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Networking for Success

By Stephanie Bell

Change is hard at first, messy in the middle, and gorgeous at the end.

– Robin Sharma

As I mentioned in the last issue, change is afoot here in EPIC’s Day Support Services program. The light at the end of
the tunnel is near for some of the people we support in our CLS program. We have finally reached the final stage of the
permitting process for our Plaza location. Once complete, we will have a place for the people we support who struggle
with full days in the community to go for structured activities for part of their supports. These activities will be educa-
tional and recreational in nature and range from dance, safety, cooking, exercise, and access to a sensory room.

The shifts in our Day Vocational and Supported Employment programs continue in an effort to align our supports with
Maryland’s Employment First initiative sponsored by the Department of Disabilities and the Developmental Disabilities
Administration. Essentially, this initiative is predicated on the believe that people who have developmental disabilities
can work and be contributing members of their communities of choice if they have the appropriate education, training,
and support. As previously mentioned, we have already restructured our groupings to allow us to better support a wid-
er range of motivational, skill building, and other structural needs.

That said, over the past few months I have identified a glaring need that most of our job seekers are lacking. The fact
remains that 85% of all jobs are filled via networking. Most of us have stories about how we got one or more jobs
through our networks; personally, nine of the ten jobs I have had as an adult were obtained due to a referral from
someone I knew.

The question is, do the people we support have a network of friends and family who can help them get jobs? Networks
develop over time and most of our individuals are still developing the skills to build these relationships. However, there
are over 100 families and 200 staff affiliated with EPIC. Together, the entire network of our EPIC family is massive;
thinking about ways we can leverage this potential power is exciting yet daunting at the same time. So, if you have
great ideas on how to harness this power or even if you know someone who is hiring, click here and let me know.

Stephanie Bell, MBA, is the Director of Day Support Services at EPIC. A member of the MACS Confer-
ence Planning Committee who also Chairs the State of Maryland’s Mortality Quality Review Com-
mittee, Stephanie has over sixteen years of experience supporting people with intellectual and other
developmental disabilities in the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area.

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