One of the things we at SDS get most excited about, is finding true economic development opportunities.  We define that as generating added cash flow, or  exchanges of value, where none existed previously, or had been overlooked.

 

January 2023 marked the 20th anniversary of Dennis' first article on the topic being published in an international trade publication.  In January, 2003, The Job Training, and Placement Report, published an article he wrote about using economic development strategies, to secure jobs for people with disabilities.

 

Space didn't really permit him to elaborate on the origins of this strategy in the article, but like his work from home, research, it evolved quite organically. 

 

After 9/11/2001, the U.S. economy pretty much just shut down. The whole country was in shock, and just sort of sitting in a daze, watching replays of the World Trade Center Towers being attacked.

 

It's hard to even fathom now, but the screeching halt of our economy was even more sudden, and dramatic, than the Pandemic "shelter in place" restrictions, of a couple of years ago. The difference was, in 2001 it was a self imposed, rather than mandated, shut down.  There was no switch to flip, or rule to change, that would suddenly restore "normal" functioning again.

 

We were in sort of a nationwide emotional paralysis. Nobody knew what to do next.  I don't know how many people remember this, or even noticed it in the first place, but I give a tremendous amount of credit to General Motors for kick starting the economy back into motion. As you can imagine, in a country of emotional zombies, big ticket item sales plummeted. Someone at GM, had a stroke of genius, and announced 0% financing on new GM cars and trucks.  

 

Folks who had extra money, took advantage of this incentive like crazy. Even people without a lot of money saw it as a way to reduce their car payments, by trading in their interest laden financed vehicles for an interest free loan. Car salesmen started making commissions again, gas stations started selling more gas, people went back to work to pay for their new cars, and the excitement of mass new car ownership, boosted the overall vibe of the whole country, as did the suddenly increased flow of currency.  This was an example of free market capitalism, doing it's thing, in a very upbeat, and positive way. This was economic development, at it's best.

 

The positive effects of the economic uptick were fairly instantaneous, but not universal. The overall economy was still quite sluggish, and mom and pop businesses were hit the hardest.  They generally didn't have the cash reserves to operate months on end with such a drastic and sudden decline in business.

 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Dennis was running a business with about eight employees, who had only one job, and that was getting jobs for people who were visually impaired/blind. He needed to get creative in order to figure out how we were going to get people jobs, during the worst economy since the great depression. SDSs employees, our clients, and our families incomes depended on it.

 

One night while praying about this, God nudged Dennis to read the Supported Employment contract that we signed with the state, for most of our clients. Not all, but most. This contract was only about five pages long, and wasn't heavily burdened with legal jargon. It just basically laid out how much we were to be paid, and what was expected in exchange for those payments.  Dennis had read this contract dozens of times, but he tries his best to follow God's guidance without question.  

 

He sat down and read this contract for the umpteenth time.  Sure enough, something jumped off the page at him, that just blew his mind, that he had never noticed before.  

 

Right there, in black and cream (colored paper), was a sentence, that some, under appreciated, bureaucratic, pencil pushing, genius, had written into these contracts, that SDS, and every other Supported Employment vendor in the State of Texas had been overlooking for years.  It stated (to paraphrase from memory) that the vendor could subcontract with employers, for them to provide "job coaching" services. Voila!!!!!

 

Since the state paid us $20 per hour to provide job coaching services, and minimum wage was less than $7 per hour at the time, this meant that SDS could subcontract with an employer, pay them $14 per hour to train the new employee, much of which they would have to do with any new employee, and SDS got to keep the other $6 per hour to cover our overhead and ongoing involvement, which was mostly that of being an accommodations consultant, and intermediary funding source.

 

The very next morning, David Ondich, the State counselor SDS worked with most closely, and Dennis, had an appointment to go speak to Willie, the owner of a print shop, in Oak Cliff. David had a client who was totally blind, who knew Willie, and they had discussed the possibility of him maybe going to work there.

 

Willie explained that he would love to help his friend out, but under the current conditions, he wasn't even able to pay himself, much less hire someone.  He went on to explain that he had a big contract that was supposed to start in about a month, but, that his turnaround time, was going to be very tight, and he wouldn't have time to train a new employee, once it started, much less, a blind employee.

 

After listening to Willie explain his situation, Dennis understood why God had prompted him to read that contract, just the night before.  He asked Willie, if SDS were able to pay him $14 per hour, for the rest of that month, to train his friend, while we helped get the needed accommodations, such as Braille labeling for the shelves where paper was stored, etc..., in place, so that once the contract started in a month, he would have a trained helper, with all accommodations set up and working, if he'd be willing to hire his friend for $7 per hour.  He enthusiastically agreed. Remember, he wasn't even paying himself, at the time. So, he jumped at the opportunity to get paid $7 per hour for running his own business, that he would be doing anyway.  He agreed to let the client start to work the next day.

 

As David and Dennis walked out to the car, David couldn't even wait until they were in the car, before he exclaimed (and you'd have to know David to appreciate his dramatic enunciation), "WHERE, in the HELL, did you come up with THAT stroke of genius!?" Lol

 

You have to understand, David and Dennis had done dozens, of employer contacts together. They had the presentation down to an art form. They could complete each other's sentences.  David was more floored by this new angle than anyone. He new all of Dennis' tricks, and this was out of left field. 

 

Dennis explained to David that he wished he could take credit for it, but surprisingly, someone at his stodgy old state agency had actually written that into our supported employment contracts, and pulled one out and read it to him, as David too, is totally blind. He was as blown away as Dennis was, when he first read it.  He too, understood the potential this little clause opened up for us, and the people we served.

 

Due primarily to implementing this new strategy, Social Development Systems placed more people with visual impairments in jobs, the year following 9/11, than we had in the two years prior, combined!!!  David wound up tying the all-time record for the region, in successful employment closures.  He will be the first to tell you that his accomplishing that extraordinary mark was largely due to our collaborations, and this model of paying employers, or other members of their staff, to be job coaches.

 

That's what this article is about. I'll post photos of the newsletter below.

 

 

 

*(reproduced by permission)

 

The Alberta (Canada) Association for Supported Employment (AASE), published a brief review of the article above, on it's website.  We were going to post the link to their site, but we get a lot of security warnings when we click on it.  Therefore, we'll provide the contents of the review below:

 

AASE is an association of Alberta, Canada, service agencies who share a vision and a commitment to Supported Employment, which runs strong within our profession.

 

The primary goal of AASE is to create a formal network of service agencies which promotes the sharing of information and opportunities in the field of supported employment. They are an inclusive organization that supports the development and evolution of supported employment initiatives.

 

AASE fosters growth, innovation and awareness in the area of employment for people with disabilities. As such, it is quite an honor to have this organization take notice of Dennis' article.

 

"Economic Development Approaches to Securing Employment for Persons with Disabilities

Author Dennis Gerron highlights an interesting new approach to marketing: forming strategic alliances with reciprocal marketing. Gerron explains how any company can switch from having to convince employers to hire consumers, to becoming "business consultants helping employers solve their bottom-line cash flow problems."

Gerron, D. (2003). Job Training and Placement Report, 27(1), 1-3."

Unfortunately, Job Training and Placement Reports did not digitize their articles that far back. You might be able to order the January 2003 edition if they have any back copies left.