Historic conferences blending high-level corporate partners, government agencies, unions, talent pipelines and disability organizations, with outcomes including call-to-action pledges that were actually fulfilled.
Entertainment: Lights! Camera! Access! – Utilizing Squire’s leadership with the Diversity Committee of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, this “Call-to-Action” Summit, hosted by the Television Academy and attended by then-DOL Secretary Hilda Solis, and Assistant Secretary Kathleen Martinez, issued “soft challenges” to union, network, industry, diversity, veteran, academic and disability executives. This resulted in motivating NBCUniversal to create What Can WE Do? disability awareness and recruiting event that onboarded four interns with disabilities, including a veteran. Recently, Assistant Secretary Martinez helped launch Actors AccessSM at SAG-AFTRA, whereby performers could opt-in and self disclose their disability on this database of actors, making it easier for casting directors to find them. To date, nearly 1,500 performers have self-identified as having a disability.
Photos can be found at: http://www.dol.gov/dol/media/photos/slideshows/20100710-lca.htm
Remarks by Secretary Solis: http://www.dol.gov/_sec/media/speeches/20100710_LCA.htm
Healthcare: Careers Trends, Best Practices and Call-To-Action Summit – With leadership of Karen McCulloch, founder of National Organization of Nurses with Disabilities (NOND) as Subject Matter Expert, and framing this Summit with results of National Council on Disability/Manpower Report, Workforce Infrastructure in Support of People with Disabilities: Matching Human Resources to Service Needs, Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago hosted. In attendance were then-DOL Secretary Hilda Solis, Assistant Secretary Martinez, OFCCP Director, Pat Shiu, then-White House Office of Public Engagement’s Kareem Dale, and healthcare, disability, diversity, veteran and academic executives. Subsequently, ODEP signed an “Alliance Agreement” with NOND. Details are at: http://www.dol.gov/odep/alliances/nond.htm Here is final report: http://www.dol.gov/odep/pdf/20110517.pdf
Financial Services: Profit by Investing in Workers with Disabilities
Teaming with host Financial Services Roundtable, this Summit brought together Assistant Secretary Kathy Martinez, former Assistant Secretary of DOL’s Veterans Employment & Training Administration (VETS) with financial services, diversity, disability, and academic executives and thought leaders. The final report can be found here: http://www.dol.gov/odep/pdf/20110719.pdf
