On October 21st CT BLN took the lead role in coordinating CT BLN Disability Mentoring Day (DMD) for the state. Our friends at Ability Beyond Disability coordinated separate efforts for the Danbury area and Padres Abriendo Puertes coordinated additional events in the Hartford area. Connect-Ability, our funder sponsored the event. In addition, it served as the host site to five students from Bloomfield High. It also developed materials and raised awareness of the event statewide.
What is Disability Mentoring Day?
Disability Mentoring Day is a national event on the 3rd Wednesday in October each year. People with disabilities who would like to experience the work place are matched with a mentor at an employer work site.
Who were the mentors?
Fifteen Connecticut employers hosted CT BLN’s Disability Mentoring Day. This included 10 businesses, four state agencies and one federal government agency.
The hosts were:
- Aetna
- Alcoa Howmet
- Connect-Ability (part of the State of CT Department of Social Services/Bureau of Rehabilitation Services)
- ConnectiCare
- Hartford Business Journal
- Northwest Chamber of Commerce
- Pfizer
- State of CT Department of Developmental Services
- State of CT Department of Labor
- State of CT Office of Protection and Advocacy for persons with Disabilities
- Travelers
- Unilever
- U. S. Department of Agriculture
- Walgreens
Who were the mentees?
60 people participated! This was a huge number since this was our pilot year and we initially anticipated 12-15 participants. Mentees ranged from adult s job seekers with disabilities to high school seniors with disabilities. Six schools participated representing a large number of school districts.
Schools included:
- Bloomfield High School
- East Granby High
- Grace Webb School- Hartford and Bloomfield Campuses
- Suffield High School
- Weaver High School, Hartford
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“I learned a great deal”
~ Adult Mentee
“One of my students indicated that the experience opened his eyes to all the opportunities that are available in the world.”
~ Yolanda Colon,
Weaver High School Hartford
“I appreciated the time and effort that you and the various employers gave to making the day so meaningful and special for our students. This was a wonderful opportunity for them and one they will never forget.”
~ Ann Mallin,
Transition Coordinator, Rocky Hill High School
“The Disability Mentoring Day was a roaring success!... The students talked all the way back to school about the great time they had… Thanks for an awesome day…”
~ Bill Banish,
Transition Coordinator, Bloomfield High
“In committing to this, I totally underestimated the amount of enjoyment and satisfaction OUR team received. To a person each of them beamed when they talked about their role in the company and how they got to this point in their career path. Our organization is as busy and as stretched as any other. But, this was so worth the time we put into it. It was great. Thanks for yesterday, and for all you do to help our business community, and our future leaders.”
~ Gail Lebert, Publisher, Hartford Business Journal
“This was quite a rewarding experience for us and for the mentors who gave up their time to participate in this event. The mentors were all excited to be involved and now a positive contact point for anyone who is thinking they’d like to participate next year. I had posted information on our intranet site about the event prior to the DMD and will openly thank the mentors and their management on the intranet momentarily. This will help give some more visibility to this worthwhile initiative and our commitment to participate next year and the years to come.”
Debra (Deb) J. Erickson
Dir., Talent Acq., Ldrshp Dev., and Empl. Relations
ConnectiCare, Inc. & Affiliates
“It was a wonderful experience to host enthusiastic students here at our R & D Headquarters.”
~ Mak Jawadekar, Ph.D., Director, Portfolio Management & Analytics, Pfizer
“It was a great day! We really enjoyed working with the students. I think they enjoyed it as much
as we did.”
~ Connect-Ability Staff
“Thanks for letting us be a part of the mentoring day!”
~ Nichole K. Campbell, PSS CT/MA/RI, USDA APHIS PPQ
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