Fostering Intentional Workplace Inclusion through Vocational Rehabilitation

Diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives have gone from nice-to-have to must-have over the last few years, but creating a diverse workforce involves more than just race, ethnicity, and gender. It also includes individuals with disabilities, the largest minority group in the world. Listen in as DirectEmployers Disability & Community Outreach Specialist Christa Martin chats with CSAVR CEO Steve Wooderson about how employers can foster intentional inclusion through utilization of vocational rehabilitation services to better employ and advance individuals with disabilities in the workplace and beyond.

Transcript

Candee Chambers:

Get ready. The DE Talk podcast starts now, insightful conversations and dialogue helping you put the human factor back in HR. Individuals with disabilities represent not only one of the most diverse protected classes in America, but also one with the highest unemployment rate. How, as employers, can we work to shift the narrative to better employ and advance these talented individuals? Listen in as DirectEmployers Disability and Community Outreach Specialist, Christa Martin and CSAVR CEO Steve Wooderson talk about intentional inclusion through the use of vocational rehabilitation services. As a bonus, gain an insider's perspective into how voc rehab systems operate and what services employers can take advantage of today.

Christa Martin:

Welcome to the DE Talk podcast. My name is Christa Martin and I'm the Disability and Community Outreach Specialist here at DirectEmployers Association. This month we're welcoming Steve Wooderson, CEO from the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation, or CSAVR, an organization composed of the chief administrators of the public Vocational Rehabilitation agencies serving individuals with disabilities in the United States, District at Columbia, and the US territories. The council's members supervised the vocational rehabilitation of some 1.2 million persons with disabilities throughout the country, helping to continue to lessen the much higher unemployment rate for these individuals.

In support of National Disability Employment Awareness Month, ENDEAM as we so fondly call it, we're excited to have Steve join us in support of this year's theme; Disability: Part of the Equity Equation. Welcome Steve. Like I said, it's an absolute pleasure to have you join me today. To get started, why don't you share a little bit about yourself so our listeners can get to know you a little bit better?

Steve Wooderson:

Well, it sounds good. Thanks, Christa, and yeah, I appreciate this opportunity to really connect directly with employers. I have been in this business for 41 years. It's hard for me to believe, but I began as a vocational rehabilitation counselor in January of 1981 in South Central Missouri. And yes, I say Missouri because where I grew up, we say “Missoura” instead of Missouri, but I did spend a few years in South Central Missouri as a counselor, than became a supervisor of a new office in the southern part of the state down the Arkansas border. And then in 1988, I went to our State Vocational Rehabilitation central office in Jefferson City and had the honor and pleasure to serve in many positions there, the last being responsible for the vocational rehabilitation side of the VR program there. I might also mention, since you've asked a little bit more about my background, I'm also a retired Army Reserves officer.

The first 20 years of my work with Vocational Rehabilitation, I had an alter life. I was working as an officer in the Army Guard in Missouri for 20 years as well. Then after 20 years in Missouri, I was once again honored to go to another home state of mine. As a young kid, I lived in Iowa. Still had a brother in Iowa, and so in early 2000, I went to Des Moines, Iowa and became the Chief of Rehabilitation Services Bureau for the Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Agency, and then a few months later, was appointed as director. I've had 30 years experience in the field, 20 in Missouri, 10 in Iowa, and my next opportunity was in 2010 when I came on board with the Council State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation based here in Washington, DC. That's a little bit about my career journey.

Christa Martin:

Thank you so much and thank you for your service. As a military spouse and myself and then here at DE, we proudly support our veterans as well. Can you share a little bit about your role at CSAVR and the background of that organization?

Steve Wooderson:

Sure. I'm the Chief Executive officer and one of two registered lobbyists for the organization. The council itself is a non-profit membership organization and we are governed by the 78 State Vocational Rehabilitation agencies across the country. There's a little bit of a debate now as to how many staff are employed by the federal state VR program within the 78 states across the country. Our state agencies no longer report that data, but at one point, we estimated about 20,000 employees of those 78 state agencies. We provide legislative advocacy, thus two of us being lobbyists. We also provide opportunities for knowledge exchange for our membership and a number of networking opportunities as well.

