Brooklyn Community Services Salutes National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM)

BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Oct. 27, 2016 - PRLog -- Brooklyn Community Services (BCS), which has been on the frontline in finding career opportunities for workers with disabilities for over 100 years, salutes the October 2016 National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM).

At BCS Workforce Development, people with intellectual disabilities, physical disabilities and mental illness receive vocational testing and evaluation, employment training and career development services. Skills training and job placement is conducted for careers in retail specialist, custodial technician, food services, shipping and receiving, clerical/office skills and messenger services.

"BCS specializes in providing services and employment training for adults in Brooklyn who face the dual challenges of poverty and disability to ensure they can live fulfilling and productive lives in our community. We have an extensive network of employment partners including IKEA, RDS Delivery Service, Target, Barclay's Center and many others," said Damion Samuels, Division Director, BCS Workforce Development. "These companies share our commitment to employ qualified individuals no matter what their challenges. "

For BCS Workforce Development client Aquize Phillips, his first BCS employment job was with Stop and Shop in Sheepshead Bay in 2012. Over the years, he's worked in other companies like Brooklyn's Union Beer. Aquize returned to Stop and Shop and is now a valued employee in the maintenance department.

According to Samuels, research shows that the disabled have longer job retention. "Because of the challenges they face and those opportunities they receive, they take the jobs more seriously," he explained.  "In addition to receiving highly motivated individuals who will be committed to excelling on the job, companies that employ the disabled also can advance their commitment to social philanthropy and equality."

Through a BCS nomination, RDS Delivery Service received the 2016 received the ACCESS-VR National Disability Employment Awareness Month Local Business Award from the NYC Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities. Larry Zogby, CEO, RDS Delivery Service former is the former President of BCS Advisory Council. For 20 years, RDS hashired, mentored and trained over 25 BCS clients with disabilities as outdoor street messengers.

In the early 1900s, BCS had a successful three month training program that taught people who were blind to work in office positions as telephone operators and typists. For over 50 years, BCS has provided subcontract assembly services to entrepreneurs, retailers, designers, and manufacturers, fulfilling one to any number of steps in getting products to market. All of our work is done by highly motivated and skilled adults with disabilities. Today it's called BKLYN UNLTD.

The Department of Labor estimates that nationally, unemployment for qualified people with disabilities is nearly twice (14.2%) the national rate of unemployment (7.6%.) "These people are motivated and committed to working," said Samuels. "They do an excellent job. They care. Their attention to detail and their overall commitment is very strong, in part because of the challenges they face."

BCS Workforce Development offers a range of vocational training and job placement programs to meet the diverse needs of clients living with disabilities. Those ready for work are helped to find jobs, others receive basic vocational training, coaching, and support as they transition to employment, and those with very challenging disabilities are placed in internships receiving specialized support where they can begin to build basic skills. BCS Workforce Development's professional evaluators provide valuable information that will help the participants in making informed educational, career, and job training choices.

For more information on BCS Workforce Development, check out www.wearebcs.org

About Brooklyn Community Services

BCS celebrates the strength of the human spirit, and in 2016, we celebrate our 150^th Anniversary. Our mission is to empower at-risk children, youth and families, and adults with mental illness or developmental disabilities to overcome the obstacles they face, as we strive to ensure opportunity for all to learn, grow and contribute to ONE Brooklyn Community. To achieve this mission, we offer comprehensive and holistic services: early childhood education; youth development services and educationally rich after-school programs; counseling for at-risk families; treatment, recovery and job training to support the life goals of adults living with mental illness; person-centered rehabilitation and community living support for adults with developmental disabilities and disaster recovery case management and relief services. BCS also seeks to increase public awareness of the impacts of poverty on individuals and the community at-large.  With a staff of over 400 and 25 program sites around the borough, BCS serves 12,000 people every year. Today, BCS is one of the oldest not-for-profit, non-sectarian social service providers in New York City.