WIVB 4: Buffalo manufacturing plant finds hiring success by leaving ‘nobody behind’

News 4 WIVB Buffalo talks about the impact that workers with disabilities make in the community, particularly at Austin Air! Thank you for highlighting The Arc and our employees

Check out the full article here

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Hiring reliable workers can be difficult right now.

And so can getting a job as a person with disabilities.

So a service provider called NYS Industries for the Disabled (NYSID), along with The Arc Erie County, has found a solution.

“Our team, we don’t leave nobody behind,” Hector Brito said, an employee of Austin Air in Buffalo. “We always work together. If somebody is falling behind, we try to help them out… I never feel left out.”

Hector Brito works on the production line at Austin Air, helping assemble their air filtration system. But tomorrow, he could be somewhere else in the facility… spot welding or packaging. He’s been trained on it all.

“I like to be challenged… to learn new things,” he said.

A year ago, the largest air cleaning manufacturing facility in the world, located in Buffalo, was having trouble finding reliable people to work their line.

“It’s definitely hard to find employees for sure,” Stacy Malesiewski said, the marketing director at Austin Air.

So they partnered with NYSID and The Arc Erie County to hire skilled workers with disabilities: developmental and physical, along with people in substance abuse recovery programs.

“We want those jobs to be fully-integrated employment, where an individual with a disability is working side-by-side with an individual who’s not disabled,” Maureen O’Brien, the president/CEO of NYSID, said.

Right now there are six people employed at Austin Air through this program.

When News 4 visited the manufacturing plant, Adrian Page was making the frame of the filtration systems. Calvin Johnson and Aaron Stukey were building boxes. All of them were hired through the program and said they loved the job, along with the ability to learn new things.

“Individuals with disabilities are great problem solvers,” O’Brien said. “If you have a physical disability, think about what it’s like to get up in the morning, to get dressed, to get on a bus, to get over the snowbank. By the time you get to work, assembling something might be the easiest thing you’ve done since 6 a.m.”

But this doesn’t just help the employer, the program is trying to lower a staggering number.

According to NYSID, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities in WNY is 66.5%.

In order to allow these workers to thrive in the job, a personal job coach is provided to each employee. Those job coaches are hired by The Arc Erie County.

“Job coaches can initially be very intensive,” Douglas DiGesare, the CEO of The Arc Erie County, said. “There’s a lot to learn early on in the project, so they have to spend a lot of time on that. As they learn the jobs, they can fade from that and only just check in on how they’re doing. If they want to introduce a new skill, if they want something different, the job coach could re-introduce and be more intensive again for awhile.”

Brito said in the past, he’s felt overwhelmed at jobs that threw him into the work without the proper training.

“There was so much piling on me,” Brito said.

But his involvement in this program, with his job coach there, has him feeling confident and excited to come to work.

“Don’t ever be afraid to ask for help, you need someone to guide you,” Brito said. “And don’t ever feel like you’re alone too… ask for help or have someone push you into a goal.”

If you have a business you think would be a good partner for this program, or want more information, click here.