We also have two business lines, and I use that just for the mindset for employers and there being activities that are important to CSAVR, and that is that we manage as an organization the National Employment Team Network. We refer to that as the NET and what that really is, Christa, it is the primary points of contacts within those Vocational Rehabilitation agencies across the country that is the statewide business relations specialist. Now every state, every agency will operate a little bit differently as far as their structure, but there is an individual at least in each state that serves that role and the purpose for that is that from an employer standpoint, we've heard often that there's an interest of having one entry point into the VR system.

And for us to have one individual identified in the state who could broker or introduce a state or even national employer to a particular office or even counselor, that is the purpose for us to manage a national network such as the NET. And then the other related to that is we also operate the Talent Acquisition Portal or TAP, and TAP is in partnership with disabled persons out of Southern California and this is a platform that our state agencies can access to upload vetted job candidates who are clients of the public Vocational Rehabilitation program onto a job board, and I use that for description purposes because we think there's more to it than it just being a job board, for interested employers to seek out potential candidates. And the thing that really, we think, makes our portal unique and different is that the individuals that are potential applicants or candidates, we'll use the term talent, okay, they have been worked with by a Vocational Rehabilitation counselor. Their skills and abilities and interests have been identified and then they are matched with potential job openings on the portal. 

In addition to that, I should just say that the council is headquartered in Washington, DC. We have business relations staff, Kathy West-Evans, who is domiciled in the Seattle area. Her colleague, Inger Neal is our Business Relation Consultant and she is domiciled in the Atlanta area. We have a Director of Research and Grants, and that's Mr. John Connelly, and he is domiciled in the Columbus, Ohio area. We have Tonia Ferguson, who is our Director of Legislative Affairs. She's the second lobbyist for us here with CSAVR and she's domiciled in the Baltimore-DC metro area. And then our Operations Coordinator, Theresa Hamrick, who is in Birmingham, Alabama area, and then I am here in the DC area as well. That was a one over the world background on CSAVR, a little bit about two of our specific activities, the National Employment Team, and Talent Acquisition Portal.

Christa Martin:

Absolutely, and thank you so much Steve. That was a great overview and I've had the personal pleasure of working with Theresa on conferences and Kathy and Inger in different capacities over the years as well, including the NET and TAP, which are all fantastic programs that you guys have and people. And I'm so happy to hear about Tonia Ferguson being brought on board on the legislative side and being able to partner more with the National Rehabilitation Association on some of those government affair issues and things surrounding disability employment on a national level as well. We appreciate all the work that you're doing, especially in the DC area around vocational rehabilitation, which leads into, as a leading voice in voc rehab, what do you consider your most important role or message to be?

Steve Wooderson:

I think generally it is to be the voice of the public VR program, specifically with members of Congress because really, that's who I work for. I worked for the 78 state agencies, the 20,000 or so professionals in the public VR program across the country. And so, there really needs to be that voice, to be able to tell their story. And aligned with that, is to be an intermediary, if you will, with the administration. The public VR program is funded through the US Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Rehabilitation Services Administration. That's a long name for a federal agency, but RSA is our Federal Rehab Services Administration. RSA is our federal partner and so they obviously have responsibility for implementation of the program, oversight of the program and so when there are corporate issues that arise in the field among the VR agencies in the field, we have a responsibility to communicate and hopefully, work through opportunities for improving the program as it's operated across the country. I think it's to be that person in the gap, both with Congress and the administration.

Christa Martin:

Well, and I know the 78 state agencies greatly appreciate your and Tonia's presence on Capitol Hill and being able to serve in that role and provide that voice as well. What are some of CSAVR's priorities for the immediate and mid-range future, would you say?

Steve Wooderson:

Yeah, I mean, let me just talk long range, if I may, at the moment-

Christa Martin:

Absolutely.

Steve Wooderson:

... and then maybe we can come back to what are some of the more immediate issues are. But as a organization, CSAVR, and as we think about our constituency, we've really spent considerable time in trying to really ensure that our activities and behavior are in line with our own vision and operating principles. And I want to be clear in saying it in a way that we haven't been doing that in the past, but we felt that it was really important, particularly as we entered into the pandemic, being sure that we all were leaning in the right direction. And so to do that for the long run, we took some time to really dig into our vision of who Vocational Rehabilitation is or what Vocational Rehabilitation is.

