New Funding to Boost Outreach to the Disabled

The University of Missouri-Kansas City is getting serious about assisting the disabled. Inside a building at 215 W. Pershing Road on the sixth floor is the university’s Institute for Human Development, which offers a number of programs that assist the disabled.

In fact, the institute recently received a $625,000 two-year grant for Add Us In, a program from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy. The grant will be used for an academy where disabled teens can learn how to prepare for job interviews and write resumes. It also will be used to identify merchants and businesses that want to hire disabled people.

The need is obvious. People with disabilities have a 70 percent unemployment rate.

“In our programs, we reach and find those individuals who have not been a part of traditional systems and have not gone on to get into other opportunities that help them live full, inclusive lives,” said Derrick Willis, research associate at the Institute for Human Development.