In mid-December, the Board of Trustees of
Grand Rapids Community Foundation (GRCF) approved $850,000 in grants. One organization,
Disability Advocates of Kent County (DAKC), received a grant for $50,000 to further develop their online platform for "Best Highest Use," a program designed to provide employers with potential job candidates with disabilities who also meet skill requirements.
According to Kate Luckert Schmid, program director for the GRCF, DAKC has "lofty goals" for their program, looking "to add 96 placements by the end of September 2011 in a broad section of employment sectors."
Luckert Schmid indicates this funding is a follow-up to an earlier $10,000 grant that helped develop the initial model for the Best Higher Use site. Now working with a private firm that manages
Hearts and Smarts, employers will be able to post positions and candidates with disabilities will be able to register and list their skills on the site.
"We are always on the look-out for innovative ways to increase the employment rate," Luckert Schmid says, "especially for those populations that may traditionally have a greater number of barriers to successful employment. We have a long history of supporting DAKC over the years and are confident in their ability to successfully implement this new model."
Source: Kate Luckert Schmid, Program Director, Grand Rapids Community Foundation
Writer: John Rumery, Innovation and Jobs Editor
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