In honor of National Disability Employment Awareness Month this October, Workforce Matters asked two of our members, Elaine Katz from the Kessler Foundation and Tuquan Harrison from the James Irvine Foundation, to briefly share about their work to invest in and advance opportunities for workers and learners with disabilities.
People with disabilities (PWD) comprise the largest unique population in the United States, with over 61 million individuals. One in four individuals in the U.S. have a disability, and disability cuts across every class, gender, race, and ethnicity, compounding disparities in income and economic security. Yet, people with disabilities are often still an afterthought in funders’ strategies and investments in workforce development and employment.
The Kessler Foundation has long supported disability employment, and over Elaine’s tenure, has awarded more than $50 million in grant support for national and community-based employment programs. As Elaine has pointed out previously, only 2% of all philanthropic funding supports disability. Even more troubling, only $0.01 out of every $10, or 0.1%, goes to support disability justice. “We need to do better at recognizing people with disabilities as a talent pool for employment. Chances are, there are already PWD in projects that many of us are funding, but we need to better resource our grantees to make these programs more accessible and inclusive. Disability needs to be recognized as part of diversity and employment justice funding.”
The James Irvine Foundation in California is expanding its investments in disability employment, and Tuquan recently connected with Elaine through the Workforce Matters network to learn more. “I am excited to be able to benefit from the Kessler Foundation’s long history of investing in this space as the Irvine Foundation leans into building disability inclusion into our workforce equity portfolio. We know people with disabilities are disproportionately impacted by low wages and job economic insecurity, and we cannot accomplish our goal of a California where all low-income workers have the power to advance economically without specific investments in opportunities for disabled workers and learners.”
Over the last few years, through our partnership with Elaine Katz and the Kessler Foundation, Workforce Matters has increased its commitment to providing programming, resources and learning opportunities for our members and the broader workforce development field about disability justice and inclusion issues. For this Disability Awareness Month, we invite you to read, watch and access the resources we’ve compiled through our work and from our partners.
Workforce Matters Resources
- Learnings from Further Together: Disability Justice in the Workplace – Empowering Voices, Advancing Inclusion
- Webinar Recap: Promoting Inclusion for People Disabilities in the Workforce Helps All Workers
- Webinar Recording: Promoting Inclusion for People with Disabilities in the Workforce Helps All Workers
Additional Resources
- AskEARN | Creating a Mental Health-Friendly Workplace
- Combat2Careers – Toolkit for career counselors and veterans moving from college to career. Cornell University, funded by Kessler Foundation
- Competitive Integrated Employment (CIE) | U.S. Department of Labor
- Disability & Philanthropy Forum – The Disability & Philanthropy Forum is a hub for learning about disability inclusion in philanthropy
- Disability Equality Index
- Disability Inclusion Toolkit – Ford Foundation – Mia Ives-Rublee and Andraea LaVant
- Disability Inclusion Toolkit – HERC (Higher Education Recruitment Consortium)
- Disabled Workers Saw Record Employment Gains in 2023, But Gaps Remain – Center for American Progress
- EARN – Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability Inclusion
- Employing Abilities at Work Certificate – Tool for HR professionals – SHRM Foundation
- Employment of People with Disabilities in Skilled Trade Professions | U.S. Department of Labor Blog
- Encouraging Employees with Disabilities to Self-Identify
- How Labor Unions Help Reduce the Pay Gap for Disabled Workers – Center for American Progress
- JAN – Job Accommodation Network
- JAN Workplace accommodation toolkit
- National Organization on Disability TrackerTM– Measuring inclusion practices
- National Trends in Disability Employment (nTIDE) | Kessler Foundation
- nTIDE Lunch & Learn Webinar Series Kessler Foundation & University of New Hampshire
- Promising Practices In Achieving Nondiscrimination and Equal Opportunity: A Section 188 Disability Reference Guide | U.S. Department of Labor
