Eager job seekers listen intently, take notes and soak up information hoping it will help them in their next employment opportunity.
It’s a break from the typical job hunt through Dale Rogers Training Center’s (DRTC) Employment Services Program, which helps people with disabilities find, train for, and keep jobs in the community. Today, a group of University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) students is putting on a presentation to educate them about what to do and not to do when seeking a job and working.
DRTC Employment Services Program participants and UCO students.
Elyse Barnett, Abby Graham and Jordan Michela, all seniors at UCO, developed the presentation as part of their Corporate Training and Consulting class, led by Dr. Christy Vincent. Working in tandem with Linda Sechrist, DRTC Employment Services Manager, the students conducted a training needs assessment and developed their topics and activities based off this feedback.
“The presentation was well planned, and the materials and handouts were appropriate for individuals in attendance,” said Linda. “The activities were not only instructional but also fun.”
Presentation praise
LaQuoya, seated left, enjoys the presentation by UCO students on job readiness.
LaQuoya, who has done housekeeping work for 10 years, enjoyed the presentation, particularly the sections on being respectful and body language.
“I like to work,” LaQuoya said. “I want to do an office job.”
The topics covered also served as a refresher for some participants, like Evan, looking to find their next work opportunity.
“I’m always on time,” Evan beamed. “I hope to work in the medical field.”
Evan participates in the UCO students’ presentation.
Employment Services Program participants learned about several topics, including the importance of making a good first impression, professionalism, and communicating with colleagues, customers and bosses.
“We hope you’re successful in that first day and beyond,” Jordan told program participants during her portion of the presentation.
“I felt like I had a personal investment in it,” said Elyse, whose sister has Prader-Willi syndrome.
“I think we had a passion for it,” Abby said of their collaboration.
More training to be done
For Abby, Elyse and Jordan, this is the culmination of months of preparation. However, their work doesn’t end here. Their full presentation will be used by DRTC’s Employment Services Program as part of its vocational preparation class and could even be used for the agency’s Transition School-to-Work Program which helps provide job training to high school juniors and seniors with disabilities.
DRTC Employment Training Specialist Josh, right, listens to the description from an Employment Services Program participant during a communication exercise.DRTC Employment Training Specialists assist program participants in an activity during the UCO students’ presentation.DRTC Employment Services Program participants and UCO students.
DRTC/UCO partnership
This isn’t the first time Dale Rogers Training Center has teamed up with students from the University of Central Oklahoma. Students with UCO’s Speech and Hearing clinic have provided therapy sessions, with guidance of a speech pathologist, every semester for people in DRTC’s various on-campus programs since 1999 on a weekly basis.
Dale Rogers Training Center (DRTC) is the oldest and largest community vocational training and employment center for people with disabilities in Oklahoma. With multiple locations in Oklahoma, DRTC trains or employs more than 1,100 people with disabilities per year. Visit us online: DRTC.org.
The Governor’s office honors the hard work and dedication of people with disabilities in the workforce, as well as efforts by employers in fostering an inclusive environment in their respective businesses.
Congratulations to the 2016 Governor’s Disability Employment Awards of Excellence winners, including DRTC Employment Services Program participants Markus Mullin and Clay Stephens who both work at St. Ann’s Retirement Center, and to Ken Holt with Embassy Suites in Norman, Oklahoma, who received a Business Award for hiring people with disabilities.
Denise Young, DRTC Employment Training Specialist, said in her nomination of Stephens, “His upbeat personality and willingness to work hard has really impressed the staff at St. Ann’s.”
Mullin, who also works at St. Ann’s, also received an Award of Excellence. “He anticipates what needs to be done and does it before being asked,” said Young in her nomination letter.
Embassy Suites in Norman was one of several companies receiving an award in the Business category. The hotel hires individuals through DRTC’s Employment Services department. Embassy Suites is also the business partner for Project SEARCH to provide job skills training, support and career exploration in a variety of entry level positions and internships. Project SEARCH at Embassy Suites also includes Norman Public Schools, the Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services and the National Center for Disability Education and Training.
Pictured left to right: Mark Jones, director of community living and support services, OKDHS; Clay Stephens; Vaughn Clark, director of community development, OK Dept. of Commerce; and Paul Folger, ceremony emcee and anchor, KOCO-TV Eyewitness News 5.Pictured left to right: Mark Jones, director of community living and support services, OKDHS; Ken Holt, director of event operations, Embassy Suites by Hilton Norman; Vaughn Clark, director of community development, OK Dept. of Commerce; and Paul Folger, ceremony emcee and anchor, KOCO-TV Eyewitness News 5.Pictured left to right: Mark Jones, director of community living and support services, OKDHS; Markus Mullin; Vaughn Clark, director of community development, OK Dept. of Commerce; and Paul Folger, ceremony emcee and anchor, KOCO-TV Eyewitness News 5.
