PIERCE COLLEGE : Job Program to Assist Disabled

A new job placement program that will serve people with disabilities began this semester at Pierce College.

Through the program, called Workability III, disabled people who are clients of the state Department of Rehabilitation can receive assessment of job readiness, as well as assistance with resumes, job applications and interviews.

The program also will make any needed accommodations for the newly hired employees at job sites.

“With the right accommodations, someone with a disability can perform almost any task,” said Miriam Gottlieb, Workability III specialist in charge of implementing the program.

The program is funded through a renewable $47,000 yearly grant from the state, said Norm Crozer, Pierce’s director of special services.

Because the Pierce program is just beginning, students who wish to participate must already be trained for jobs, Crozer said.

“But part of our goal is to take students, make them clients of the Department of Rehabilitation and set them on a vocational track to train for a job,” he said.

Gottlieb, who began her job at Pierce in August, refers students with disabilities to the Department of Rehabilitation, attends state workability program meetings and visits local businesses to inform individual employers about the implications of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

Pierce students in the program will participate in a class developed and taught by Gottlieb. The one-unit course will be offered next semester pending approval by the college curriculum committee.

“The class will cover everything from self-assessment to resume writing and job-search skills,” Gottlieb said. “The end result is placement out in the job market.”

About 20 of the state’s 107 community colleges currently have the Workability III program, Crozer said.