DREAM Event
QWE Practice Guideline: 311: Develop relationships with local organizations and the business community to provide opportunities for enhancing skills in development and employment
Target group: Any organization that supports the employment of people with disabilities
Practice Description
To bring attention to the overwhelming 70% unemployment rate for people with disabilities, nine local agencies, with direction provided by Beacon Group, Inc. came together and created a new local focus event, Disability and Rehabilitation Employment Awareness Month (DREAM).
Resources Needed
- Staff and volunteer time
- Event space
- Marketing and Communications
Implementation Process
- Beacon Group, Goodwill, RSA, Community Partnership of Southern Arizona, DDD, Linkages, DKA, Easter Seals/Blake Foundation, and Direct Center for Independence all agree to joined forces to make a large local impact.
- Ron Barber, District Director for Representative Gabriele Giffords, an AbilityOne® Champion, and former District Director of DDD agreed to serve as the DREAM team’s spokesperson for the initial event.
- The focus of the DREAM event is for it to be a press conference and job fair held each October at the Beacon facilities.
- Businesses set up tables at the fair with the intention of interviewing and hiring people with disabilities for a variety of jobs.
- Facebook events provide a platform for marketing the event.
- Registrations were collected through the DREAM page on Eventbrite.
Outcomes/Results
- During a two-hour period at the first event, 22 businesses set up tables and an estimated 500 people showed up for the fair. As a result, 113 people with disabilities found jobs during the month of October.
- DREAM events have been successful, and the events have taken place until 2019.
NPA: Beacon Group Location: Tucson, AZ Date Submitted: 2011 Website: https://www.beacongroup.org/