More than 20 years ago, Glenn Morgan suffered a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the neck down. Despite extensive education he remained unemployed for two decades until he met David Hammis. Hammis is a partner with Ohio-based Griffin-Hammis Associates which works with people starting their own businesses. Hammis says Morgan is one of his success stories.
HAMMIS: He runs a business now that earns somewhere between 80 and a hundred thousand dollars in gross sales. And his net earnings because it's a computer code programming business...very low overhead.
The Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission awarded Griffin-Hammis Associates a $1.3 million grant. It'll be used to set up six sites across the state where counselors will be trained to work with people who have complex disabilities that are hoping to start their own businesses. Also, Beachwood-based Vocational Services Unlimited has been awarded more than $355 thousand to help improve transportation options for people with disabilities in Lake County. Here's Michael Rench, administrator of The Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission.
RENCH: What we're trying to do through this grant is help some local community folks put together some options so people can have transportation options that are on demand because many public transit systems really don't work to the advantage of a person with a disability who has to work swing hours.
Rench says helping people with disabilities get work is a good investment because it decreases their need for public assistance at the same time increasing the tax base. The grant money comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the federal stimulus program.