And so, our long range of vision here is that VR, Vocational Rehabilitation, is really driven to deliver inclusive, culturally informed services leading to outcomes for folks with disabilities and business because business is a customer in addition to the individual job seeker for us and we want to deliver that in a way that is within a system that is free of ableism, racism, discrimination, and institutional bias. And so once we, as an organization and as our members helped us really fashion that vision, we built some principles that we constantly check in with to be sure that we're on track.

We are looking at ensuring that we're delivering innovative solutions, that we are about building careers and remaining talent, that we're customizing services and expertise, that we are leading and engaging in collaborative strategies with our communities, and that we're really committed to assuring the promotion of diversity, equity, and inclusion in all that we do. That may sound lofty in responding to your questions as far as our priorities, but that's who we believe we are, that's how we want to be perceived. And so, that is what's really is driving that long-range objectives and you always have to put strategies into play to get there, but that's the big picture at least.

Christa Martin:

Thank you, and I love that you mentioned the dual client approach for VR, that it's about employers and job seekers with disabilities both being served within the Vocational Rehabilitation systems. And on that note, could you tell us a little bit about the public Vocational Rehabilitation systems and how they operate nationally as well as in the individual states?

Steve Wooderson:

Yeah, and I appreciate you asking that because that's a question we got so many times from so many different audiences. And so, let me try and tailor my response to employers because that is who we're speaking to today. It's good to have an understanding that the public VR program is a federally mandated and funded national program. It is a federal law and the administration of that is handed off to the Department of Education Rehab Services Administration. They are responsible for sending the money out to the agencies and then for assuring that we are delivering on the goods. That's the federal program, but the reality of it is that it's a state level operated program. We've said 78 agencies, and in your introduction you talked about the agencies and the states and the territories across the country.

Well, there's 78 public VR programs across the country because some states have two Vocational Rehabilitation programs and that would be because that state has decided that they wish to have one program that is geared specifically for individuals with significant visual impairment and blindness and another for the rest of job seekers, career seekers with disabilities. Some states may have two. Some states may have one, and they do it all. You add up those that have two agencies, those that have a combined agency, and then the territories and the District of Columbia, there are 78. And so to that end, there are 78 different ways to go about doing the work. Now there are core elements for every state, District of Columbia and territorial program, but they may be operating in just a slightly different manner. For an employer who wants to connect with a Vocational Rehabilitation program, there's a couple of ways that they can go about that.

They could quite honestly go on our website, CSAVR.org, and you can go to the states and see what agency contacts you could connect with, and if you wanted to specialize or identify specifically visual impairment blindness in some states you'll be able to go to them as well. But the point for employers is that although there are 78 different agencies, they all operate differently. The core mission is the same. The service delivery systems, to a large degree, are the same and broadly speaking, the services that are available are the same. And I do want to loop back to the dual customer mindset. We had some legislation passed in 2014 that I'm proud to say CSAVR was able to influence that language that acknowledges and allows for resources to be made available for businesses who wish to engage with the VR program and seek qualified applicants with disabilities for openings that they may have. That's broadly the structure and how an individual business owner-operator can reach out and connect with their VR program.

Christa Martin:

Thank you for that overview, Steve, and on that note, CSAVR has a fall conference coming up in person and then a pre-conference during ENDEAM that can be participated virtually as well. Can you share a little bit about the conference, who typically attends, the content you're going to have, and what attendees can expect to take away from the conference this fall?

Steve Wooderson:

Yeah. Well first of all, we're really excited. I got to tell you, this is our first face to face meeting since the fall of 2019 so we're celebrating that we are going to be gathering October 31, November 1 and 2 in San Antonio for our fall face to face conference. Typically, the majority of attendees are state Vocational Rehabilitation agency staff, senior staff, directors, program directors, in addition to a network of technical assistance providers from universities, some researchers and folks that are in our immediate circle, if you will. We typically have had in the past, 300 or so at those conferences. We think we might even exceed that this time. I think people are anxious to get back together.

