2020 GlobalMindED
The Future of Work is Diverse, Inclusive, Just and Equitable
GlobalMindED closes the equity gap by creating a capable, diverse talent pipeline through connections to role models, mentors, internships for low-income students, returning adults, First Gen to college and inclusive leaders who teach them, work with them and hire them.
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Mike Hess, Founder and CEO of Blind Institute of Technology is one if the winners of the GlobalMindED 2019 Inclusive Leaders Awards. BIT is dedicated to training and placing the 80% visually impaired unemployed workers who have so much to contribute. It is our honor to share his story through one of GlobalMindED's sponsors, the International Labor Organization, and Kevin Cassidy. We honor Mike and other heroes this month as we celebrate National Disability Employment Awareness Month. |
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“We are truly the greatest untapped resource on the planet” says Mike Hess, Executive Director and founder of the Blind Institute of Technology (BIT).
You can immediately sense the passion and energy Mike brings to the conversation when he talks about his goal for his Colorado based non-profit. Mike is committed to convince Fortune 1000 companies that persons with disabilities are a good investment for their company. “We are committed to reducing the high unemployment rate among skilled blind and visually impaired IT and tech professionals” said Mike. And for him, it all starts with changing the perceptions of potential employers.
“When I talk about people with disabilities, I prefer the term ‘corporate ready individuals’ says Mike. “They are the perfect candidates for what I call ‘desk jockey’ type jobs. Today’s technology is so accessible, it’s a seamless interface. And people with disabilities are extremely productive and extremely loyal employees.”
Legally blind since first grade, Mike eventually lost his sight altogether. Instead of placing Mike in a school for the blind, his mother was determined to keep him in the public school system. Mike used the low-vision technologies available at the time, as well as learning how to walk with a cane and read braille.
Immediately after college he married his wife, Natalie, adopted her two daughters and added to the family with the addition of his son, Maddox. Mike says his loss of his vision is an inconvenience, nothing more. He has competed in martial arts, is a snow and water skier, a mountain climber and pursued a 20-year career in the tech industry.
Early on Mike realised there were tremendous opportunities for gainful employment for persons with disabilities. He spoke about how the Americans with Disability Act (ADA), a landmark civil rights legislation, which helped facilitate more persons with disabilities into the workforce. This includes ramp for access to buildings, braille in elevators and accessibility technology built into popular operating systems.
“I'm a free market guy,” Mike said, and “when it comes to success it has got to be success in the free market. It's tougher and tougher for the big companies to find talent and they often struggle with meeting diversity goals which are actually part of their strategy to improve their organization.”
Mike lays out his “billion dollar” idea that demonstrates how businesses and the economy benefits from talented people who find dignity through sharing their expertise. Mike believes he is on that cutting edge and hopes to “place hundreds of people every year.” He is convinced that “the medium is going to be through technology and that's why I where I believe the future of work is headed.”
Mike is committed to changing that. In the past five years, BIT has placed more than 100 people with disabilities around the country. “They’ve got the skills. The median wage is more than thirty dollars an hour.”
Mike says his “job is to go out there, kick in doors and let employers know just how easy it is to seamlessly integrate people with disabilities and add value to the bottom line and the corporate culture.”
For employers, the technology makes the business case persuasive. “Some blind people can listen to their screen readers at 300 words a minute. That is faster that a sighted person can consume the same amount of data, looking at a screen” says Mike.
The value proposition is even stronger because of the low cost. “Accessible technology is innate within both Apple’s and Google’s operating systems. Microsoft is finally building a free version. There low or no cost to most of this.”
The technology is the “how” says Mike. But the quality of the workers is the “why.” “When you hire someone with a disability, you are getting a very productive employee who is also a very loyal employee” he says. “It’s tougher and tougher to find talent. People with disabilities don’t hop from job to job.”
Mike goes further making his case for hiring persons with disabilities with an ambitious plan called the “Billion Dollar Initiative”. “A blind person over their working lifetime in the United States will consume about a million dollars in public assistance. This means Social Security Disability Benefits, food stamps, Section 8 housing – this is about a million dollars. If we get a thousand people with disabilities off that system and they are then contributing back into the system. In real terms, that is a billion dollars saved in public assistance and nearly one-hundred million of earned income generated through employment.”
For Mike, his ambition is to bring this approach to empowering people and their communities to developing countries where persons with disabilities are often mired in poverty, not only due to the lack of employment but due to the absence of social services.
To start breaking down some of the walls and stigmas about hiring people with disabilities, employers should look in their own backyards, says Mike. “You don’t hire a person with a disability because it’s a feel-good story. You hire them because they are going to work twice as hard and they are not going to job-hop. You hire them because they are going to deliver.
