Partner Profile - Vocational Rehabilitation New Hampshire Business Engagement Unit

Partner Name: Vocational Rehabilitation New Hampshire Business Engagement Unit
Website: https://www.education.nh.gov/who-we-are/deputy-commissioner/bureau-vocational-rehabilitation
Industry: Disabilities support
Location: Concord, NH

Tell us about the Vocational Rehabilitation New Hampshire Business Engagement Unit. 

The intent of Vocational Rehabilitation’s Business Engagement Unit is to assist businesses in their efforts to hire, retain and promote individuals with disabilities.

 Our Business Engagement Unit is ready to connect you with prescreened candidates, develop and facilitate customized job training to meet your skill needs, and support workers to ensure they succeed and deliver for your business.

Our services include the following—all at no cost to your business:

• Recruitment and staffing
• Workplace accessibility assessments
• Consultation on accommodations for employees with disabilities
• Assistance with financial incentives such as the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) and other tax benefits
• On-the-job training programs, tailored to your specific skill needs
• Disability etiquette and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) training
• Training on disability awareness and retention of your current workforce
• Guidance on assistive technology
• Development and management of internships or other work-based learning opportunities

How does VRNH help New Hampshire businesses?

The video on this page provides more information on how VRNH can partner with businesses to find employees.

Watch this video to hear from employers who have partnered with VRNH to identify workers for their businesses.

How does VRNH work with NH SBDC?

We serve as a resource to SBDC’s clients to assist with any disability related question or concern.  For our participants with a goal of self-employment, we often refer them to NH SBDC for additional support and guidance.

Who is eligible to work with VRNH?

If you’re a New Hampshire resident with a disability, we can help you explore your career options, find employment, keep working, or advance in your current field. Our highly specialized counselors will help you identify and pursue a path that’s right for you, starting with job training, if needed. We’ll be there each step of the way and can provide ongoing support to ensure you succeed. It’s a customized approach to employment services, one that empowers you to set and achieve your own goals. We serve people both seeking employment for the first time and those who want to continue working after acquiring a disability due to injury, illness, or aging.

If you’re a business owner, human resources professional, manager, or someone else with hiring responsibilities, VR New Hampshire can help you source candidates and build a more diverse, inclusive workforce to meet your business goals. We can also provide support to individuals with disabilities once on the job, or to help you retain the talents of existing employees who acquire a disability due to injury, illness, or aging.

Is there a particular program that you would like businesses to know about?

Windmills is an employer-employee training curriculum designed to change attitudes and create new perspectives on the skills and abilities individuals with disabilities bring to the workplace.

The program’s 12 interactive training modules have a proven history of helping those both with and without disabilities better understand how to build a disability-inclusive workplace culture.

While many organizations would like to recruit, hire, and advance people with disabilities, common fears, biases, and myths can often create barriers. The Windmills training focuses on these attitudinal barriers while addressing concerns about legal requirements, workplace accommodations, and more.

By improving supervisor attitudes, Windmills inspires workplace behavior change while promoting the employment and advancement of people with disabilities.

Terri, Charles, and Tracey, as the Business Engagement Unit for VocRehab, tell us why you love your job or why you do what you do? 

We are all very passionate about what we do and get so excited every time we make a match between a business and a participant. We love nothing more than seeing a business and participant both thriving because of each other!  We do what we do because we recognize the need in the workforce for reliable, productive employees and are confident that the people in our program can meet that need.

Meet the Vocational Rehabilitation New Hampshire Business Engagement Unit's staff.