State program offers job help for those with disabilities

(Harrisburg) —People with disabilities can receive assistance getting into the workforce from a new state program.

Harrisburg’s Goodwill is one of four sites that will provide interview training, along with other tips that could help a person secure full-time work.

A federal grant worth more than $526,000 will help fund the initiative.

The state Office of Vocational Rehabilitation is running the training, and Michael Vovakes at the Department of Labor and Industry says it can’t do it alone.

“Which means we also need employers that are willing to step out and maybe go in a direction that they have not gone and consider some people that maybe wouldn’t normally consider,” he says.

Vovakes says the office has more than 500 applicants looking for jobs in management, and a similar number in the computer and math fields.

He says the unemployment rate for people with disabilities is double the unemployment rate for the general population.

The free services will be offered to those already served by the OVR.