Turning workers' challenges into workplace assets

Children coming from abusive households are often reluctant to discuss their past experiences. A Mexican foundation is using animated characters to help abused and ill children speak about their lives.

For parents, few things are more terrifying to contemplate than the fate of a disabled child who survives them - will he have to be institutionalized if there is no one ready to take on his care? In Vancouver, the Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network helps parents develop networks of care to help their child continue to live a good life in the community.

People with disabilities like autism often struggle to find welcoming and meaningful jobs. Companies that place workers with disabilities in jobs that fit their skills will be well-positioned to succeed in the 21st century.

Individuals who have Aspergers Syndrome and autism experience difficulty in conforming to workplace norms and find themselves unemployed. Specialisterne, a Danish company, has opened employment opportunities for them. Sixty countries around the world have sought to adopt the company model.

The Jaipur Limb organization based in India has developed prostheses at low cost, and services are free for the poor. The organization’s efforts have recently spread to other countries with impoverished people. Jaipur Limb reaches patients through branch clinics, traveling workshops, and limb camps in cities around the world.

Vacant positions exist in many employment sectors, including in education and in hospitals. ReServe is a program that joins retired professionals to part-time paid positions in non-profits to perform duties. A controversy has emerged that suggests these positions should be paid at a professional-rate salary.

When you don’t live in a city, if you don’t have a car, you don’t have a job. But car payments can eat up a salary quickly - a New England program offers low-cost car loans to people who need them most.

Milwaukee County’s mental health system put more resources in expensive emergency care rather than invest in programs that offer continual care. As a result, Milwaukee County identifies nine solutions from other cities that have had success in repairing mental health systems. Solutions include the ending of reliance on emergency care, expand community support programs, change laws, and supportive housing.

A Department of Justice study reported that about 75 percent of those released in 2005 were rearrested, and women prisoners often have a harder time re-entering society after release. A New Way of Life (ANWOL) is a Los Angeles transitional living facility that has helped more than 750 women stay out of prison by offering housing, case management, mental health and substance treatment, and job training.

Some inner city schools, nonprofits, and businesses in New York lack the staff to make their organizations function for the people they serve. ReServe is a program that links retired professionals with part-time jobs in schools, libraries, hospitals and other city agencies to help fil this gap.