On most Tuesday afternoons, you'll find a dozen or more students going through the Munroe-Meyer Institute's workforce training lab.
The program is open to adults 18 and older who are intellectually or developmentally disabled. It launched in December 2023 and was created by MMI professor Rachel Ray.
"In Nebraska, individuals with disabilities are underemployed and unemployed at a very high rate," Ray said.
The PAES Lab — Practical Assessment and Employment System Lab — is designed to give hands-on training in five different career paths: business and marketing, computer technology, processing and production, construction and industrial, and consumer service.
Joey Drawl is an enrollee in the PAES Lab.
"This teaches me what I'm interested in and how much I like it," he said.
When asked why he wants to get a job, his answer was no different than a majority of Americans.
"I want to work because I wanted to get money," he said. "I want to buy clothes, gifts, and get my haircut."
While exploring the five career pathways, students learn 263 transferable job skills. The goal is to get this group into jobs that offer 30 to 40-hour work weeks as opposed to just a few hours a week.
"I know how life-changing that is," said Ray, who has a child with a disability.
Ray said they're working with businesses to demonstrate individuals can and will succeed if given the chance to work.
"Our curriculum is critical because we assess and evaluate outcomes," she said.
In a state that currently has more than 60,000 open jobs, she hopes this program can make a dent in Nebraska's workforce shortage.
"We can actually change some of the landscape of this state for businesses that are struggling to find workers to work," she said. "I've got a whole workforce that wants to work."
