Workshop for persons with disabilities slated
The Office of Vocational Rehabilitation has joined forces with several other government agencies and private organizations to bring to Saipan two nationally-known experts for a series of special training workshops on persons with disabilities.
OVR partnered with the Commonwealth Development Authority, the Board of Education, Saipan Rotary Club, Northern Marianas Housing Corporation, Saipan Chamber of Commerce and the University of Guam Pacific Islands Small Business Development Center Network for training workshops on self-employment options and technical assistance for persons with disabilities.
OVR Director Tee Abraham reports that Jack Peters, director of University of Guam’s Pacific Islands Small Business Development Center Network and Casey Jeszenka, PISBDCN Special Projects director, arranged for David Hammis and Chuuk Sperry to give specialized training for service providers, counselors, loan officers, and other professionals who provide services to persons with disabilities.
Mr. Hammis and Mr. Sperry, nationally known experts in their respective fields, are donating their professional services. Their workshops aim to increase the knowledge and professional skills of our local service providers to help them better serve clients seeking self employment and entrepreneurial employment options.
CDA Executive Director MaryLou S. Ada said, “We are very happy to continue in our commitment to support efforts such as this workshop aimed at providing alternative sustainable development opportunities through self-employment for our citizens with disabilities. Our staffs will gain much through their participation in the workshop and this will pay with enhanced services to those we serve.”
Mr. Hammis is a senior partner at Griffin-Hammis Associates, a full service consultancy specializing in building communities of economic cooperation and focusing on disability and employment.
He serves as Organizational Consultant for the University of Montana’s Rural Institute’s Entrepreneurship and Self-Employment Expansion Design Project and works with organizations nationally and internationally on benefits analysis, supported employment, supported entrepreneurial employment and employment engineering.
He was an aerospace project engineer before experiencing a severe disability. He has worked in supported employment since 1988 and is personally responsible for the implementation of over 250 Plans for Achieving Self Support leading to employment, self-employment and personnel services for people with disabilities.
He has developed over 175 jobs, including a significant number of entrepreneurial success for individuals with severe and multiple disabilities. He received the International Association for Persons in Supported Employment Professional of the Year Award. His workshop is entitled Micro Enterprise and Individuals with Disabilities.
Mr. Sperry holds a Ph.D. in public sector economics as well as a Masters in human behavior.
He is involved in self-employment capacity building and has launched a new not-for-profit organization dedicated to education, advocacy and action in support of economic democracy, with a particular emphasis on incubation of worker cooperative business.
The workshop he will present is entitled, Worker Cooperatives: A Third-Way of Employment and Business Development.
The workshop is a result of collaborative efforts among several agencies and organizations that provide direct or indirect assistance to individuals with disabilities.
