June 25, 2023 – Thanks to Carson Gerber, CNHI state reporter, for spotlighting legislation that will lead to a new manufacturing training program for EGTI.

“… Earlier this year, state lawmakers approved first-time legislation creating a pilot program aimed at hiring and training more people with intellectual and developmental disabilities … the program created through House Bill 1160 isn’t meant as a handout, explained Rep. Ed Clere, who authored the bill. It’s a strategic economic-development policy aimed at combating the worker shortage many manufacturing companies face in the wake of the COVID pandemic.

… The program is also a way to begin integrating people with disabilities into the state’s future talent pool and bring them into the broader conversation about how to address the state’s workforce needs, he said.

‘Hiring people with intellectual and other disabilities is good business,’ said the Republican lawmaker from New Albany. ‘This bill is the first of its kind and hopefully just the beginning of a new way of thinking about employment of people with disabilities.’

Planning is underway by the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration to develop the program. The agency is consulting with the Erskine Green Training Institute, a first-of-its-kind postsecondary vocational training program for people with disabilities located in Muncie.”

Click here to read the full article.