This particular conference is a little bit more inside baseball, if you will, and the reason for that is that we've been away for so long and we've had so many distractions that we first want to celebrate being together and then really going back to those principles that I spoke to a few moments ago, we've identified some specific priorities that we wish to address moving forward in the short and the midterm. And so, we'll really be talking with the agencies about those priorities, about how we may be able to support and create innovative practice to achieve some of those priorities, and how we may be able then to really influence the future of our profession as we are looking to quite honestly, reach out and increase the ranks of the public VR program. More staff, because like everybody across the country, we need people. We need good, qualified counselors, administrative staff, support staff to continue on our mission.

Christa Martin:

And you're talking about living and working intentionally and aligning those core values, being able to build better relationships with employers throughout the states. I'd like to talk a little bit about intentional inclusion and if you could tell us a little bit more about your new DEI&A website and the DEI&A professional network and the resources that you're providing through that.

Steve Wooderson:

Yeah, let to the intentionality piece first, and this could easily into a three point sermon, and I'll to avoid going there with this, but I do have a great deal of faith in mankind and I believe that things happen for good reasons. I believe that man's general take is good and that we want to do the right things for the right reasons. That being said, I also believe we have to be intentional about it, that if we just allow things to happen without influence, then there's a default to not much happening. And so, I speak with our professionals across the country about just what does that mean? What does it mean being intentional of purpose, being intentional in our behavior? And as it relates to working with the business community, what does it mean to be intentional?

Well, from a business perspective, that means being intentional about inclusion. It means not assuming that someone else is going to pick up the responsibility and run with it, that we have to individually accept responsibility for wherever we are on the spectrum of responsibility, leadership, influence, wherever we are. And so to that end, we, within CSAVR, have said, "We have to be intentional as well. If we're going to say it, that we better practice that as well." And so we have always had, in my estimation, I, to some degree have been associated with CSAVR, for many, many years before I came on staff, I've always felt that we champion CSAVR, the public VR program at large, that we champion diversity. That's our business, that disability is about inclusion.

But to be very frank with you, I think many of us, and you hear this sermonette coming out in me and I don't apologize, but I think many of us had a rude awakening during the pandemic that saying it and thinking it is not being intentional and doing it. And the events of George Floyd and the activities across the country that were unfolding all over the place, we felt like we had to stand up and say, "We want to be seen as a leader and the DEI&A space," and we struggled with it, to be honest with you. We struggled in a positive way because we didn't want and have not taken it lightly. And so we have, within the membership of CSAVR, countless numbers of state VR agency and staff who participate in a regular diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility network where we meet regularly.

The first few meetings, quite honestly was a bearing of the soul, was actually an admission of us needing to do more and setting into place activities that demonstrates that we are doing more. And so, there have been a number of trainings and opportunities afforded to our state VR agencies across the country. Even more resources now have been uploaded to our DEI&A website, which you can access from CSAVR.org. And I have to be honest with you, we've been working through a private and public space because some of the private stuff is specific for VR agencies alone. The public space that we're wanting to generate, we would encourage anybody to go to. I'm not sure exactly where we're in that, but I believe it's live. Have you been there by the way, Christa?

Christa Martin:

Go to www.vrdeia.com. It's up and live and there are resources on the website as well so yes. No, I was probably one of the first people on there. I'm a total nerd when it comes to VR, NDEAM, and all things, in this space.

Steve Wooderson:

I appreciate your nerdiness because I saw it in production, but I wasn't if it had actually gone live. That's great. When I saw it in production, there was a lot of information that's available there, and as I recall most of that, you don't have to just scroll through it. There's little summary of what the resource is all about. Businesses across the country consider that to be a resource as well.

Christa Martin:

Yeah, that's it. And when we're working with employers, what elements do you recommend they tackle first when they're trying to be more inclusive to the disability community, whether it's in employment or advancement processes? Where do you think is that starting point, that jumping off point when they're getting into this space because back in 2020, there were some staggering statistics that had said 90% of companies had a DE& I plan, but only 4% included people with disabilities and that was shocking to me. Hopefully, we've made headway over the course of the past two years, but again, what elements do you recommend for employers when they're trying to be more inclusive in the disability community?

