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Affirmative Action Program February 1976In compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the following is the Affirmative Action Program of the Center for Independent Living, Inc. I PurposeThe purpose of this plan is to assure increased representation of women and individuals of ethnic minorities on the staff of CIL. Beyond simply increasing the number of women and ethnic minority individuals on staff, it is CIL's goal to assure the opportunity for ethnic minority individuals and women to fill those roles traditionally closed to them. II Current Staff Composition
III ImplementationCIL's job development specialist, Ms. Deborah Meehan, will be responsible for insuring the implementation of this ― 2 ―
Affirmative Action Program. She will maintain and expand community agency contacts, actively recruit women and ethnic minority
individuals for positions in CIL, as well as placing disabled individuals in positions outside of CIL.
A. Implementation - ProblemsThe Center for Independent Living is a self-help services, training and educational organization of, by and for the disabled. From the beginning it has been CIL's policy to hire disabled people to the maximum extent possible. It is this practice that has made CIL totally unique and a model for disabled groups throughout the nation. Disabled people are clearly a minority in our society and historically have faced greater discrimination than other minority groups. Two of the main factors weighing against the employment of disabled people are economics and transportation. Due to the fact that medical and living expenses incurred by disabled people are so high, without specialized skills it is difficult for disabled people to earn enough to support themselves entirely and enable them to go off public assistance. Compounding these economic conditions, the second major barrier to employment is transportation. Most public transit systems are inaccessible to the disabled and the cost of private systems are prohibitive to the average disabled person. CIL is making efforts to alleviate these problems by offering On-The-Job-Training programs for disabled people and by working on expanding our limited transportation service. CIL is making all possible efforts to facilitate the hiring of disabled people of ethnic minorities and disabled women. However, due to current financial difficulties we are unable to hire anyone until we acquire additional funding. We cannot rely on attrition to make positions available since the attrition rate at CIL has been exceptionally low. ― 3 ―
B. Implementation - RecruitmentThe priority of CIL's Affirmative Action Program is to hire disabled people of ethnic minorities and disabled women. To facilitate this goal we have made contact with community agencies serving the disabled, women and ethnic minority individuals to determine mutual needs and to actively recruit for employment individuals served by these groups. The following agencies are notified of all jobs available at CIL:
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C. Implementation - Upward Mobility & TrainingIn order to foster upward mobility and the opportunity to develop and acquire new skills, all personnel are encouraged to seek job related training and will be given time off with pay, not to exceed 15% of their scheduled hours, to pursue such training, unless circumstances warrant more time. Personnel may be requested to pursue such training by their supervisor. Currently, CIL offers training courses in peer counseling, sign language and advocacy. In the future, CIL hopes to offer classes in health maintenance and health maintenance procedures. All courses are open to CIL staff members, as well as all interested members of the community. Opportunities to obtain job training and experience historically have been severely limited for disabled people, ethnic minority individuals and women. Working with the Department of Rehabilitation, CIL is able to open new opportunities in these areas through its On-the-Job Training and Job-Experience-Training programs. In addition to these programs CIL is running a Wheelchair Repair Training program and a Computer Training program ― 5 ―
for disabled individuals. CIL is also conducting a program through the Center for Health Studies and Antioch College which
will be granting B.A. and M.A. degrees in Health Services Administration and Psychology with emphasis on counseling the disabled.
CIL hopes to be able to recruit individuals for its staff from these programs in the future.
V. GoalCIL's Affirmative Action Program goal is to increase the representation of ethnic minority individuals and women by 5.5% in the next year. |