Rex W Amsler, DRTC ETS Vivian Naegeli, Ken Holt, Jeane Smith pose for a picture after Ken was awarded a Business Award at the Governor’s Disability Awards of Excellence.Markus Mullin, Clay Stephens and DRTC ETS Denise Young pose for a picture at the 2016 Governor’s Disability Employment Awards of Excellence.
In conjunction with National Disability Employment Awareness Month, Dale Rogers Training Center (DRTC) honors the accomplishments and dedication of not only employees with disabilities, but also their employers who are promoting inclusion in the workplace.
DRTC, a nonprofit agency that provides training and jobs for people with disabilities, serves 1,100 people annually. In addition to its on campus programs and Work Projects locations, Dale Rogers Training Center’s Employment Services program helped place 120 people in jobs throughout the OKC metro last year.
Among all DRTC programs, participants earned $5.3 million last year, allowing them to become contributing, tax-paying citizens, while reducing subsidies.
“Individuals who find employment through DRTC’s programs perform meaningful, quality work day in and day out,” said Executive Director Connie Thrash McGoodwin, M.Ed. “We also applaud the various businesses for employing this vital part of the workforce.”
The annual Governor’s Awards of Excellence for Disability Employment will be given during a ceremony October 18th. DRTC is excited to announce all three of its nominees will be honored:
Markus Mullin – a DRTC Employment Services participant and employee at St. Ann’s Retirement Center
Clay Stephens – a DRTC Employment Services participant and employee at St. Ann’s Retirement Center
Ken Holt – an employer with Embassy Suites in Norman who hires people with disabilities
What does inclusion of people with disabilities in the workforce look like? Use #InclusionWorks to find out!
About Dale Rogers Training Center
Dale Rogers Training Center (DRTC) is the oldest and largest community vocational training and employment center for people with disabilities in Oklahoma. With multiple locations in Oklahoma, DRTC trains or employs more than 1,100 people with disabilities per year. Visit us online: DRTC.org.
Dale Rogers Training Center (DRTC) had an unforgettable time at our annual Fall Festival, thanks to the West OKC Rotary Club.
Rotarians came out to cook and serve food, play music and setup crafts for individuals at DRTC’s main campus at 2501 N. Utah Ave.
“DRTC enjoys our long-standing partnership with the Rotary Club,” said DRTC Executive Director Connie Thrash, M.Ed. “Our folks enjoy taking a break from work just like everyone else and the Rotarians put on a great event every year.”
Lindsey and Quoshon were awesome servers!
Having fun at the Fall Festival.
Group photo with OK County Commissioner Brian Maughan.
Chicken dance!
Dale Rogers Training Center (DRTC) is the oldest and largest community vocational training and employment center for people with disabilities in Oklahoma. With multiple locations in Oklahoma, DRTC trains or employs more than 1,100 people with disabilities per year. Visit us online: DRTC.org.
Dale Rogers Training Center (DRTC) had an unforgettable time at our annual Fall Festival, thanks to the West OKC Rotary Club.
Rotarians came out to cook and serve food, play music and setup crafts for individuals at DRTC’s main campus at 2501 N. Utah Ave.
“DRTC enjoys our long-standing partnership with the Rotary Club,” said DRTC Executive Director Connie Thrash, M.Ed. “Our folks enjoy taking a break from work just like everyone else and the Rotarians put on a great event every year.”
Lindsey and Quoshon were awesome servers!
Having fun at the Fall Festival.
Group photo with OK County Commissioner Brian Maughan.
Chicken dance!
Dale Rogers Training Center (DRTC) is the oldest and largest community vocational training and employment center for people with disabilities in Oklahoma. With multiple locations in Oklahoma, DRTC trains or employs more than 1,100 people with disabilities per year. Visit us online: DRTC.org.
West OKC Rotary Club members will celebrate the beginning of Fall with people with disabilities during an annual Fall Festival event at Dale Rogers Training Center’s (DRTC) main campus. The event, set for Friday, September 30, 2016, from 2:30-4:30pm will feature hot dogs, snow cones, music, crafts and games thanks to Rotarian volunteers.
Rotarians serve DRTC clients at the 2015 Fall Festival.
“DRTC enjoys our long-standing partnership with the Rotary Club,” said DRTC Executive Director Connie Thrash, M.Ed. “Our folks enjoy taking a break from work just like everyone else and the Rotarians put on a great event every year.”