Steve Wooderson:

Well, not to sound flippant about it, but I go back to being intentional about it, to put into play a plan that is proactive, and really to do that, it means you have to look like what you talk about, right? And to first of all, make the commitment and be intentional about bringing individuals with disabilities into your business culture. That is critical and that leads to a greater understanding and appreciation through listening to the opportunities and challenges and the wealth of knowledge individuals with disabilities bring to the workplace in order then to begin to build that platform. If that step has not been initiated, then businesses, we encourage you to reach out to our VR points of network or other resources that may be available to those businesses to find out how to develop that strategy.

But I think going back to the summer of 2020, once again, it's not enough to have a strategy. It's not enough just to think about it. It's a matter being intentional and putting into play. I have to tell you this quick story. When we began to build some steam behind our own DEI&A thinking, and that's where it was, thinking at that point in time, one of our state directors, who is a leader in our profession, both in her state and in nationally, comes from a long service in the VR community. She is black herself and spoke to the challenges that she experienced as a young person and then both that experience of working in the disability space, how that began to play out.

And when we began talking about being specific and intentional about DEI&A, I remember her saying to me, "Steve, we've been here before, developing strategies and thinking about what we want to do, but I've got to ask you, are we really for real, for real this time," and I think that's the question that businesses need to ask themselves. Are we really for real, for real this time to really step back and look at what does this mean to include disability into their thinking, and expanding that obviously to include equity, inclusion, and accessibility. That's my thinking.

Christa Martin:

Well, I concur, and I think you really touched on the critical importance of making sure that individuals with disabilities are included not only in these strategies, but in these conversations, how do we bring our lived experience to the table? And the same thing when you're lobbying on Capitol Hill, it's more than cases. It's faces. They need to hear our stories and those voices need to be amplified. And so, how do you see CSAVR leveraging our voices to continue to strengthen those efforts in promoting positive employment outcomes and changing lives for individuals with disabilities because that's really ultimately what Vocational Rehabilitation does. They're not just for the job seeker or the employer, but friends, family, their community and beyond. I mean, it's so much more than just that one person developing an individual employment plan for employment.

Steve Wooderson:

Yeah, you're spot on. It's about the individual seeker with a disability and it's about the businesses that attract and retain candidates, qualified talent, but it's broader than that. It's the fabric of our society. I mean, I don't want to get too universal about it, but the reality is, it's about our societal construct as to how we treat our fellow citizens. How do we interact in a space that we may not have previously had much interaction with, but exposed to regardless of the lane of diversity that you may be particularly entering into. And really, to go back to your question about how do we go about that, your cases and faces example is very good, that in order for there to be this uprising of public awareness, our two basic customers have to be the ones that carry the message and that includes individual career seeker with a disability. That's the faces, right?

That's being able to tell their story and to build a corporate story as to the value that this brings to their individual quality of life and to be able to demonstrate that in a way that shows that it is adding to that fabric of our society, to the culture, and to the larger community. Quite honestly, all of that applies to businesses. We need that corporate business voice as well at the national level to be able to say, "We have talent. We have talent that makes a difference in the quality of what we deliver. Whether it be widgets or these services, we have talent that is coming from a community that has been untapped in many ways, to add value to the products and services that we deliver, and oh, by the way, as a business culture, what a deal. What an enlightening experience to be able to have the full breadth of human experience within a particular corporate culture. It changes the lives of individuals and families and communities from the individual perspective. It changes lives and corporate lives and image and culture from a business and employer's standpoint as well.

Christa Martin:

Well, and I'm so glad you brought that up because as we see the workforce changing and the makeup of the workforce that's going to be coming over the course of the next 10 to 20 years where millennials and Gen Z are going to make up the majority of our workforce, where 30% of our workforce already identifies as a person with a disability, where one in four Americans do as well. It is the largest minority in the country, in the world. It crosses all other classifications. You can be born with it. You can acquire it. And corporate America, I think, is, and our Members particularly, I think, are finding the value in that untapped talent pool and finding the value in creating employee resource groups for individuals with disabilities, neurodiversity programs. I can think of so many of our Members that are doing so many amazing things in these spaces, but what can they do more? What can our Members do to better employ and advance individuals with disabilities and really celebrate National Disability Employment Awareness month?

