In 2020, OFA joined a consortium of organizations led by the Ontario Disability Employment Network (ODEN) to develop labour market partnerships that would eliminate barriers to employment, in the agriculture sector, for people who have a disability. The Skills2Sector Workforce Development Project, funded under the Skills Catalyst Fund from the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development, engaged job seekers, employers, education providers, and employment service providers to promote careers in the agriculture sector.
Skills2Sector:
A sector-based workforce development project that aims to connect job seekers who have a disability to inclusive businesses. This project focuses on:
- Creating a regional approach to labour market partnerships and employment pathways
- Enhancing employment opportunities for people who have a disability
- Focusing on Ontario Mining and Agriculture sectors
- Ensuring disability is part of businesses Diversity & Inclusion Strategies
We want to ensure OFA members can access the tools and resources created and collected during this project. Therefore, we have developed a Skills2Sector virtual information map.
An important development of the Skills2Sector project was offering ODEN’s Disability Awareness and Confidence Training (DACT) in an online version. This training is for businesses in the Agricultural sector looking for an introduction to disability in the workplace and how to be more inclusive of talent who have a disability. OFA members can have access to the 1-hour module at no cost until December 31st, 2021. To access the training, visit https://learn.odenetwork.com/ and use the code: OFA2021. For more information on the DACT online module, contact info@odenetwork.com.
OFA continues to look for opportunities to harness the labour market relationships created during Skills2Sector and is pleased to share more resources created by ODEN. October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM). Each year ODEN leads a campaign to raise disability-inclusive employment awareness. ODEN’s NDEAM campaign focuses on the many ways disability-inclusive hiring:
- Changes employees’ lives and helps them succeed in the workplace
- Enables businesses to fill required roles from the talent pool of people who have a disability
- Allows businesses to increase productivity, employee engagement and profitability
- Drives cultural change within a business
- Strengthens brand reputation and customer loyalty for many businesses
There are several resources created for the NDEAM campaign that can be of benefit to your business today. Look for “Tip Sheets” on the ODEN NDEAM resource page to access tips on making your business disability-inclusive, how to create accessible eRecruting processes, and much more.
Register to learn more by visiting: www.odenetwork.com/resources/Skills2Sector.
For OFA members:
For OFA members who are ready to engage with talent who have a disability, ODEN is offering a 90-day trial period with Jobs Ability Canada. Recruiting on Jobs Ability Canada is an intentional statement of your company’s commitment to inclusive hiring and goal to recruit job seekers who have a disability. The platform is driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI), developed by and for people who have a disability. The JobsAbiilty.ca platform will help OFA members to attract a large talent pool of qualified candidates that have a disability. For more information to sign up for the 90-day trial, contact info@jobsability.ca.