The Nonprofit Agency Link
DAU Symposium Lauds AbilityOne Program By Gisele McAuliffe, contributing feature writer The AbilityOne® Program’s positive impact on small business and the employment of people with significant disabilities was extoled to contracting personnel attending the 2012 Defense Acquisition University (DAU) Alumni Association South Region Symposium in Huntsville, Ala. During presentations on Feb. 22, several speakers emphasized the positive and mutually beneficial relationship between small business and AbilityOne contractors. Tina Ballard, executive director of the U.S. AbilityOne Commission, referred to the “myth” that AbilityOne hurts small business. “This is definitely not the case,” she said. While the AbilityOne Program achieved record employment last year, she demonstrated that AbilityOne sales are significantly lower than small business sales, and are not growing at the same pace. Small business programs are on an entirely different trajectory, she said. Ballard noted that AbilityOne and small businesses often work together, and in fact, AbilityOne nonprofit agencies subcontract millions of dollars with small businesses each year. According to Bryan Dodson, president and CEO of Phoenix, a Huntsville-based nonprofit agency, commercial enterprises fervently endorse and benefit from the AbilityOne Program. “In Huntsville, small business owners are hugely supportive of our mission and are some of our greatest proponents,” Dodson said. “Many of them partner with us to place people with disabilities in competitive jobs, for example, Kroger and Publix supermarkets, the Westin Hotel and a medical data management firm that performs computing and scanning work for doctors’ offices. Offering individuals the independence and self-sufficiency that comes from a job, rather than being totally dependent on tax-funded government social welfare programs, is a very positive concept to area businesses.” Dodson added that when business owners learn how much AbilityOne jobs save them in tax dollars, they invariably support the program and Phoenix’s mission. He noted that four members of the Phoenix board of directors are small business owners. “They believe as we do that the AbilityOne program changes lives,” Dodson said. “They are committed to us because they believe in what we are doing. They know we are saving the country money and they agree that 18 | NISH WORKPLACE
One way local businesses often benefit from the AbilityOne Program is by supplying vital materials to nonprofit agencies. For example, these tractors and mowers represent a $4.5 million sale recently made by a Huntsville, Ala. supplier to the nonprofit agency, Phoenix. The equipment was purchased for an AbilityOne lands maintenance contract at Redstone Arsenal.
providing jobs to people with disabilities is the right thing to do for our fellow man.” Phoenix employs some 600 people who perform AbilityOne jobs at Redstone Arsenal in Madison County, Ala. Their responsibilities range from providing custodial services at hundreds of buildings to grounds maintenance across some 5,300 acres of land. According to Dodson, small businesses benefit from these contracts because they supply Phoenix with millions of dollars worth of materials. “For the grounds maintenance, we purchased $4.5 million worth of tractors and mowers from Huntsville Tractor and Equipment, representing the largest single sale ever for that local 40-year-old firm,” Dodson said. Phoenix also buys all of its cleaning supplies, floor finish, toilet paper and light bulbs for its AbilityOne custodial services contracts from local small businesses. Those purchases total $1.6 million annually. In addition, Phoenix’s manufacturing division buys more than $6.5 million in materials from small business to manufacture burial flags for the Veterans Administration, parachutist harnesses, air deployment systems and a variety of missile carrying straps for the U.S. Army. “Here in Huntsville, business people believe in what we do,” Dodson said. “Several businesses regularly call us with leads about job placements and contract work. They are out there selling for us.” H