What's New at Your Region X ADA Center
New Name - Northwest ADA Center
The Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center (DBTAC) Northwest has changed its name to the Northwest ADA Center. You have to admit, it's easier to say! The ten regional centers of the ADA National Network have all simplified their names - new names, same comprehensive ADA services. Check our website soon for our new logo!
New Northwest ADA Calendar
The new Northwest ADA Center 2010 Calendar is available! If you would like to receive a calendar with 12 months full of ADA information, click on the following link to provide your information: Request Calendar. In the "Message" box, be sure to indicate that you would like a calendar. You can also call us at 800-949-4232.
New Affiliate - Oregon Business Leadership Network
Joining the Northwest ADA Center as a new affiliate is the Oregon Business Leadership Network, and their Executive Director Lucy Baker. The OBLN joins the Lane Independent Living Alliance as a resource on the Americans with Disabilities Act in Oregon and as part of the regional Northwest ADA Center.
“It’s a true collaboration,” offers Baker, “and we can help bring Northwest ADA Center services deeply into businesses. There is a wonderful synergy in bringing together businesses that are already committed to inclusion and the expertise of the Northwest ADA Center.” The OBLN has 45 business affiliates in Oregon and southwest Washington.
Don Brandon, Northwest ADA Center Director, agrees that the access to business is key to the implementation of the ADA. “One of the initial purposes of setting up the ADA Disability and Business Technical Assistance Centers was to provide a technical platform for helping the business community understand the new ADA regulations, “ he says. “But doing that from the outside raised a lot of challenges.”
“We have a number of services that businesses are not aware of,” he says, “and we can provide a safe environment for the business to ask confidential questions because we are not the police. With Lucy and the OBLN putting the word out, we can be more effective.”
The OBLN Board of Directors was particularly taken with the possibility of corporate trainers being certified and adding ADA training modules to their repertoire. “It would be a huge step forward,” says Baker. “It would give the Northwest ADA Center much better access to corporate settings.”
Brandon is positioning the Northwest ADA Center to provide that certification, and talks about creating additional curriculum that offers a more detailed examination of disability and ADA issues.
In addition to its new alliance, the OBLN partners with Oregon’s Office of Vocational Rehabilitation Services to open internship opportunities and to promote alternative recruiting venues with business. OBLN and its affiliate businesses sponsor the “Tapping Fresh Talent Expo” in Portland, which includes Student Central with OBLN partners, Incight Inc. and the Oregon Disability Chamber. Youth transition students and their teachers are invited to a pre-expo orientation on the value of internships or becoming entrepreneurs. OBLN is also a partner with Oregon Competitive Employment Project in the national campaign called “Think Beyond the Label’. Through its active partnership with numerous businesses, the OBLN has an insider’s perspective on business.
Members of the OBLN share a commitment to growing their company’s process of inclusion, ranging from employment practices, diversity contracting, and customer service. The business-to-business approach of sharing ideas and solving problems, and collaborative partnerships with others representing talent and needed resources promotes improved opportunities for people with disabilities.
The OBLN is part of the national alliance of Business Leadership Networks under the USBLN, and co-hosted its national meeting in 2008 in Portland. The national movement of business involvement in BLNs began in the Truman administration’s President’s Council on Disabilities to hire returning WWII vets with disabilities, and evolved into the current BLN network after the passage of the ADA. It was originally part of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and most recently established the USBLN as a stand-alone organization in 2004. The Oregon BLN became a non-profit organization in 2004 and has a free monthly e-magazine that keeps its members and partners up to date on OBLN events and best practices. Check it out at: http://www.obln.org/