NBC Nightly News recently broadcast a story about The Prospector Theater, a movie house in Ridgefield, Connecticut that employs 80 people–most of whom happen to experience some sort of disability. Here’s a link to the video: http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/this-boss-gives-the-disabled-what-she-says-they-want-most–jobs-404479043807
Pretty amazing, right? If you’d like to see more, The Prospector’s own site has an incredible collection of employment success story videos, and they’re definitely worth a watch. Here’s a link: http://www.prospectortheater.org/video-1/
The Prospector offers its employees an opportunity to build skills and gain experience, but it also gives them something many of us may take for granted: the chance to define themselves by their abilities, and to do so within the day-to-day activity of their community.
We’ve seen great examples of businesses like The Prospector in other industries, too–for instance, Portland’s Happy Cup Coffee Company (http://happycup.com/about/), and Eugene’s own Reality Kitchen (http://www.realitykitchen.org). Have an idea about somewhere else you could see a program like this working in our community? Let’s talk! Start a conversation with us in the comments section, or email us at pbc.community.employment@gmail.com.
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