Steve Wooderson:

Step outside your comfort zone and become engaged in a broader community. I think that exposure beyond just that workplace for employers and businesses really enlightens to a greater extent that human experience. Let's be honest, we all go to work for 8, 10, 12 hours a day or so, depending upon where you work, whether you're virtual, but you have some collegial arrangement with those that are around you, and that is an isolated experience, right? The employer groups can do a lot by encouraging communication, listening, awareness, opportunities, growth. To really step beyond that though is to become and engage in a larger community and to each their own.

What does that mean? It could very well mean volunteering. It could very well mean being a part of a disability action group. It could be participating in some training experience. I mean, you could go to the far ends and actually experience immersion experience as well within a disability to have an appreciation. I think we fail to work beyond just what is that immediate universe that we're close and comfortable with to really expand on her horizons. It really creates a need to be more involved in that, which may be a little bit more uncomfortable and I'm going to give you an example just in my own world, right?

I came up as a VR counselor. I served as a VR counselor. I managed a VR office. I did some project directing within a VR agency. And then at one point in my career, I became exposed by virtue of a job change to the independent living community. And for our employers, what that means it's an element in our community element. It's a activity within the disability community that really is geared on working with individuals with significant disabilities to provide them the best quality of life, whether it be independent living, experiential in a community. Work possibly is involved as well, but not necessarily. But in the day that I was engaged early on with the independent living community, many times they were the advocates pushing VR and they didn't always like vocational rehabilitation.

And just between me, but don't tell anybody, I didn't always like them. But what I found out after being fully immersed in the independent living community for about three years is that my universe expanded completely and I was in the business, right? That's what I was doing, putting people with disabilities a job, putting it to work, but my mindset, my knowledge and awareness of the human experience as that relates to an individual with a disability changed me completely. And I'll be very frank with you, it was a catalyst for all of my work that was to come. I changed my focus, my thinking, because I had a greater appreciation for that community. Went down a rabbit hole on that, but you touched on a-

Christa Martin:

No, that's wonderful and I actually brought this up during a webinar I did for our Members last month on Vocational Rehabilitation and the fact that not all people with disabilities have the autonomy in their life that other people with disabilities may have. They may not get to choose where they work or where they live or what they get to have for breakfast or even who your friends are, and that it's really important not to take those things for granted on a daily basis because again, we're all a diagnosis and action, or something from being on the other side of the rehabilitation counselor's desk, right?

And so, I think it's just an important reminder to being able to allow people to stay in their community, the Homestead Act... Sorry, I could go down a rabbit hole myself there too, and especially in light of current events that have come out of Pennsylvania recently with a long-time resident of one of those facilities. But shifting gears a bit, can we talk about some of the types of services that CSAVR provides, for example, in sharing successful programs that have acted as a catalyst for your efforts, speaking of catalyst?

Steve Wooderson:

Yeah, services at CSAVR specifically provides is generally to our membership, but probably, the key area outside of our lobbying and advocacy efforts are to provide opportunities for knowledge exchange and that's through a number of different ways that we do that. Our conferences are one example. Webinars are another example. We have a number of communities of practice that we facilitate. We have a number of professional networks that we facilitate as well. The communities of practice are probably, going back to that term, a lot of inside baseball things that are specific to the operations of the VR program. Professional networks are relatively new to our infrastructure, if you will, in that we've reconfigured our CSAVR structure to where we have less committees and more professional networks so that those networks can be more inclusive.

For example, we facilitate a veteran's professional network. CSAVR runs it. We have a lead that facilitates it. However, we've engaged with the Veterans Administration, the Vocational Rehabilitation, Vocational Readiness Employment, the Health Administration, Benefits Administration, Hospital Administration, Benefits Administration, and we have folks that join that network that are not just even VR people, not even VA, vocational real patient people. That whole mindset of knowledge exchange is really primary to what we do. We also will provide for our members support for developing specific advocacy or messaging for their state legislatures as well. Once again, 78 agencies, 78 different nuances, and that is pretty important to help our members deliver messaging at the state level. And then again, the National Employment Team and Talent Acquisition Portal are all within our scope as well.

