The State of Georgia and local businesses are working to increase avenues to employment for people with disabilities from legislative and systemic changes to incorporating inclusion and diversity into company cultures.

The Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities (GCDD) featured the different ways Georgia, providers and businesses are transforming employment to include people with disabilities and build an inclusive and competitive workforce in its fall issue of Making A Difference magazine.

Earlier this spring, Georgia’s Employment First Act (HB 831) became a law, promoting employment as the first and preferred option available to Georgians with disabilities receiving services. This work will fall on a 14-member Employment First Council made up of individuals with disabilities, family members of people with disabilities and representatives of workforce development agencies in Georgia. This Council will be overseen by the Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency (GVRA).

The new GCDD-funded technical assistance center, Advancing Employment, is developing provider transformation plans regarding best practices in employment. Providers will have access to customized webinars, online trainings and resources related to those best practices and research in employment for individuals with developmental disabilities. Currently, three provider organizations – in LaFayette, Decatur and Albany – are working with Advancing Employment.

Conversations on diversity and inclusion have brought focus to hiring people with disabilities in a company’s workforce.

First Data, a global financial service company headquartered in Sandy Springs, Ga., has focused on and implemented competitive, integrated employment. The company’s inclusion goals led to the creation of THRIVE, a disability awareness leadership council in First Data. There are 25 chapters globally, and 71 members make up the Atlanta chapter.

“We wanted to go past the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements and do everything we could to expand our recruitment pools of qualified candidates for First Data jobs,” explains Vivian Greentree, senior vice president and head of First Data’s Global Corporate Citizenship.

To bring a sense of financial security to those working or seeking employment, the State of Georgia’s launch of STABLE accounts proved to support successful employment for individuals with disabilities.

The tax-advantaged savings accounts for people with disabilities allow them to seek employment and keep Medicaid and SSI benefits.

“[STABLE] accounts serve as a benefit to work,” explained Doug Jackson, deputy director of STABLE accounts. “People with disabilities can save without penalty to your benefits, and individuals can guide their savings into investments to grow income and not be taxed on any gains nor taxed when the money is spent.”

For more on Georgia’s efforts on competitive employment, read the fall edition of GCDD’s Making a Difference magazine.