JenTen Productions

Compelling Storytelling

collaboration

A November to Remember

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It’s rewarding working with community colleges. They play a critical role in workforce development across the nation. McHenry County College, located in the Chicago area, provides academic programming and skills training to prepare students for jobs or to transfer to four-year colleges and universities. Their Hearts of Glass event, coordinated by the Center for Agrarian Learning and Access and Disability Services, featured an in-person screening.

We have also been doing more programs in the corporate world with employee resource groups or ERGs. Crystal Baker, Lead Accessibility Solutions Engineer and President of AT&T’s Ability Resource Group, noted that our programming encourages people not to treat disabilities and accessibility as an afterthought.

NDEAM Event-Apalooza!

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“The theme for National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) 2021, ‘America’s Recovery: Powered by Inclusion’ reflects the importance of ensuring that people with disabilities have full access to employment and community involvement during the national recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.” – Office of Disability Employment Policy

We averaged two Hearts of Glass events a week throughout October. We worked with small liberal arts colleges, big state universities, nonprofits and state agencies to catalyze conversations about inclusion inside and outside of the workplace. Twelve different Vertical Harvest employees participated in panel discussions with a few speaking at multiple virtual events. They all shared valuable insights about challenges and opportunities during the pandemic.

Hello, Upper Midwest and Mountain West Neighbors!

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North Dakota and Colorado both have a lot in common with Wyoming, so it felt like working with old friends in September.

The University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities at Minot State brought together a terrific group of collaborators – North Dakota State Council on Developmental Disabilities, North Dakota Protection & Advocacy and Advocates Leading their Lives.

The Executive Director of Alliance, an association dedicated to strengthening community services and supports for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, told us “The [Hearts of Glass] film and panel discussion were the highlight” of their conference.

We worked with another Colorado nonprofit in September. Developmental Pathways serves individuals with developmental disabilities/delays and their families in southeast Denver. Rachel Walker, Community Partnerships Manager, loved that the programming spoke to both employers and employees.

Focusing on Employers, Employment and Futures

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As usual, our Hearts of Glass events involved a variety of partners from across the nation including a school district in Washington State, a center for mental health and intellectual disabilities in Texas, and the largest employer in Minnesota.

For our event in Washington with the Washougal School District, our conversation focused on employment and futures. There was a similar focus to our lively conversation with a group of self-advocates in Texas who use services provided by the Transition Support Team at the Nueces Center for Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities.

The Mayo Clinic and its disability-focused employee resource group MaxAbility have an incredible commitment to disability inclusion. For their event, they rallied amazing partners — The Arc Minnesota, Region 10 Quality Council, Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce, and Workforce Development, Inc. It was exciting to have Dr. Anjali Bhagra, Director of Mayo Clinic’s Office of Equity, Inclusion and Diversity, on the panel.

Earth Day, Autism Acceptance and Bilingual Programming!

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April was a terrific month for many reasons:

  • We had the pleasure of working with one of the best University Centers of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities in the nation, The Nisonger Center at The Ohio State University. Dr. Marc Tassé, Director of the Nisonger Center, said “A great film and a thoughtful discussion.”
  • We held two Hearts of Glass virtual events in our home community — one in English and one in Spanish. This was our first Spanish language event! The programming attracted a wide range of participants from middle and high school students and their parents and teachers to parents and educators of younger children with disabilities. The events were free and open to the entire Teton County Wyoming and Idaho communities thanks to support from First Republic Bank.
  • We held our first Earth Day event. We worked with various groups at Wellesley College including Accessibility and Disability Resources, the Botanic Gardens, the Committee on Lectures and Cultural Events and the Frost Center for the Environment.

A Busy, Busy March

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March is always a busy month for us because of the Hearts of Glass programming tie-in with Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. Our lineup illustrates the diverse range of entities that we work with. Here’s a quick recap of highlights:

  • Syracuse University – an honor to be a part of a highly interdisciplinary discussion hosted by an academic institution leading the way in disability inclusion.
  • PayPal – amazing synergy between our programming and their corporate commitment to disability inclusion, innovation and accessibility; a joy to work with their disability-focused employee resource group, Thrive.
  • Taft College – programming in honor of the 25th anniversary of their Transition to Independent Living Program.
  • New Mexico Developmental Disabilities Planning Council – free-wheeling, fun and engaging conversation with lots of self-advocates.
  • University of Tennessee Health Science Center – multi-faceted conversation engaging the next generation of health care professionals.