SERVE
Purpose: To develop a loan fund for individuals who experience neuro-diversity to enable economic and personal development.
Key Concepts:
· Customized Employment
Customized Employment (CE) is a universal employment strategy that is especially useful for employment seekers with significant life complexities and barriers to employment, such as a severe disability. CE strategies result in competitive, integrated employment that is based on a determination of the strengths, needs, and interests of the employment seeker. The specific abilities of the individual are matched to the business needs of an employer. CE is a relationship between an employer and an employee that is negotiated to meet the needs of both parties.[1]
[1] THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF CUSTOMIZED EMPLOYMENT FOR UNIVERSAL APPLICATION — July 2017
http://www.marcgold.com/what-is-customized-employment
· Resource Ownership
Resource Ownership is a customized employment, job creation technique. By owning machinery, equipment, tools, or other types of capital, individuals with disabilities can produce products or offer services of value to other businesses or to consumers, leading to employment or the creation of a business-within-a-business strategy.
https://www.iidc.indiana.edu/cclc/training-and-events/resource-ownership.html
Examples of Resource Ownership
- Purchase of a drapery steam cleaner for the consumer to operate to meet an unfilled need of a custodial service company, creating a job for the consumer and an additional service for the employer to offer to existing customers.
- Purchase of a laminator for the consumer to operate at a print shop, which allowed the shop to provide this service in-house, creating a job for the consumer.
- Purchase of a carpet cleaner for the consumer to operate, creating a position at a new car detailing business.
- Purchase of a cart to hold cleaning supplies and computer equipment to scan VIN barcodes, creating a position for the consumer at a local car dealership and freeing up other staff to concentrate on sales.
· Business within a Business
A business within a business is another self-employment strategy. In this situation, the individual with a disability runs his or her business within the physical setting of an established business. This is not a wage position, and the person’s income is from selling a product or service within the “host” business. For instance, a woman who makes beaded necklaces could arrange to set up her business within a local gift shop to sell her jewelry. The shop would provide the physical space while the entrepreneur selling the jewelry owns her business. The difference between resource ownership and a business within a business is the payment of wages to the individual who has the resource ownership arrangement with an employer. No wages are paid to the individual using the business within a business model.
https://vcurrtc.org/resources/viewContent.cfm/625
SERVE
Supporting Enterprise Resources for Varied Entrepreneurs
Alex Rudick Memorial Fund for Resource/Business Ownership
My father, Alex Rudick was born in 1913. At the age of three, he contracted polio and his legs never fully developed. He learned to walk with braces and a cane until his elder years when due to post-polio he used a wheelchair for ambulation. My mother would refer to my father as “physically handicapped”. He was a successful businessperson who put his four kids through college and taught us all the value of work and family.
In 2001, he died in a nursing home wing for people with Alzheimer’s. My dad had dementia due to a series of mini-strokes but his death certificate listed a cause of death as Alzheimer’s. A powerful reminder of the importance of the company one keeps and the assumptions drawn from the company you keep.
This fund is established to honor my Dad and create a legacy for him and his children.
Guiding Values:
· Everyone is capable of contribution
· Everyone has personal genius waiting to be discovered
· Business/resource ownership is a key to overcoming societal barriers to employment opportunity
· Small is beautiful
First Steps:
· Create from Ian Rudick and Beth Weegar contribution a $1,000 low interest loan fund through the Self-Help Credit Union to enable up to 2 persons known by Tim Blekicki and/or Ian Rudick to become employed/self-employed.
· Allow Tim to be a co-signer on the account so he and person/s SERVEd may access funds without hassle.
How the loan fund works:
1) People contribute to the loan fund
2) The loan fund capital can be used as collateral to make a loan possible to that community member; for instance, $1000 in the loan fund can make a $1000 loan to someone immediately possible
3) The loan fund draws some interest on the capital while it is in the fund (in an account such as a savings account at Self-Help Credit Union), and the borrower pays a rate of the rate of interest on the savings account plus 4%
4) The capital in the account that is tied up to make a loan possible cannot be used for anything else or removed from the account for the life of the loan (until the loan is paid back).
Next steps:
· Determine individuals to initially SERVE.
· Create an advisory board to explore future direction and development of the loan fund.
