Cobb and Douglas County Community Services Board

By David Burch - Marietta Daily Journal Staff Writer

MARIETTA— For many people living with physical or mental disabilities, the only job prospects presented to them involve low-level work in the service industry. But a grant awarded to the Cobb Community Services Board could help local residents with disabilities move beyond putting together widgets to pursuing more meaningful careers.

The U.S. Labor Department awarded the agency $689,040 to help 20 disabled residents in Cobb pursue training in technology or start their own home-based businesses. The Cobb Community Services Board was one of seven government agencies in the country chosen in a national program to encourage physically and mentally disabled people to re-enter the workplace. The Cobb County Workforce Investment Board, in partnership with Vocational Rehabilitation, will administer the grant.

“In the past, folks with disabilities have not had access to careers; they’ve only had access to service jobs,” said Doug Crandell, director of employment services for the Cobb County Community Services Board. Crandell said most of the service jobs provided to the disabled do not allow them to earn a living wage, preventing them from living independent of public assistance.

A “personal training account” will be established for each participant in the program. Up to $15,000 from the federal grant, as well as matching funds provided by Vocational Rehabilitation, will be deposited into the account to pay for job training or start the new business. “They’ll have control over the funds to purchase the kind of training they need,” Crandell said. Those eligible for the program include those with physical as well as those with cognitive disabilities, such as mental illness, retardation and autism.

Crandell said the agency already has started to interview residents for the program, which is expected to start in January. Because of the challenges of their particular disabilities, many of those under consideration are unable to find work in the traditional job market. “Most of the folks who will be served by this program are most likely those who are now among the
unemployed,” he said. “We will really be focusing on those people for whom it really has been a burden to pursue a ‘community’ job.”

Twenty Cobb residents will be selected for the program each year for the next five years. The Department of Labor will provide $689,040 for each of the first three years to fund the program. The grant will be reduced by 20 percent for the fourth year, and by 40 percent for the fifth. “And then by the end of the fifth year, we must be able to find local funding for the program,” Crandell said. Cobb competed against agencies nationwide for the grant money.

“It was very competitive in terms of getting the grants,” Crandell said. “We as a community, in Cobb County, were very determined to prove that we were dedicated to help people to get to work. ”Another way the Cobb Community Services Board is working to help people get to work is through a reorganization of its transportation system.

In response to a mandate by the Georgia Department of Human Resources, the board reorganized its fleet of 116 vans into a unified transportation system. The system will unify transportation the 13 community service organizations in Cobb, shuttling residents to 28 different programs. The system also will provide door-to-door service for disabled residents to medical facilities, shopping areas, agency offices, job sites and other destinations.