Approximately 75 people in this area were able to shadow professionals in a variety of careers on Wednesday as part of National Disability Mentoring Day activities.
The mentoring was open to people with physical, mental and emotional disabilities.
Participants met around 8 a.m. at the First United Methodist Church to begin the shuttling to their mentoring locations. Most were in the immediate Emporia area and one was located at Lebo.
Flint Hills Special Education Cooperative, Auspicion, the Mental Health Center of East Central Kansas, Hetlinger Shelter Workshop and Resource Center for Independent Living were involved in the event.
National Disability Mentoring Day was initiated in 1999 by President Bill Clinton to increase awareness of the need for employing disabled people.
The goal is “to promote career development for students and job seekers with disabilities by providing a one-time job shadowing experience with an area business,” said Kari Wallace of the FHSEC.
Wallace and Maryann Newton of Kansas Assistive Technologies were co-chairwomen for the project.
About 70 businesses provided sites and personnel for the mentoring.
“We really run across the board, a little bit of everything,” Wallace said. “Lots of interest in police and safety occupations, lots of interest in construction. ... Lots of interest in automotive, animals, like the vet clinic, and day care.”
“We got all 77 placed,” she said.
The women, with help from a committee of about 15 people, made arrangements with the disabled participants to link them as much as possible with their preferred careers, and arranged for businesses to act as hosts for the morning.
Some of the more popular careers could not be served for everyone who expressed interest.
“Some people, they want police and that’s it,” Wallace said. “Well, you know you can only place so many people there. We’ve had lots and lots of new people step up and take participants.”
At the end of the morning, the participants returned to the church for lunch and activities, including dancing, in the afternoon.
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