Christa Martin:

Well, and on that point, I had the pleasure of chairing the National Rehabilitation Association Social Media Committee in the past and Rick Sizemore blessed us with his presence on that committee and he credits you for the VR Workforce Studio podcast, which is now over 100 episodes strong, many episodes which highlight some of our Members and their efforts. I think that's one more way that things like the DE Talk podcast and Rick's podcast can help bring those stories to light and educate employers on what an invaluable resource Vocational Rehabilitation is and can be to them. Switching gears a little bit more, as we get ready to wrap up, we like to finish off each podcast episode, we do a little rapid fire question session where we ask our guests five questions and you just say the first thing that comes to mind. Mr. Wooderson, are you ready?

Steve Wooderson:

I'm standing, gazing out the window with great anticipation. Yes, I am ready.

Christa Martin:

Awesome. All right, Steve. Question number one, when are you most productive?

Steve Wooderson:

Oh, between 5:30 and 7:30 in the morning.

Christa Martin:

Number two, favorite thing about fall?

Steve Wooderson:

Football. Yeah, Kansas City Chiefs is my town.

Christa Martin:

Oh my goodness. All right. Hang with us all you non-Kansas City Chief fans. Question number three, what was your first job?

Steve Wooderson:

My very first job was on the Lake of the Ozarks at a resort camp and I washed dishes all day long. That was my first job.

Christa Martin:

What was your last Google search?

Steve Wooderson:

My last Google search? Oh well, I would hate to bore you, but I think it was related... I could actually look on my search bar, but I think it was related to some national politics. How about we just leave it at that?

Christa Martin:

What was your memorable career experience?

Steve Wooderson:

Well, there's so many, but I will tell this story and I think it captures it. Since I've been on with CSAVR, I've been asked to speak a number of places, but was asked to go to Wisconsin with Kathy West-Evans and our Wisconsin staff to present some recognition to the US Forest Service in Madison and there were several of us muckety-mucks in suits and ties that got up in front of the crowd and patted ourselves on the back about the work that's being done. But it ended with a young man that was a customer of VR and had been employed by the Forest Service, and he was in the front row in a duffle bag pressed US Forest Service uniform and I didn't know that they were planning to do that. But as I said, all of us muckety-mucks were standing behind the podium and they ask him to come forward if he had anything to say about his experience.

And the young man slowly walked up to podium and grabbed it, both hands on either side, and he began to rock back and forth. And I thought, "Oh my gosh, he's going to pass out and he's going to top over around here and he's scared to death." But instead, he gathered his balance and reached up and he off his glasses and he put them down on the podium, and he said one thing. The VR counselor that had served him was one of those NET point of contacts that I was just speaking about earlier. Her name was Patty Johnson. And this young man, all he said was, "Patty Johnson, you changed my life." That is a moment in time for me. All these muckety-mucks, all these, what we thought were adequate speakers, all giving each other accolades and all that stuff, it really came down to that memorable moment, that he reminded us to all of why we were there. "Patty Johnson, you changed my life." That's it.

Christa Martin:

Well, that is fantastic, and thank you so much. Patty and her team in Wisconsin are awesome. If our members haven't had the opportunity to work with them, I know several of them are. We so appreciate all the hard work that they're doing out there. We are incredibly proud at DirectEmployers Association to partner with CSAVR, the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation. I just want to thank you again, Steve, for taking the time to join us today from working in the voc rehab and disability space for so long. I'm extremely passionate about changing the employment story for individuals with disabilities, and I know your passions mirror my own. If our listeners would like to connect with you, what's the best way to get in touch?

Steve Wooderson:

Sure. First initial, last name, swooderson@csavr.org.

Christa Martin:

Awesome. Awesome. I encourage you guys to reach out to and his team at CSAVR, as well as your member engagement representatives and our folks in the Strategic Partnerships and Alliances team and thank you so much for listening today.

Candee Chambers:

Thank you for tuning in for another episode of the DE Talk Podcast. Stay connected with DirectEmployers on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and subscribe to our emails by visiting DirectEmployers.org/subscribe to receive notifications of new episodes, webinars, events, and more.