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“Like more than 42 million other Americans, Harris has a disability. That doesn’t mean he can’t work.” Photo provided by Consociate Media.
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“VersAbility launched Future of Work...People with disabilities receive free industry-specific training while VersAbility job coaches provide sustained support services simultaneously.” Photos provided by Consociate Media.
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More than 400 people with disabilities have jobs locally through VersAbility’s Supported Employment program, partnering with local businesses in areas such as food service, warehouse, custodial services, retail, graphic design, hospitality, information technology, healthcare and more. Photos provided by Consociate Media.
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“Put yourself in the shoes of someone with disabilities or varying abilities and think for a moment about the barriers, the roadblocks and the hurdles they face that most of us do not.” —President and CEO Kasia Grzelkowski
Photo provided by Consociate Media.
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Early Childhood Prevention and Intervention for Children (EPIC) assists infants and toddlers experiencing developmental delays. Photo provided by Consociate Media.
Joseph Harris was stoked on Christmas morning, unwrapping a leather apron, heat-resistant gloves and an electrode holder waiting for him under the tree.
They were all presents for a future with fire, a career path he didn’t know existed until a referral from his high school guidance counselor connected him to VersAbility Resources and its newest workforce development program, Future of Work.
“Learning to weld put a lightbulb in my head,” says Harris, who graduated high school in 2023 and plans to eventually become a blacksmith. “My grandfather was a welder, so I feel like welding is in my blood.”
Like more than 42 million other Americans, Harris has a disability. That doesn’t mean he can’t work. Nor does it mean he doesn’t want to achieve, all stereotypes that VersAbility Resources works hard to dispel. The nonprofit, with locations on Main Street in Gloucester, Hampton, Newport News and beyond, is celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2024. The only organization of its kind serving the Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck, it assists more than 1,800 people with disabilities and their families with a straightforward mission: people with disabilities want to live full and productive lives of their choosing.
At the core of that is employment for what is considered the greatest untapped talent pool in the nation. The unemployment rate for adults with a disability is about twice as high as the rate for those without a disability, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“Put yourself in the shoes of someone with disabilities or varying abilities and think for a moment about the barriers, the roadblocks and the hurdles they face that most of us do not,” says Kasia Grzelkowski, in her 18th year as president and CEO of VersAbility. “Only 21% of people with disabilities have a job. Imagine trying to navigate life without all that employment brings. It brings you economic and personal independence. It brings choice. But it also brings camaraderie; physical, mental and social well-being; and a sense of purpose and belonging.”
A Noble Mission
VersAbility has been a longtime leader in federal contracting for people with disabilities since its founding in 1953. In January 2023, VersAbility received a $140.7 million contract over 10 years to provide mail and postal service center support at Air Force installations across the United States. VersAbility is the U.S. Navy’s prime contractor for ship provisioning services at eight locations around the globe—amounting to more than 300 jobs for people with disabilities. Another 200 adults with disabilities are employed to fulfill VersAbility’s contracts at Naval Station Norfolk, Pearl Harbor and Naval Station San Diego.
“We have three contracts at Yorktown Naval Weapons Station that are vital to the functioning of that installation,” Grzelkowski says. “We feed them, we do custodial work and take care of the grounds. We make eyeglasses for the Department of Defense. And we clean up their medical clinic.”
Those are mission-essential nationwide services the government has entrusted to VersAbility, which, in addition to its leadership, operates under a board of directors that reads like a Who’s Who of Hampton Roads. The president of the Hampton Roads Workforce Council, the executive vice president of Christopher Newport University, the superintendent of Hampton City Schools, the president of Virginia Peninsula Community College and the executive director of the Hampton Roads Military and Federal Facilities Alliance sit on the volunteer board.
More than 400 people with disabilities have jobs locally through VersAbility’s Supported Employment program. The nonprofit partners with local businesses in areas such as food service, warehouse, custodial services, retail, graphic design, hospitality, information technology, healthcare and more.
The Future of Work
In January 2022, VersAbility launched Future of Work, a program that Grzelkowski touts as transformational in terms of employment and life prospects for people with disabilities. People with disabilities receive free industry-specific training while VersAbility job coaches provide sustained support services simultaneously. That combination gives people with disabilities every chance to develop life-long careers, economic independence and the pride of completion that many of us take for granted. Anyone over 18 years of age with a documented disability can apply to be part of the program.
“We have collectively not marshaled the resources and methods to properly train people with disabilities to thrive in a variety of careers,” Grzelkowski says. “That’s what Future of Work is about—how we actually create those pathways so that it becomes a routine matter for someone to graduate from high school and get into one of those pathways that’s well suited to their gifts and talents, so they get trained and prepared and credentialed to be able to show up at a workplace for an interview and say, ‘I’m workforce ready.’ ”
Future of Work offers training in welding in partnership with New Horizons Regional Education Center and culinary arts in partnership with the Virginia Peninsula Foodbank. A seven-month pilot program in becoming a medical administrative assistant, also with New Horizons, was launched in September 2022.
Twenty-three students have enrolled in Future of Work with nine students already hired in their fields. Employers include Huntington Ingalls Industries, the U.S. Navy, EVO Entertainment and VersAbility.
Eighteen students have enrolled in welding, where the demand for employees is soaring. Despite good pay and plentiful jobs, high school graduates aren’t going into the skilled trades, while the graying manufacturing workforce is getting closer to retirement. That is projected to create a worker shortage that will have a ripple effect across the economy.
