Talking Tech to Create More Jobs for People with Disabilities

SourceAmerica's President and CEO Richard Belden joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive Podcast to talk about how SourceAmerica is embracing technology to expand employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

As one of two central nonprofit agencies responsible for administering the AbilityOne® Program, SourceAmerica now has a network of more than 350 nonprofit agencies that hire and employ tens of thousands of people with significant disabilities including veterans to provide goods and services to federal customers. Temin observed the historical demand for traditional services including custodial services. Now, there is also a demand for professional services.

The demand for IT-related services is growing in the federal and commercial sectors. SourceAmerica now has numerous nonprofit agencies operating IT call centers with tremendous capabilities. As knowledge-based jobs, Belden says these are great opportunities for people with disabilities. That's why SourceAmerica is focused on developing and growing network capabilities to provide IT-related services.

As part of the network's expansion to offer professional services, Belden says SourceAmerica has to make sure the nonprofit agencies have the necessary training to give people the skills and certifications to perform those roles and responsibilities. Nonprofit agencies have developed training programs through their organizations. SourceAmerica supplements those resources with the SourceAmerica Academy which provides thousands of different training programs and courses.

That training is going to be an important step in the next giant leap for SourceAmerica. Belden says AbilityOne was recently added to the NASA SEWP VI program that will be rolled out over the next few months. It is a large government-wide acquisition contract. In the past, Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement contracts only had products. Belden says NASA SEWP VI will add IT services with a 2% spend goal or requirement for various IT services to come from subcontractors within the AbilityOne Program. Belden says this is a giant step forward for the Program.

How does SourceAmerica continue that forward momentum? Change laws and policies to support more employment of people with disabilities. Belden says the definition of disability in the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act needs an update, because when it was written, it talked about an individual not being able to maintain competitive integrated employment. He says individuals with disabilities have demonstrated that they can do anything. Belden also says the labor ratio needs to be lowered to a 51% requirement and include supervisory, management, and quality assurance jobs, in addition to direct labor jobs.

"We really do support the upward mobility of individuals to continue to grow in their career," Belden says.

When it comes to wage policies, including increasing the minimum wage, Belden says policymakers must acknowledge and address the potential for creating a work disincentive for many individuals with disabilities. For example, when an executive order raised the minimum wage on federal service contracts to $15 an hour, wages increased, but federal contract officers didn't receive additional money. Belden says that created an unintended negative consequence on the AbilityOne Program, because it reduced the number of hours that people could work based on the dollars that the federal agency and the contracting officer had for a particular job.

More forward movement means more success, not just for people with significant disabilities. Belden says the AbilityOne Program delivers on a social mission, and it is also a positive financial benefit to the government. The AbilityOne Program is an important part of the DoD industrial base, supporting the warfighter, and it has a positive return on investment. For every dollar spent administering the AbilityOne Program, Belden says there is a 250% return based on the increased taxes these individuals pay now that they're employed, and the reduced benefits that they need from the federal government.

Listen to the full interview with Richard Belden on The Federal Drive Podcast.