Building Lego robots for job interview – helping people with autism find employment

Stockholm, Sweden is known as the best city in the world for work-life balance, as it boasts flexible work hours and nearly two years' parental leave per child for each parent. While raising a child with a full-time career still poses challenges, the norm for businesses in Stockholm is to cater to working parents' busy schedules in order to support equal childcare between mothers and fathers.

Overcoming the causes of social isolation plays a crucial role in combating food insecurity. From faith-based community meals paired with job programs in Branson, to food recycling initiatives that tap into local markets in Kansas, multiple organizations across Missouri and the United States are developing solutions oriented toward local needs. In some cases, such as the work of Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard in Bloomington, IN, building community leads to political advocacy and civic engagement.

Frustrated by a tight labor market, two locally owned Grand Rapids employers discovered the virtues – economic, not just moral – of hiring formerly incarcerated people, whose gratitude for an opportunity translated into excellent performance and less risk of adding to rapid turnover. The employers helped guarantee success by paying for support services that made post-prison transitions easier. The employers then talked hundreds of other local employers into doing the same. Besides providing a business advantage, the program changes lives and is evidently contributing to much lower rates of recidivism.

To help address burnout for child welfare workers in Knox County, Ohio, Knox County Job & Family Services has launched a two-pronged approach that aims to offer wellbeing services to employees. Although the Covid pandemic impeded the rollout of these self-care services and resources, feedback has been positive.

In California, youth in the foster system can continue to receive support and services for three years after they've "aged out" as long as they enroll in school or find a job. Participants work with a social worker to create a transition plan and develop new life skills such as budgeting and job searching, and one study found that fewer youth became homeless and more completed high school or enrolled in college after participating in the extension program.

Employers like the St. Partick Clinic in South Sudan are hiring based on attitude and trainability instead of technical skills and knowledge to find employees that are trustworthy and reliable.

The Golden Girls shelter has been providing meals, medical aid, and other support services for women with children who are experiencing homelessness. Since the Golden Girls living space opened, the program has served a total of 50 women ranging in age from the early 50s to late 70s. While at the shelter, staff members help them complete paperwork so they can receive Social Security payments, pensions, or alimony, and apply for affordable housing. They’re also provided medical care, counseling, and assistance finding jobs.

The mental health profession can lead to intense burnout, specifically for mental health professionals of color. Some facilities are launching efforts like the Stay Well program to address burnout including promoting cultural competency among all professionals, recruiting and training more practitioners of color, limiting the hours worked per week, emphasizing self-care and providing virtual work options and vacation days.

The UWM Student Success & Talent Pipeline Initiative is helping to connect students with internships that provide meaningful professional experiences for those about to enter the workforce. One of the initiative’s biggest goals is diversifying the talent pipeline, adding more Black, Indigenous, and other people of color to the workforce throughout the state, hoping to reduce the number of graduates who move out of state for work.

The Ukrainian Society of the Deaf offers employment opportunities and workplace support for people with hearing impairments, which has become especially important for people displaced by the war. The society's help extends throughout the job-hunting process, from helping people retrieve documents necessary for job applications to attending interviews with them to interpret and communicate with potential employers.