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Monday, November 9, 2:00 MT/4:00 ET |
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Click to view the most recent webinars: |
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Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable: African American College Presidents Share Realities Part II: Dr. Ryan Ross; Assoc. V. Chancellor Student Affairs, Equity, & Inclusion, Colorado Community College System moderates. Panelists include Dr. Javaune Adams-Gaston President, Norfolk State University, Dr. E. LaBrent Chrite President, Bethune-Cookman University, Dr. Annette Parker President, South Central College, Minnesota State, and Dr. Michael Torrence President, Motlow State College
Courageous Conversations: Catalyzing Change in Health: Dr. Monique Butler; Chief Medical Officer, Swedish Medical Center, Samuel Yamoah, Jr.; Associate Partner, McKinsey & Company, Dr. Georges Benjamin; Executive Director, American Public Health Association, Dr. J. Nadine Gracia; Exec. Vice President & COO, Trust for America’s Health, Dr. Karen McNeil-Miller; CEO, Colorado Health Foundation, Dr. Pierre Theodore; VP Global External Innovation, Johnson & Johnson, and Dr. Elena Rios; President & CEO, National Hispanic Medical Association.
Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable: Diverse College Presidents Talk About First 6 Weeks of School: Dr. Ryan Ross; Assoc. V. Chancellor Student Affairs, Equity, & Inclusion, Colorado Community College System moderates. Panelists include Dr. Javaune Adams-Gaston President, Norfolk State University, Dr. E. LaBrent Chrite President, Bethune-Cookman University, Dr. Annette Parker President, South Central College, Minnesota State, Dr. Miles Davis President, Linfield University, and Dr. Michael Torrence President, Motlow State College
Hispanic Language Heritage Language Assets for Career Preparedness: Department of Education, Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) and GlobalMindED, moderated by Lorena Orozco McElwain; OELA, Panelists include: Carol Carter; GlobalMindED, Felícita Solá-Carter; Excellence in Government Program, Oscar Fraire; University of Colorado Denver student, Patty Lopez; Intel Corporation, and Adrian Rosado; Cultural Clarity Experience.
Hispanic Language Heritage: Retention of Heritage Culture and Language(s) US Department of Education, Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) and GlobalMindED, and panelists celegrate National Hispanic Heritage Month. Lorena Orozco and Supreet Anand of OELA, Cristina Alfaro; San Diego State University, Luis Benitez; VF Corporation, Clotilde Dedecker; Circle of Women, Joe Garcia; Ohkay OwinghTribe, and Dr.Joel Comez; Center for Applied Logistics
Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable: A Conversation on Race, Isms, Justice, Moving Forward and the Role White People Need to Play: Ryan Ross; Associate Vice Chancellor: Student Affairs, Equity, and Inclusion, Colorado Community College System leads the conversation with Clifton Taulbert; President and CEO, Freemount Corporation and Roots Java Coffee, Javon Brame; Dean of Students, Arapahoe Community College, Chelsea Williams; Founder & CEO, College Code LLC, and Representative Leslie Herod; Legislator, Colorado General Assembly
Equity in Engineering Programs: Priming the STEM Pipeline During and After COVID-19: Dr. Dora Renaud, Sr. Director of Academic Programs & Professional Development, SHPE: Leading Hispanics in STEM, Melanie Suarez, Student, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Mechanical Engineering, Nicolas Valencia Diaz, Student, Florida International University, Biomedical Engineering, Sophia Plata, PhD Student, University of Southern California, Environmental Engineering
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To view the recent Rural sessions, please see our YouTube channel:
Native American Business Opportunities, Tribal Economic Development and Post-secondary Education/Workforce Participation: J.C. Whorton, Jr.; Consultant, Lecturer, Author and Adjunct Faculty, University of Colorado Boulder, Don Kelin; President, Fox Professional Services, Rocky Mountain Indian Chamber of Commerce, Matt Rantanen; Director of Technology, Southern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association, Tribal Digital Village Network Initiative, and Melvin Monette; CEO, Indigenous Education, Inc.
Fortifying Native Students, Faculty and Communities During and After COVID-19: Ron Lessard (Mohawk); Acting Exec. Director, White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education leads panel including Diana Cournoyer; Oglala Sioux Tribe, Executive Director, National Indian Education Association, Michael Chamberlain; Special Assistant for Rural Outreach, US Department of Education, Carrie L. Billy; President & CEO, American Indian Higher Education Consortium, and features a performance by Ava Rose Johnson; Student and Musician, Native American Music Awards Winner
Rural Innovations in Education During COVID-19: Anne Trujillo; Anchor 7News, Denver moderates the panel which includes Tina Goar; Executive Director, San Luis Valley BOCES, Dr. Robert Mitchell; Asst. Professor of Leadership, Research, and Foundations, UCCS, Luis Murillo; Principal, Skoglund Middle School, and Samantha Yocam; Superintendent and Principal, Kim School District
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THE FLYOVER NATION
Energy's Role in a Troubled Heartland
By J.C. Whorton
A unique and timely discussion of the challenging issues facing the country’s troubled Heartland.
