Pueblo Diversified Industries, Inc.
Synopsis
Pueblo Diversified Industries (PDI) exemplifies the benefits of a JWOD contract by providing significant employment opportunities in a Colorado community with few jobs due to the steel industry's decline. With nearly 200 of its 243 workers having disabilities and earning an average wage of $5.83 per hour on JWOD contracts, PDI has maintained an excellent record in timely and quality deliveries, achieving competitive employment for six percent of its workforce, and demonstrating remarkable dedication.
The Full Story
The success of the activities at Pueblo Diversified Industries (PDI) is a perfect example of how a JWOD contract can benefit both the community in which it operates as well as the employees who participate in the work effort. PDI is located in an area of Colorado that had been dependent on the work produced at a major steel mill. The lack of contracts in the steel industry had dropped that job force from a peak of 10,000 to close to 1,500 workers. Although the community has made extensive and successful efforts to attract new industries, the unemployment rate is still 12.7 percent (down from a high of 21 percent). To create a successful Work Center in this kind of atmosphere takes determination and almost superhuman dedication. Yet, that is exactly what the people at PDI have done.
PDI presently has six commodities on the Procurement List ranging from key tags to cross-tip screwdrivers. Of the 243 workers at PDI, close to 200 have a primary diagnosis of an intellectual disability. Others have been diagnosed as having primary disabilities of cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and hearing and visual impairments.
A number of these workers are earning an impressive average wage of $5.83 an hour on JWOD contracts.
Pueblo Diversified Industries boasts an excellent record in both timeliness and quality of contract deliveries—and they have NEVER had a delinquent shipment since starting JWOD work. Furthermore, six percent of the worker population has moved to competitive employment—an impressive rate in view of the local unemployment rate. A tremendous effort to obtain greater integration of the worker into non-sheltered vocational experiences has been undertaken through the use of mobile work crews, transitional sites, and more.
While there is a long roster of achievements in sales figures and earnings and products produced, perhaps the best example of the kind of personal commitment made by PDI is this: Two production supervisors at Pueblo Diversified spent a year of their personal time completing a comprehensive sign language course to permit them to better communicate with their workers who are deaf and mute. This kind of personal dedication has brought PDI this year’s Large Work Center Award.