District 2 Oklahoma County Commissioner Brian Maughan and Ward 3 Oklahoma City Councilman Larry McAtee will be among the Rotarians attending Friday’s event.
DRTC, a private nonprofit agency, has been in operation since 1953, providing training and job opportunities for people with disabilities both on its main campus (Northwest 23rd & Utah Ave.) as well as in the community.
Due to confidentiality policies, some clients may choose to not be included in pictures/videos. DRTC staff will assist media members covering the event to respect these policies.
Who: Dale Rogers Training Center & West OKC Rotary Club
What: DRTC Fun Fest
Where: 2501 N. Utah Ave., Oklahoma City
When: Friday, September 30, 2016, 2:30-4:30pm
Interested media organizations can RSVP to the event by emailing PR@drtc.org.
About Rotary
Rotary is a worldwide organization of more than 1.2 million business, professional, and community leaders. Members of Rotary clubs, known as Rotarians, provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world.
About Dale Rogers Training Center
Dale Rogers Training Center (DRTC) is the oldest and largest community vocational training and employment center for people with disabilities in Oklahoma. With multiple locations in Oklahoma, DRTC trains or employs more than 1,100 people with disabilities per year. Visit us online: DRTC.org.
Dale Rogers Training Center’s (DRTC) Camp Tumbleweed is winding down, but not without some more fun courtesy of Bishop McGuinness High School’s Social Justice course. Students took a tour of DRTC, learning about our history and what we do at the agency, and then volunteered at Camp T.
BMHS seniors and Camp T campers had a great time playing games! Thank you for volunteering!
Dale Rogers Training Center (DRTC) is the oldest and largest community vocational training and employment center for people with disabilities in Oklahoma. With multiple locations in Oklahoma, DRTC trains or employs more than 1,100 people with disabilities per year. Visit us online:DRTC.org.
A group of individuals in DRTC’s programs attended the 2015 United Way Campaign Kickoff.
Individuals in Dale Rogers Training Center’s (DRTC) programs are active advocates for the agency. Whether it is by attending United Way Campaign Kick Off events, going to the Capitol for Developmental Disabilities Awareness Day, or just by spreading the word about the work being done at the agency, what better spokespeople to have than these!
There are plenty of opportunities to be advocates—when out on field trips with Camp Tumbleweed, at volunteer sites with Mobile Workforce, visiting work site locations with Transitions and beyond!
Chris became an Honorary Public Relations Representative for his efforts during Developmental Disabilities Awareness Day.
One outstanding advocate is Chris—who participates in DRTC’s Mobile Workforce. Chris was an outspoken supporter of DRTC at this year’s Developmental Disabilities Awareness Day, speaking with Oklahoma’s lawmakers about the importance of DRTC. He even invited them to come take a tour of our campus! He did such an amazing job, we made him an Honorary Public Relations Representative!
It’s easy being an advocate:
Tell everyone you know about DRTC and the positive impact it’s making in our community
Interact with us on our social media accounts (and share our content so all your family and friends can see)
DRTC’s presence at various events and in the public in general sends a strong message to those in the community: We’re Oklahomans. We work. We contribute. We give back.
Dale Rogers Training Center (DRTC) is the oldest and largest community vocational training and employment center for people with disabilities in Oklahoma. With multiple locations in Oklahoma, DRTC trains or employs more than 1,100 people with disabilities per year. Visit us online: DRTC.org
Jennifer, right, pays for a customer’s soda in a Random Act of Kindness.
Program participants are going out in the community and brightening the days of those they encounter—buying them a soda, giving flowers or even school supplies for students. They’re also visiting various departments on DRTC’s main campus at 2501 N. Utah providing things like cards, donuts and flowers for staff members.
Friday will also feature quotes from some of the 1,000 people with disabilities DRTC supports annually on the agency’s Facebook page.
Volunteers spoke with lawmakers and provided information relating to DRTC and the impact its programs have on their lives.
DRTC is also making plans to attend People with Disabilities Awareness Day at the Capitol on April 5, 2016.
Brandon stands outside the Oklahoma Secretary of State’s Office.
Dale Rogers Training Center has provided training and jobs for people with disabilities in Oklahoma since 1953. Last year, individuals earned $5.5 million in wages across all programs. DRTC has been helping build futures for the individuals it serves through various divisions, like DRTC Awards and DRTC Framing. Dale Rogers Training Center also became the first nonprofit to own and operate a Papa Murphy’s franchise (at NW 23rd and Pennsylvania in Oklahoma City).
Dale Rogers Training Center (DRTC) is the oldest and largest community vocational training and employment center for people with disabilities in Oklahoma. With multiple locations in Oklahoma, DRTC trains or employs more than 1,000 people with disabilities per year. Visit us online: DRTC.org.
