Getting Ahead
By Patricia Jones, Alliance Community Task Force: Creating Opportunity and Nebraska VR
Alliance Grocery Kart received the Small Business Partner Recognition Award from the Nebraska State Rehabilitation Council (SRC) in October. Grocery Kart was one of five Nebraska Vocational Rehabilitation partners to receive an award for their role in creating inclusive workplaces and advocacy for disability employment.
Nebraska Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) helps people with disabilities prepare for, find, and keep jobs. They also help businesses recruit, train, and retain employees with disabilities. Through this "dual client" approach, they assist individuals with injuries, illness, or impairments achieve competitive employment and increased independence. They also assist business owners and employers through full-service business consultation on a variety of business and disability-related areas.
Each year, Nebraska VR works with more than 6,000 of Nebraska residents with disabilities, and, last year, 1887 of those residents successfully entered the workforce.
The Alliance Grocery Kart is a full-service grocery store serving Alliance, Nebraska and surrounding communities. The location has 48 full and part-time employees and welcomes the chance to provide opportunities for Nebraska VR clients and students to learn about working in the grocery and retail field. Manager and Co-Owner Becky Maser values inclusion and works to ensure both students and clients have the support they need to have a successful on-the-job training or work-based learning experience.
Maser encourages employers to work with Nebraska VR. Clients come into the business and learn job skills by working with both the store and the VR trainer. Maser commented on how much her VR employees have grown. They learn skills quickly, and they want to learn additional aspects of a job, making it their career.
How do people become eligible for vocational rehabilitation services? They must have a diagnosed impairment or disability. This could be some type of physical, mental, emotional, or learning disability. The impairment must be an impediment to employment. That is, it has caused some problems in past or current employment, or would cause some problems preparing for and getting employment in the future. Finally, VR services would help the applicant obtain successful employment.
The nearest VR office is in Scottsbluff at 505A Broadway, Suite 500. Phone to set up an appointment: (308) 632-1321 or (800) 292-3382 Toll Free. A client works with a counselor to explore work interests, work values, work preferences, work considerations, education and training, job skills, and job history. Clients create a support network to help determine an appropriate job goal and plan to reach that goal.
“It is extraordinary for businesses in these Nebraska communities to participate in opportunities where Nebraskans of all abilities can have access to meaningful work,” said Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen at the awards event. “With a 2% unemployment rate, businesses are smart to look for qualified job candidates through the Nebraska VR program.”
Nebraska VR offers individualized programs to help people with disabilities find employment consistent with their interests, priorities, strengths, talents, and choices while working with businesses to find and keep quality employees. Alliance Grocery Kart offers access to employment in their inclusive workplace, and is honored to be the recipient of the SRC Disability Employment and Inclusion Award for 2023.