New partnership expands opportunities for those with disabilities

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) – A new agreement between New York State Industries for the Disabled and local grocery stores will create more job opportunities for people with disabilities. NYSID announced a first of its kind private partnership with Northeast Grocery.

NYSID President and CEO Marueen O’Brien said those opportunities often come from government contracts but now that they’ve entered a first-of-its-kind agreement in the private sector, they hope it will open more doors to get more individuals with disabilities to work.

O’Brien credits Northeast Grocery for already employing disabled people within its store but this new agreement expands those opportunities to the supply chain.

“People deserve an opportunity to be just like everybody else, to get up, to go to a job, to have an income and to be able to be on equal footing. When you have an economic equal footing that makes everything different,” said O’Brien.

Northeast Grocery is the parent company of Price Chopper, Market 32 and Tops and will now be employing people like Kathleen Falconio, who works at the Mail Fulfillment Center, operated by the Center for Disability Services.

“I’m so pleased how long I’ve been here. 7.5 years almost going on 8 in January. I can’t believe how much. I put in so much effort,” said Falconio.

In the fulfillment center they print and mail bills, checks and bank statements – among other things.

“I love it here,” said Falconio. “They’re really good, they support me whenever I need help.”

“They bring incredible problem solving skills, they bring incredible commitment to the job. It’s a known fact that individuals with disabilities stay in jobs longer and have higher job satisfaction,” said O’Brien.

Mike Miller is the chief administrative officer for Northeast Grocery and describes the other services they’ve entered into, aside from mail fulfillment.

“Another is janitorial services, both for our corporate office in Schenectady, as well as our Tops operating office in Buffalo. And then we are continuously exploring other possibilities as well to add member agencies and different preferred source providers,” said Miller.

The new partnership, announced Monday morning, will create employment for at least 20 individuals with disabilities. And Miller said they already plan on expanding. He said next, they’re looking into working with other Preferred Source member agencies on apparel.

“I also think it’s important for corporations to understand inclusion and to understand that while we have talked about D.E.I. for a lot of years now in New York State and around the country it has not always been totally inclusive for individuals with disabilities,” said O’Brien.

She said they have a variety of products and services they offer and can accommodate almost any industry’s needs.

“NYSID does a whole bunch of work in janitorial services, mail fulfillment services. We work in the space of document management, document destruction, data entry. There’s all kinds of things that we can do to meet the needs of private sector companies in New York,” said O’Brien.

Contact Executive Vice President Meredith Hartman at mhartman@nysid.org or call (518) 312-3919 for more information.

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