(The following is from an article written by Paula Burkes and published in The Oklahoman February 28, 2016)
For the 50th anniversary of the Dale Rogers Training Center, which turns 63 this year, executive director Connie Thrash McGoodwin wrote the family of Roy Rogers to consider donating all memorabilia related to Robin Rogers, who died at age 2 of complications of Down syndrome, and was the daughter of the singing cowboy and his wife and co-star, Dale Evans Rogers.
Weeks afterward, McGoodwin received what she initially thought was a prank phone call from “Roy Rogers,” aka Dusty, telling her the donation was on its way.
“Roy Rogers and his wife and co-star, Dale Evans Rogers, were the first people to not hide their child with disabilities,” McGoodwin said. “They considered her a blessing.”
Individuals in all programs and work projects earned $5.5 million in wages last year.
Dale Rogers itself owns five enterprises. It is the first nonprofit agency in the country to buy and run a pizza franchise — Papa Murphy’s Take ‘N’ Bake pizza at NW 23 and Pennsylvania.
McGoodwin, 66, recently sat down with The Oklahoman to talk about her life, including 32 years as executive director of Dale Rogers. This is an edited transcript:
Q: Tell us about your roots.
A: I’m the oldest of four siblings, with two brothers and a sister. My mother was a homemaker and my father was a command sergeant major in the Army. I was born in Fort Hood, Texas, and we lived in Germany when I was in the first through fourth grades. My father was stationed there again for three years while I was in college. But growing up, we mainly lived in Lawton for all of us to graduate (from Lawton Eisenhower). My father served a year and half in Vietnam, and had two TDYs where we never knew where he was. One was in the Azores. Another time, he and my mom didn’t see each other for two years, though they wrote regularly and phoned once a month. When he was home, my father was very structured and organized. If he told you to be home by 9 p.m., he meant 9 p.m., not 9:01 p.m. or 9:02 p.m. Consequently, I spent a lot of high school being restricted to the barracks. My girlfriends would call to go to the movies, asking if I was off restriction yet. Seriously, I think my rules-driven upbringing prepared me well for this job in which we’re accountable to 60 different entities.
Q: What was your thing in school?
A: Drama. I always played the character roles and was voted best supporting actress my senior year. I also did well in state speech (humorous reading) and debate contests. I was voted president of the drama club and vice president of my junior class.
Q: At OSU, you chose to major in audiology and speech pathology. What was your inspiration?
A: Watching the movie on Helen Keller where she says “wa, wa” for water changed my life. I wanted to do that; I wanted to help people. At OSU, I worked at the speech and hearing clinic on campus. I also served as president of the student chapter of the Oklahoma Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
Q: Upon your OSU graduation, you taught in New York and Australia. Tell us about that.
A: I taught children with intellectual disabilities at a private school in Brooklyn. In college, I’d worked at a summer camp up there, so that’s how they knew and recruited me. It was exciting to live in, and experience, New York City. But a year was enough for me. I saw someone hit over the head with a bat, and was eager to get back to this part of the country. The following three years, I taught intellectually disabled people at Angels Incorporated, an agency in Dallas that was much like Dale Rogers, and earned my master’s in education. Then, I seized an opportunity to teach hearing-impaired kids, ages 8 and under, in Australia. I also taught at the University of New South Wales and trained special education teachers. I moved back to Dallas two years later, when Angels Inc. asked me to return as its executive director. I was 27. I held that job for four years, before taking the opportunity with Dale Rogers.
Q: You direct the nonprofit Dale Rogers as if you were the chief executive of a for-profit company. Did you seek out executive advice?
A: I did. From 2005 to 2015, I was active in what was called EWF (Executive Women’s Forum) International, which brings together women executives for in-depth, monthly discussions about business and personal issues. I learned about profit and loss, marketing and more, which helped me manage the many different business models we now have. Today, I have a nearly $20 million annual budget to balance, up from only $90,000 my first year on the job. Then, we had no state appropriations and only help from the school district and United Way. Today, we generate 83 percent of our own revenue. Half the payback is being around folks and seeing all the wonderful things that are happening here. I never would work this hard to make widgets.
Q: You mentioned you don’t do things just because you can. What do you mean?
A: I’ve seen a lot of people in related fields take advantage of things simply because the opportunity exists. But that doesn’t mean the opportunity necessarily is a good fit for your organization. We’ve turned away jobs that are already well-run; the company is happy with its current contractor who is doing a great job. I am careful about being greedy, and have been called overly-ethical.
Q: Dale Rogers doesn’t do fundraising, but rather finds meaningful work for people with disabilities. What’s the easiest way for individuals and companies to help your cause?
