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WNC Business

Employment Opportunities for the Blind in Manufacturing

Feb 12, 2023 10:20AM ● By Randee Brown

New IFB Solutions CEO Dan Kelly has a passion for helping find employment opportunities for those that are blind or visually impaired.

According to Kelly, 70% of the blind and visually impaired population is unemployed. A nonprofit organization, IFB Solutions’ mission is to create opportunities for employment for people who are blind through a government program set up as a platform for success.

The AbilityOne program was born out of the Javits-Wagner-O’Day Act as a government program which leverages purchasing items for government goods and services. This program partners with nonprofit agencies to manufacture goods needed by the government and hires blind or otherwise disabled individuals to work in these facilities. According to Kelly, this is one of the best public/private partnerships the government has ever created.

Since his first job with a local human resources and recruitment firm in high school, Kelly has had a passion for helping others to find jobs. “This experience had everything to do with fostering my passion in my work,” Kelly said. “As a person who is blind and who knows the statistics, finding jobs for people is 100% of my career.”

Working at this firm, Kelly’s first boss found a way to adapt and make necessary tasks accessible. The boss took the time to relay information via a tape recorder for Kelly to follow up with.

“He would sit with a tape recorder and record names and phone numbers for hundreds of people,” Kelly said. “My boss said that it was okay that I wasn’t able to read their resumes. He just wanted me to talk to them and ask questions to get to know who they actually are.”

The time his boss spent creating accessible avenues for Kelly to perform his job well developed a passion to help people find jobs in a variety of careers. He said that he learned a lot about business models and cultures, and that this knowledge helped him to focus that toward helping those that are blind.

“My passion still grows everyday,” Kelly said. “I am focused on what we can do as a leadership team to create ‘jobs of choice’ that people want to work and are able to work at 100% of their capacity.”

Though manufacturing work is detail-oriented, leadership teams at IFB Solutions understand what it takes in terms of magnification, lighting, color contrasting, and one-on-one training required to get these individuals to reach their learning curve. Kelly said that the community has diverse interests, and that the organization does their best to match people into the careers that help maximize their potential.

IFB Solutions is a resource for the small community of the blind in the area, and Kelly said that technology is making it easier to get the word out. “We have a full team of recruiters, and anyone can reach out to this team to see what can be done for help finding employment,” he said.

While the majority of the work is to place people at IFB Solutions where 38% of their workforce is blind, the organization also works to overcome geographic barriers with their workforce service division. They also place people into other corporations with a contract staffing model, working with these corporations to make the necessary tools accessible.

At the Asheville location, there is also a Community Low Vision Center with a retail store. While there is no doctor on site, there are people available to share tips and tricks to help maximize individuals’ success as well as tools available for purchase. 

While IFB Solutions and the AbilityOne program make a huge impact on the lives of the individuals and the families they are able to serve, Kelly said that there are still many communities that continue to be underserved. “If we can continue to be a small part of the resource pool, that’s what we want to do,” he said. “The impact is not quantifiable. We are giving people the dignity of work and helping people to define what they do.

“As the new CEO, I will continue to leverage core programs delivering to customers like the Department of Defense and others in the Federal marketplace,” Kelly said. “The challenge is to create new and innovative opportunities in diverse and upward momentum, eliminate barriers, and help with transportation. The more we can do to provide healthy and robust transportation to make sure people can get to work or make sure people can work from home, the more we’ll be able to create opportunities and accelerate our mission.”

Learn more about IFB Solutions at IFBSolutions.org, and learn more about the AbilityOne program at AbilityOne.gov.