The MyAbilities ERG and the Supply Chain Leadership team partnered in January of this year to place the first intern from a program at National-Louis University designed to transition young adults with multiple intellectual, learning and developmental disabilities to independent living. Greg Brown, a student in the program, began his two-day per week internship on February 19 at our North Avenue warehouse in Chicago under the leadership of Robert Carter, Warehouse Supervisor, and Andre Brown, Warehouse Rep3.
Greg’s journey to Comcast began with an initial meeting last October at the Disability:IN Chicagoland Opportunity Summit between Dennis Rossow, Director of HR, and Sharon Curran, Employment Development Lead for NLU’s Path to Academics, Community and Employment (P.A.C.E) program. Their partnership expanded to include Ben Yepsen, Senior Director of Supply Chain Management, with support from Peggy Sarason, VP of Finance.
“When it comes to employment, we look for partnership sites that are eager to fully integrate our students into their place of employment”, Curran said at a pre-placement meeting held with the management staff on February 8. “Comcast has wholeheartedly embraced our program, our missions and values and most importantly our P.A.C.E. intern, Greg. From my initial and subsequent meetings with Dennis Rossow to connecting with the leadership team spearheading this initiative internally, P.A.C.E. has been greeted with enthusiasm, warmth and curiosity.”
Curran continued, “On Greg’s first day, I was very impressed by the warm welcome he received and the effort put in to make him feel at home. And while Greg was full of first day jitters, all questions were patiently answered and a sense of community was born out of the efforts made by Comcast staff. They also made Greg’s P.A.C.E. job coach very comfortable and confident in his ability to perform his job in supporting Greg as he embraces on this internship journey.”
For Comcast, the P.A.C.E. experience was highly successful. Greg was an extremely enthusiastic and effective intern and is returning to the program. Comcast will now support two P.A.C.E. interns beginning September 25, adding an intern at its north Avenue Xfinity store in Chicago.