ARISE - EFR
The theme of the podcast is independent living and advocacy for people with disabilities.
ARISE - EFR
Building Inclusive Communities: Real-World Tools for Change
In this episode of the ARISE – EFR Podcast, host Bruce Drake is joined by community-organizing expert Phil Preen to explore how we can turn the ideals of inclusion and accessibility into actionable strategies.
Together, they discuss:
- What it takes to build authentic connections between local organizers and people with disabilities
- Practical approaches to making public spaces, voting systems, and housing more accessible
- Stories from the front lines where policy met personal experience — and the lessons learned
- The mindset shift needed: from “service delivery” to “system transformation”
- How empowerment, collaboration, and persistence are the real engines behind lasting change
Whether you work in nonprofit advocacy, local government, or simply care about creating environments where everyone thrives — this episode offers concrete insights and inspiration for driving inclusive change.
Tune in and discover how to go from good intentions to measurable outcomes.
This is the Arise Exceptional Family Resources Podcast with your host, CEO Bruce Drake.
SPEAKER_02:Hi everyone, I'm Bruce Drake, the CEO at Arise and Exceptional Family Resources, and I am your host for today's Exceptional Talk on Disabilities. I'm really excited to be joined today by our Director of Employment Services at Arise and EFR, Lawton Williamson. Welcome, Lawton. Thanks for inviting me, Bruce. I'm glad to be here. Great. So Lawton, why don't we just start out? You and I have worked together, I think, for about four years now, but why don't you tell everybody a little bit about yourself? Okay.
SPEAKER_00:So there's a lot of parts to me. Um first of all, I grew up on a farm and I became an entrepreneur selling produce at the regional market when I was 12 years old and really never stopped. Um and then when I got older, I became a journeyman mold maker, and I was involved in making steel dyes and molds for customers like IBM and others. I did that for about 10 years, and then for the last 34 years, I've been working in human services and in Day Hab, Community Hab, Respite, Support Employment, Prevoke Services, and Access VR. So it's kind of varied.
SPEAKER_02:So that's how I got here, actually.
SPEAKER_00:So basically I never focused on disabilities, and I was working in a um manufacturing company, and they hired an individual who was legally blind to um do janitorial work. And basically, nobody helped him. And he would fail a lot of times, and people would kind of celebrate his failures. And so that made me be a mentor. I didn't even know I was being one. I mentored him along and he did great things because even though he couldn't see, he could hear, so he heard a lot of bad stuff, right? So I mentored him and he um ended up getting a job as a DJ, going to school to be a sportscaster. He was a real estate agent, a broker, owned his own business, and now he does online sports membrane. Um he sells that. He's he's amazing. Are you still friends with him? Yeah. I'm just I just amazed at how everything turned out.
SPEAKER_02:So you're a mold maker, you become a mentor, you have a relationship with this individual, and then you see an ad in the paper. I mean, so how how do you end up in the field?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so I saw an ad in the paper for helping people wash dishes at Community General Hospital in the evening, and I thought I could, I work a lot of hours, so I thought I could do my day job, and then I could actually work with this people with disabilities every night. And that's what I did for a long time. And then I got to a point where they wanted me to get in management, which I really didn't that's not gotten this feel for, but I ended up had to make a choice. All my friends knew I'd choose manufacturing because that's where the money was, and I chose human services.
SPEAKER_02:And 34 years later, any regrets?
SPEAKER_00:None. None that I I should have done it earlier, probably.
SPEAKER_02:So Lawton, you and I have both been in the field for a long time. So when we talk about employment services, we we know what we're talking about, but maybe not everyone who's listening does. Why don't you give a little bit of an overview of what you mean when you talk about employment services as it relates to people with disabilities and the work that we do?
SPEAKER_00:Sure. So for me, it's um it's any meaningful activity that relates to employment that maybe someday the person will be able to get a job. Uh I try to back things up on everyone's different and unique that we work with, but I try to back it up to what their needs are. So we can have some people come to us and they just want a job, and we go through Access VR and we help them get a job. Other people think they want to get a job someday, are really nervous and scared about it, so they mice out in a pre-voke program and we spend time that way. So there's really no right or wrong answer. There's no cookie cutter to it, it's just kind of whatever, whatever works for that person.
SPEAKER_02:All right. So you said a lot there. So let me let me uh peel the onion a little bit. First of all, what are there any prerequisites for for you to work with someone to help them find a job?
SPEAKER_00:Basic okay.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, does the person need to have any skills already, or is there what what are the things somebody needs in order to start to work with you?
SPEAKER_00:So a person has to have some level of independence where um because the goal eventually is they're going to be independent in the community, even if it's for like four hours a day. Um so some level of independence. They just have to have the desire to want to work someday.
SPEAKER_02:Um is that the most important thing? Is a desire to work?