Since the beginning of westward expansion into the Heartland’s vast regions, natural resource development has played a historic role in shaping its communities. Today, domestic oil and gas development offers one of the strongest prospects for the Heartland’s present and future prosperity as well as the nation’s re-emergence as a dominant player in the global energy economy.
The U.S. is now the world’s largest producer of crude oil and natural gas, two circumstances that are universally disrupting international geopolitical order. The earth has a finite supply of natural resources and a rapidly growing and over consuming population.
As America positions itself for a very uncertain and constantly evolving global marketplace, will the Heartland become America’s “great connector” or “great divide”?
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J.C. Whorton is a senior level energy and financial professional with over forty years of essential experience. Having a ranching and Native American heritage, Mr. Whorton is a strong advocate for rural education and economic development initiatives.
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Links to read about Inclusive Leaders, many of whom are African American and people of color:
Curated sessions from GlobalMindED 2020 YouTube channel:
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From the Center for Positive Organizations:
From the Economist:
From Forbes:
From Harvard Business Review:
From the World Academy of Art & Science and UN; Geneva Global Leadership in the 21st Century econference:
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Listen here for an interview with Pam Newkirk, GlobalMindED speaker and author of Diversity Inc.: The Failed Promise of a Billion- Dollar Business.
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Responding to Crisis
The 30-Day Justice Plan
As the reset of America is underway, understanding the role you can play in a system of change can be difficult, but we encourage you to listen, learn and be active. To start, instead of, say, a juice cleanse, feed your brain and move yourself with this practical plan over the next month. Here's our guide of what to read, watch, listen to and do in order to be part of the solution.
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Your copy should address 3 key questions: Who am I writing for? (Audience) Why should they care? (Benefit) What do I want them to do here? (Call-to-Action)
Create a great offer by adding words like "free" "personalized" "complimentary" or "customized." A sense of urgency often helps readers take an action, so think about inserting phrases like "for a limited time only" or "only 7 remaining!"
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GlobalMindED and the SDG Impact Fund are delighted to announce GlobalMindED's Donor Advised Fund. 2020 is the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations and the 25th Anniversary of the Beijing Women's Declaration and Action Platform. Many from around the world are thinking of 2020 as the gateway to our most vital decade for delivering equity, the Sustainable Development Goals, and a world where all can thrive. Our key time for these outcomes is 2020-2030.
GlobalMindED DAF and the SDG Impact Fund are a powerful combined force for good as the 2019 year comes to a close and we reflect on the gratitude and the commitments we make to the causes we care most about. The DAF offers immense power and flexibility for giving prior to the year's end as you plant seeds of generous intention for 2020 and the decade ahead.
When you contribute to GlobalMindED, you support First Gen students. We have served more than 400 students by connecting them to role models, mentors, internships and jobs. Your generous support will allow us to take our work 10x and reach these talented students at scale who lack the resources and support we provide. Your support also helps teachers who can't afford the conference fees, faculty at colleges which are under resourced and students who persist at those universities despite food insecurity and/or housing insecurity.
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Meet GlobalMindED Founder, Carol Carter as interviewed by Tim Moore on his podcast Success Made to Last: From Success to Significance
Listen to Part 1 of Carol's interview
Listen to Part 2 of Carol's interview
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Recent GlobalMindED Newsletter Profiles:
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Since 2006 when the flagship TGR Learning Lab opened its doors in Anaheim, CA, TGR Foundation has had a lot to celebrate, including its most recent milestone of one million students impacted by TGR EDU: Explore, alone.
Developed in partnership with Discovery Education, TGR EDU: Explore is a free digital resource library that offers interactive web experiences, lesson plans, training videos and tools for educators, students and families to explore new disciplines and gain skills for a modern and expanding workforce.
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As you start the New Year, are you looking for ways to re-engineer your classroom culture? Check out Designing the Future: How Engineering Builds Creative Critical Thinking in the Classroom. The associated website has lots of activities, projects, and resources you can implement immediately. Our fall workshops using the book as a roadmap for change have been highly successful. Start designing the future today - try using the customized Study Guide for a book study in your PLC. Or contact ProjectEngin or Solution Tree to learn how you can bring professional development based on Ann's book to your school, district, or conference.
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