a certain percentage of
> people who are blind or who have significant disabilities, the council
> said.
> "The phaseout must be conducted in such a way to ensure that all employees
> working under the program are prepared to transition to the new requirement
> to avoid job loss, unemployment or underemployment, or lower wages," the
> report indicates.
> Officials with the U.S. AbilityOne Commission, an independent federal
> agency
> that administers the AbilityOne Program, said they are currently reviewing
> the report and declined to provide further comment.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Rehab mailing list
> Rehab at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/rehab_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> Rehab:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/rehab_nfbnet.org/nfbpatr%40gmail.com
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> NFBP-Talk mailing list
> NFBP-Talk at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbp-talk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> NFBP-Talk:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbp-talk_nfbnet.org/jrlattuca%40gmail.com
>