SPEAKER_00:Yes. I think you have to have the passion, the fire that you want to you want to work and and do something different. But we also do a lot of discovery. We come people come to us that have no idea what they want to do, and so we try different jobs with them that they maybe never thought of, and and sometimes it ignites a passion. If someone is passionate about something, they can do amazing things, and so that's what we try to do.
SPEAKER_02:So, how do you do that discovery?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so for discovery, basically um we just encourage individuals to try different things. Sometimes we start out a library just looking at different jobs, maybe on a on a video, and then um actually take tours of places and see if we can just shadow it at a place for a day or a couple hours just to try to get people in there and and not like we don't just go in there like you're gonna move boxes for eight hours a day. We really just start slowly and we really try to do some cool things and also kind of make it fun too. So I think I believe if you have to have fun at work or you're not gonna want to do it either.
SPEAKER_02:So, how do you make it fun?
SPEAKER_00:So basically, um we have in our prevoke program, sometimes we we came up with a game similar to Monopoly. It was like um different things, different job tasks. Um we go out. Sometimes we can go if it's a beautiful day in the fall, we might go for a walk in the park while we're talking about jobs. Don't I just don't want to have a sterile where people feel like, oh, I gotta go to a work program or something. We just gotta kind of make it exciting. And I'm I'm excited every day, so I hopefully it's come time that exudes on them too.
SPEAKER_02:And well, your your excitement certainly comes through in in our conversation. So again, just backing up a little bit, you've you've mentioned previous a couple of times. What is prevoke?
SPEAKER_00:Right. A community-based pre-vocational service is a program where individual typically would go to someone's home, pick them up, take them out in the community, um, do some discovery, um, looking at the exploring jobs.
SPEAKER_02:Exploring jobs, giving them an opportunity to try different things to see what they like and what they might not like, so that you you as someone who's providing employment services can kind of hone in on the skills they might need to develop and the places they might be able to work.
SPEAKER_00:Right. And even even lunch is a um a prevok activity. Sometimes people say, How's lunch? But the reason it is is because we really try to focus if you had a job, would you be able to wash your hands, eat your lunch, socialize, put your lunch away, and be done in 30 minutes? So those are goals. Everything is kind of a work-related activity that we do.
SPEAKER_02:So what I I know I'm afraid of the answer for this, but I don't think but what is a typical pre-vogue day look like?
SPEAKER_00:So it probably is never a typical one, but typically what it would be is um they're gonna maybe do um pick the person up in the morning, they may do a volunteer um job.
SPEAKER_02:What types of places would somebody do we volunteer at currently?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so volunteering may be at meals on wheels, an animal shelter, nursing home, church, uh hospital, any not-for-profit we can volunteer at. So we do we try to do some of that, but also we do what we call unpaid assessments. So the community-based pre-voke program is what I think is so unique about it is when you volunteer somewhere, it's a great thing to do. It's an important thing to do. But the government realized there's not going to be too many paid jobs and volunteers. So what they did is they came up with a previous program that where you could actually do unpaid assessments at a for-profit business for a limited number of hours and they can actually um actually do physical work that they may learn and and get hired to do someday.
SPEAKER_02:So if somebody someday wanted through Discovery, you realize that they'd like to work at a bank, in theory, they could go work at a bank for a period of time. We would have staff there who support them so they can have an the opportunity to experience what it really means to work at a bank.
SPEAKER_00:Yep. And and we never displace their workers. So they would never somebody at the bank wouldn't let have one of their workers stay home because we're there. We're an extra. So what I always say is there's twofold things. One is learning a skill to do a job, and the other part is the social aspect of it. A lot of our folks can learn how to do the job, but a lot of times if they have autism or different intellectual disabilities, sometimes they don't have that part down. So we work a lot on the social skills.
SPEAKER_02:So let's let's talk about that too. So who what are the needs of the people that we work with in regards to what are their you know, disabilities, what makes them eligible for the program?
SPEAKER_00:Right. So typically to be in our um OPWD services that funds most of our services, you have to uh acquire a disability, developmental disability before the age of 22. And it has to be documented. So um it just either medical records or for your schooling or something, you it would be documented.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. So anyone who is who is eligible for the Office of People with Developmental Disabilities is eligible to receive services from us. Yes. Okay. Great. So you talked about volunteer activities. Who decides what volunteer activities someone's gonna go to? So if you were providing services to me, who determines what volunteer activities I go to?
SPEAKER_00:So basically it would be a combination of you and your staff. Okay. Um we really it's all we're person-centered, so we really want we want you to be invested and try something you want to do. Now, you may not want to try something new, and we may really encourage you to try something new, but we we're uh the ultimately it's gonna be what you want to do.
SPEAKER_02:All right. So I so if I have no interest in working in retail, then I wouldn't be required to do a volunteer activity in retail.
SPEAKER_00:No, the only requirement is that you have to try to work in something, one activity a year actually is a limit as a as a minimum. But as long as you um you know, as long as you do some of it, it's fine.
SPEAKER_02:And you talked about staff. So how does that work? How many people does a staff person work with at once?
