Easter Seals Disability Services

The Employment Collaborative

Understanding Disabilities, Creating Opportunities

In December of 2006, the Superintendent of the Clayton School District, Dr. Don Senti, invited United Cerebral Palsy Easter Seals Heartland (UCPESH) to speak to the Superintendents of the Cooperating School Districts of Greater St. Louis (CSD) regarding Supported Employment Services and promoting the hiring of individuals with disabilities within the school districts. An extremely positive response was received from the CSD Superintendents following this presentation indicating their interest in diversifying their workforce to include more individuals with disabilities. Subsequently, a presentation was offered to the CSD Human Resource Directors. The outcome of both presentations reinforced our belief that employing individuals with disabilities in local public schools was not only viable, but also of great benefit to all parties involved.

Moving forward with this concept, UCPESH immediately drafted a funding proposal to the Productive Living Board (PLB) of St. Louis County. In September of 2007, funding for the pilot proposal was approved by the PLB. The project, called The Employment Collaborative, is a committed effort involving the cooperation of eight social services agencies providing employment service and support to St. Louis County residents with developmental disabilities.

The Employment Collaborative provides districts with qualified, motivated candidates without adding to advertising or recruiting costs. Our goal is to create successful, lasting employment matches. All candidates are prescreened by our agencies to ensure that we are presenting you with the best applicants possible.

Success Stories: Learn more about our participants and how they have made a positive impact at the schools where they are employed.

District Resources: If you are a district representative, you’ll find information about how this program can contribute to the success of your schools on many levels.

Agency Resources: If you are an agency representative, you’ll find job postings, program information and employment tools that may be useful to your consumers.

Contact: If you wish to communicate directly with the Coordinator of this program, you may do so here.