In The News
Photo from left to right: Tom Raycroft, President of Community Living Belleville and Area; Ian Acton, President of the Rotary Club of Belleville (and Board Member of Community Living Belleville and Area); Todd Smith, MPP, Prince Edward-Hastings; and Sandie Sidsworth, OTF Representative.
On Wednesday, August 8, 2012, Community Living Belleville and Area hosted local MPP for Prince Edward-Hastings, Todd Smith, to help us celebrate some good news. This June, Community Living Belleville and Area was awarded a $66,100 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) to help them develop a Rotary at Work Program. Joining MPP Smith to present Community Living Belleville and Area President Tom Raycroft and Ian Acton, President of the Rotary Club of Belleville with a plaque was OTF representative, Sandra Sidsworth.
The funding will allow Community Living Belleville and Area, in partnership with other employment service agencies and the Rotary Club of Belleville, to hire a Project Coordinator to develop, lead and enhance the Rotary at Work program that will match people with disabilities to potential employers throughout Hastings County. For the next two (2) years the Coordinator will facilitate relationships between potential employees and employers, develop informative outreach materials and build awareness about the benefits of hiring people with disabilities, chair the local Rotary at Work committee and continue to foster relationships with other agency supports in the community to ensure the success of the program.
"It is great to see an organization with such commitment to the community receiving this funding. The development of the Rotary at Work program will be a great asset to the community, by helping people with disabilities meet their potential in the workforce. Congratulations to Community Living Belleville and Area, on your well deserved Trillium Grant."– Todd Smith, MPP Prince Edward-Hastings
Said Ian Acton, President of the Rotary Club of Belleville, "this is an exciting opportunity to introduce local employers and businesses to the benefits of tapping into a huge and growing labour market which is people with disabilities who are ready and eager to work.”
There is mounting evidence that hiring people with disabilities makes good business sense. "We are hearing from more and more employers who have hired people with disabilities that their businesses have prospered, employee morale is up, absenteeism and employee turnover is down and productivity has improved,” said John Klassen, Executive Director of Community Living Belleville and Area and Chair of the Rotary at Work Committee.
