Vocational Rehabilitation at the Crossroads of Disability and Poverty: Project E3 Featured in Workforce Studio Podcast

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Shane Padgett is living his dream of being a long haul trucker running cargo and freight from coast to coast.  Shane, who lives in the Project E3 targeted community of Martinsville, Virginia, worked with Project E3 to get the skills and support he needed to help himself and his family thrive in an economically challenged community.

In a recent Workforce Studio podcast, Shane talks about some of the challenges he's experienced on his path to employment, and the wrap-around supports he and his family received from Project E3.

Project E3's Project Manager, John Walsh, joined the show to talk about E3's approach to  empowering community members, he states, “Project E3 is working with 12 states throughout the country. California, Illinois, New Jersey, Kentucky, Oregon, New Mexico, Louisianan, New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Carolina, Montana and Virginia. So we are working with the state VR agencies in all of those states and in each of those states we are looking at two communities within that location that have been identified as having some issues with economic disadvantage or lack of resources that often impede a person’s ability to fully participate in an employment training program and to ultimately secure work.”

The George Washington University Center for Rehabilitation Counseling Research (CRCRE) and Education is pleased to be involved in Project E3’s efforts to work with state vocational rehabilitation agencies and their partners across the United State to help people with disabilities achieve their independent living and employment goals.

CRCRE Co-Director Maureen McGuire-Kuletz comments, “The George Washington University Center for Rehabilitation Counseling, Research and Education is one of the university entities that is partnering in this project. Specifically we have two states that we’re working in, one is the common wealth of Virginia in the Martinsville and Hampton Road’s areas and in New Jersey we’re working in the Newark area. As you know from John’s comments, we work with traditionally underserved populations who have not always been successful working with state vocational rehabilitation and the desire is to use my expression, to try to move the needle to increase referrals, to increase employment outcomes, to improve benefits and to do a better job of working within the community and with community partners and VR to try and help these folks improve their lots in life.”

Listen to the podcast to find out more!

More about Project E3 – Educate, Empower, Employ