The American Welding Society estimates the U.S. will need 360,000 new welders by 2027. Major industries, likely far more than the average consumer realizes, rely on skilled welders to manufacture products we use daily. Metalwork is critical for many buildings, fences, furniture, small kitchen appliances and vehicles and in the aviation and aerospace industries. In fact, 70% of all manufactured products in this country are made with the skills of welders. Costs will soar with only a limited pool of welders. Projects will take longer to complete. The lack of skilled labor could compromise quality.
Filling that void with graduates from the Future of Work program is a solution that has caught the eye of lawmakers.
“VersAbility Resources’ Future of Work program is instrumental in creating pathways to career opportunities for individuals with disabilities,” said Del. Keith Hodges (R-98). “By supporting the earning of credentials, this initiative not only enhances lives but also addresses the workforce shortage in high-demand industries. It underscores the potential within each person to contribute meaningfully to our communities and addresses critical gaps in the job market.”
“We’re collectively preparing people with disabilities for jobs that are in demand,” Grzelkowski says. “Our region cannot afford for any talent to stay on the sidelines. The greatest untapped talent is the contribution of people with disabilities. Welding and the whole maritime and shipbuilding repair industry is a huge area. Medical and coding are some of that. We’ll need a labor force for offshore wind and we’re exploring IT. Hampton Roads is also becoming a global internet hub.”
Forged in Fire
Welding cohorts are ongoing and meet in the evening, twice weekly for two hours. In an integrated classroom, students learn the basics of stick welding, enough so that graduates of the program are qualified to sit for an industry certification that gives them a leg up when applying for jobs.
Job coaches, the facilitators who provide individualized support, remain on-site to answer questions, ease anxiety or provide encouragement.
“The job coach might help develop soft and professional skills,” says Sydney Smith, workforce development manager at VersAbility. “They help people with disabilities with resumes as the students advance further in the program and they help them apply for jobs in the field.”
Harris felt comfortable in the classroom almost immediately but says the additional support he received was invaluable.
“I don’t know if I could have gone through welding school without it,” he says. “It really encouraged me to keep going if my first weld didn’t turn out right.”
Future of Work student Josh Smith, nearing the end of his second 12-week cohort in welding, already landed a job at Newport News Shipyard. He had never welded previously when a high school counselor referred him to VersAbility.
“This is the first job I’ve ever had, and it feels good. It’s responsibility and it gives me more independence. Right now, I’m saving money to help my family,” Smith says.
A $200,000 Bank of America Neighborhood Builders Grant was the initial funding source for Future of Work, with additional sponsors Newport News Shipbuilding, Bernardine Franciscan Sisters Foundation, Sentara, Truist Foundation and Dominion Energy contributing. VersAbility needs additional funding sources and more community partners willing to offer training, internships and shadowing opportunities to people with disabilities in select career fields.
“We’re poised to expand to other training partners and other career fields,” Grzelkowski says. “We need those partnerships and funds. We want to launch the IT program, but that’s underfunded at this time. That would help us serve more people and engage more partners. We would also love to hire more job coaches.”
Sydney Smith adds, “We really want to pair training with work experience before our students get jobs so they can get that confidence. Especially with welding, we’d love to see a small shop take on a helper to show our students what this world looks like.”
In addition to the vital employment piece, VersAbility offers a plethora of other programs and services that support people with disabilities. Among them:
Early Childhood Prevention and Intervention for Children (EPIC), which assists infants and toddlers experiencing developmental delays. Parents or caregivers living in Newport News and Hampton with children under the age of 3 who have been diagnosed with a developmental delay are screened and if necessary, provided an individualized therapy program to ensure the child reaches his or her potential. This program that serves approximately 700 children is free.
Project Independence, which offers personalized life skills classes and opportunities to help underserved adults and seniors with disabilities reach their highest level of independence and community engagement.
Eight residential homes in Newport News, Hampton and Yorktown that cater to people with severe disabilities. These homes, staffed 24/7 year-round, offer regular therapeutic recreational activities to keep residents engaged.
The Lewis B. Puller Center in Gloucester provides day support services to 50 adults with disabilities from the 10 counties on the Middle Peninsula/Northern Neck. The Puller Center is the only center of its kind in this region. VersAbility’s Hampton headquarters and a location in City Center in Newport News also each offer day support that help adults enhance skills to increase independence in the community. Activities are abundant with volunteer work, arts and crafts, and outings to parks, museums and events to foster community engagement among them.
VersAbility is also an advocate at the national level for people with disabilities, reinforcing that they are people first. Their disability comes second. People with disabilities have interests, passions and career goals like everyone else. They are capable. As the largest provider serving people with disabilities in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck, VersAbility envisions a world where people of all abilities shine.
Joseph Harris’ mother, Chrissy, has noticed the transformation in her son since he became part of the Future of Work program last year. Harris is nearing completion of advanced coursework in welding to augment his skills before he applies for jobs in the field.
“He’s got so much more drive now. He talks about welding all the time,” she says.
Harris knows there are others like him whose world will open up once they discover a passion that’s also a marketable skill. He found both through Future of Work.
“I didn’t have a clue about welding before and now I love it,” he says. “Someday I’m going to retire and live up in a cabin and forge knives and sell them for a living. That sounds like the life for me.”
VersAbility Resources is located at 2520 58th Street, Hampton. The Lewis B. Puller Center is located at 6632 Main Street, Gloucester. Visit versability.org or call 757-896-6461.
