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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Rural Community Economic Leadership By People With Disabilities, Tom Seekins Ph.D., University Of Montana Rural Institute
Rural Community Economic Leadership By People With Disabilities, Tom Seekins Ph.D., University Of Montana Rural Institute
Employment
The lack of employment opportunities for people with disabilities is a major problem according to vocational rehabilitation (VR) service providers, American Indian Section 121 employment programs, and people with disabilities (Arnold, Seekins, & Nelson, 1997). This is particularly true in rural areas where local businesses struggle to create enough quality jobs for community members, including people with disabilities. In the face of this challenge, rural residents with and without disabilities frequently opt to pursue self-employment. Yet, VR and Section 121 programs are often confused about existing business opportunities and their potential for success. There are established procedures to analyze markets …
Rural Economic Development: Worker Cooperatives And Employment Of People With Disabilities Part Three, Charles Sperry, Joyce Brusin, Tom Seekins Ph.D., University Of Montana Rural Institute
Rural Economic Development: Worker Cooperatives And Employment Of People With Disabilities Part Three, Charles Sperry, Joyce Brusin, Tom Seekins Ph.D., University Of Montana Rural Institute
Employment
The opportunities for self-empowerment and economic justice found in the worker cooperative structure may be especially relevant for people with disabilities, who as a population tend to experience extraordinarily high rates of unemployment. People with disabilities already successfully engage in a wide range of employment and self-employment situations (Seekins & Arnold, 1996; Shelley, 1999). Employment within a worker cooperative structure carries many benefits for people with disabilities and requires only a few carefully structured adaptations. Benefits include fair wages and an equitable share of profits; authority to manage the business in the best interest of the worker-members; a community-friendly business …
Rural Economic Development: A Stewardship Model For Organizing Worker Cooperatives Part Two, Charles Sperry, Joyce Brusin, Tom Seekins Ph.D., University Of Montana Rural Institute
Rural Economic Development: A Stewardship Model For Organizing Worker Cooperatives Part Two, Charles Sperry, Joyce Brusin, Tom Seekins Ph.D., University Of Montana Rural Institute
Employment
Worker cooperative corporations are a particular way of organizing business and employment opportunities. They usually involve a for-profit business that is owned by the worker-members who are employed there. A worker cooperative must perform the same major functions as any other organized business. It must obtain sufficient financing, manage its personnel, and produce and market its product or service. Its staff engage in the same management activities as any other business: planning, staffing, controlling, organizing, and leading.
Rural Economic Development: Worker Cooperatives And Employment Of People With Disabilities Part One, Charles Sperry, Joyce Brusin, Tom Seekins Ph.D., University Of Montana Rural Institute
Rural Economic Development: Worker Cooperatives And Employment Of People With Disabilities Part One, Charles Sperry, Joyce Brusin, Tom Seekins Ph.D., University Of Montana Rural Institute
Employment
Across America, rural communities are looking for vibrant and stable local economies that will allow them to preserve the best qualities of their rural life in the face of rapid and relentless global economic change. The impacts of economic decline in rural America over the last two decades have been worsened by multiplier effects. Lost income has led to lost purchasing power, which has led to business closures; population loss has followed, resulting in downsizing of schools and hospitals and ultimately, in disintegration of communities themselves (Magdoff 1993; The Futurist, 1989).