Wright-Patt program earns top honors

  • Published
  • By Josh Aycock
  • 88 Air Base Wing Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  The Workforce Recruitment Program here was named the Most Improved Program in 2009 by the Air Force's Equal Opportunity Office for its efforts in hiring students with disabilities from around the Miami Valley. 

The WRP is an opportunity for disabled college students to work on base as summer interns with the potential of becoming permanent government civilians. Wright-Patt received honors for filling five of the 40 slots available Air Force wide. 

"This is an excellent way to bring people with disabilities into the federal government," said Derry McCurdy, program manager for People with Disabilities here. 

It was especially appropriate, she added, because it came just in time for the launch of October's celebration of National Disability Employment Awareness Month. 

Through cooperation with Wright State University the base filled a wide variety of positions with the eager-to-work students. The students filled jobs at different organizations across the base including Air Force Materiel Command, Aeronautical Systems Center, 88 Air Base Wing and the Air Force Research Laboratory. 

In 14 years the WRP, a joint program between the Departments of Defense and Labor, has recruited over 4,500 qualified students for temporary or permanent positions within the federal government. In 2009, the WRP hired 450 students within 20 different agencies. 

According to Ms. McCurdy, the base makes every effort to keep the Miami Valley informed of a range of positions available here for people with disabilities. 

"You have to inform a wide variety of organizations around the area because there are such different pools of talent," said McCurdy. "We should definitely keep doing this [WRP] and a lot more." 

To meet this effort to inform people of the opportunities, Team Wright-Patt works on an off base to provide information for the disabled workforce. In October alone, an EmployAbility Conference, co-hosted with WrightChoice, Inc. and Wright State University, offered best practices from industry leaders for hiring and retaining people with disabilities to an array of supervisors and managers. The base also hosted sign language courses and a health fair here to demonstrate to base organizations the opportunities disabled workers bring to the workforce. 

According to a Department of Labor release, the official theme for this year's National Disability Employment Awareness Month was, "Expectation + Opportunity = Full Participation." The theme intended to urge employers, as they seek to fill positions, to embrace the richness of America's diversity by considering the talents of all workers, including workers with disabilities.