Sometimes when we create legislation, we solve problems.  We often duplicate similar laws from other states.  But this year, I have had the honor of working with my colleagues to create a brand new policy that will serve as a national model to provide new employment opportunities for a workforce comprised of people with disabilities as well as people who face other disadvantages to employment.

It has taken two years and hard work by members of our Disabled and Disadvantaged Employment Security Working Group. We overcame a clash of competing state policies – one that worked to help non profit organizations assist people with disabilities enter the workforce, and another policy that sought to give job security to disadvantaged workers who face language and other barriers to consistent employment.  Advocates for each group wanted preference in the awarding of state contracts for janitorial work in state buildings.  Now we have developed a new model for such contracting that will give preference to companies that work with the state to merge a workforce to support employees with disabilities and with disadvantages. 

Twenty years ago, I worked with friends to start Seabird Enterprises in Groton, a nonprofit organization that opened businesses like Puffins Restaurant on Thames Street where people with disabilities learn job skills and work in the community.  At the time, community jobs for people with mental retardation was a novel concept, and the opposite of the sheltered workshops where people with mental retardation idled their time away. It is not that long ago that Connecticut operated Mansfield, Seaside and Southbury Training Schools where Connecticut’s citizens with mental retardation were institutionalized.    

We’ve come a long way.  Today we see our friends who are intellectually challenged in our community businesses and living in our neighborhoods.  This new program creates the next step in normalization for people with mental retardation in our workforce.  Our legislation is designed to provide new job opportunities for these populations by encouraging the creation of “qualified partnerships” between community rehabilitation organizations and commercial contractors. Through a new, four-year pilot program, these “qualified partnerships” will bid on contracts to perform certain types of jobs, such as janitorial services, for state agencies. The idea is to make more job opportunities available to these populations, and to provide these workers with a measure of job security.

As any parent, or friend, of a person with a disability or other disadvantage can tell you, everyone matters, everyone has something important to contribute, and everyone has the right be included as full members of our society. Thankfully, there are so many more opportunities available to my son than even I dreamed possible when he was born. It is my hope, and the hope of all who have worked so hard on this legislation, that there will be even more, and better, opportunities available to future generations of citizens with disabilities and disadvantages.
 

As always, I can be reached at the Capitol at 1-800-842-1421 or you can send me an e-mail at Catherine.Cook@cga.ct.gov. Also, you will find information regarding the legislative process on our website at www.cga.ct.gov.