SPEAKER_00:Right. So in our services, it's a one one-on-one service. Wow. So we have one one staff for each individual. And also the the good and bad of the program is if if a staff person's out sick for the day, we're not just gonna throw another staff in that you've never met before. Um, sometimes you might need to take the day off, right? Because what we find an experience is that if we just give you a body to work with you, it probably is not gonna be successful. So it that's that's the the only draw of it.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. Well, still the one-to-one uh staffing ratio is excellent. So you talked about pre-vocational services. Are there other employment services?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so we have some people come to us and they go to our employment training program. It's called ETP. And in that program, um, the individual would try three different jobs and then once they for a short period of time, and once they tried those jobs out, if they're ready, we go into job development phase where the individual could actually be paid for their work as a temporary New York State employee as an intern and be paid for their their time working, usually about nine to twelve hours a week. And the the only caveat with that is the employer is expected to hire that person within six months. There's not a lot of pressure, but if employer says, hey, it's not working out, then we just end it and go somewhere else.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. I don't know. There are other employment services? Sure.
SPEAKER_00:We have a support employment extended services, SEMP, and that's for people that have already had a job. Um, they've they have currently have a job, and then we help them um maintain that. Some people come to us and say, Hey, we don't really need, I don't need you, I'm independent, and that's great. But we're like a menu. I tell people use us as much as you want or a little at least the amount you want. But the end of the day is maybe your supervise you've had your job for five years, and all of a sudden your supervisor quits, retires, relocates, new supervisor comes along, and you may lose your job, right? So we're we kind of proactively meet with people like on a weekly basis.
SPEAKER_02:So, how many how many people do you support in the employment services right now?
SPEAKER_00:Actually, it's interesting because I just figured it out this morning. It's 238 right now.
SPEAKER_02:Wow, that's that's a lot of people. 238 is a lot of people. Who is finding the places for 238 people to work? How do how does that work?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so basically all our staff, all our staff are looking for things. And globally I look for stuff not from one person, but I just I kind of talk to everybody and I just try to find things for everybody, but the other staff do too.
SPEAKER_02:And how do they how do they I mean what do you mean find finding Yeah, so it's it's many ways.
SPEAKER_00:So a lot of times it's looking on the computer, looking for things, um, sending people emails, but honestly, meeting people in person is the way I do it all the time. Um it's hard to say no when you have a person in front of you. So that's what we do.
SPEAKER_02:So you'll go to a store that has that's advertised that they're looking for help and or that not even people who are looking for help.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I just go. I just go. Like I went to hotels and um I went, I had an appointment with the the uh manager and I went to visit him and he said I I can't even see you because my front desk called in and um my laundry people called in, I can't do it. I said, I have uh sneakers and uh jeans in the car. Can I learn how to do laundry? He says, I can't pay, I don't want your money, I just want to learn how to do it for myself. I ended up doing laundry from like eight in the morning to six at night, and I got jobs for so many people you wouldn't believe. He even told the other people around Carrier Circle, so I was getting referrals from people I don't even know. So it's just kind of you know, one hand washes the other, and you and you help people in their need. If if an employer is really busy, I'm not gonna try to get in their way, but I'm gonna help them because they're our customer too.
SPEAKER_02:So uh is there a particular employer you want to give a quick shout out to?
SPEAKER_00:Um Wagmans is phenomenal. They do they do a lot. Um, in fact, last week we had a gentleman that I was so proud of him, he got um hired on the spot. So a lot of times when we we help people, we help people with interview questions, and sometimes people say, No, I don't need your help. I know I I know how to do it. This guy really listened. He went in for his interview, got hired on uh last Friday afternoon. Uh they did training on Sunday, and he by Monday he was working. And what department is he working on in the Wegmans? He's working in the dairy department.
SPEAKER_02:That's fantastic. And how many people do we have at Wegmans? Um I think about 15 right now. Fifteen about?
SPEAKER_00:So there are six different Wegmans.
SPEAKER_02:Anybody else that you want to give a shout out to?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Well, I think this is another exciting thing is we have a person, I mean, shout out to the business. Either or Yeah. This person went to school to be, um he has autism. He went to school to be uh HVAC heating, ventilation, air conditioning. We worked with him getting a job. He didn't really like the first job he got. The second one, he kind of didn't really focus on the interview and didn't get that one. But the third job, he got hired and he he um actually uh measures all the air quality at one of the big Syracuse hospitals full time. So it's it's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_02:Lawton, thank you so much for finding the time to talk with us today, ladies and gentlemen. That was Arise and Exceptional Family Resources Director of Employment Services, Lawton Williamson. As always, thank you all for listening, and we hope to you join us next time as well. Thanks.
SPEAKER_01:This has been the Arise Exceptional Family Resources Podcast with CEO Bruce Drake, recorded and produced at the WCNY Public Broadcasting Studios. For more information, visit our website at contactefr.org. You can also follow us on Facebook. Thank you for listening.