Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities and Giant Eagle, Inc. Partner to Increase Employment Opportunities for People with Disabilities

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FOR RELEASE: January 30, 2019

Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities and Giant Eagle, Inc. Partner to Increase Employment Opportunities

for People with Disabilities

COLUMBUS, OH – Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities (OOD) and Giant Eagle, Inc. announced today an innovative new partnership to increase employment opportunities and job retention for people with disabilities at Giant Eagle stores in Northeast Ohio. This partnership demonstrates Ohio’s business-focused approach to enhance employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities.

Through this partnership, a full-time OOD Talent Sourcing Coordinator will be embedded at Giant Eagle to facilitate sourcing, hiring and retention of OOD job seekers with disabilities. In addition, the Talent Sourcing Coordinator will work closely with Giant Eagle’s human resources staff to initiate training on inclusion, accessibility concepts in the workplace and create pathways to promotional opportunities within Giant Eagle. The Talent Sourcing Coordinator will be a resource to support ongoing job retention for Giant Eagle Team Members with disabilities.

“This partnership is the first of its kind with a private company in Ohio,” said OOD Director Kevin Miller. “We hope this will serve as an example that inspires other members of the business community to recognize the benefits of hiring individuals with disabilities.”

“Giant Eagle has long been committed to creating an inviting in-store environment brought to life by talented and diverse Team Members,” said Giant Eagle Differently Abled Inclusion Leader Jeremy Shapira. “People who are differently abled are an important part of our culture for one simple reason – they make great Team Members. We are excited to grow our relationship with OOD in an effort to find even more people to make Giant Eagle a great place to work and shop.”

“Expanding opportunities for jobs in the private sector for individuals with disabilities and promoting new ideas to support a more inclusive workforce in Ohio is very important, and I am pleased that Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities is partnering with Giant Eagle to do that in Northeast Ohio,” said Governor Mike DeWine. “As governor, I believe we need to lead by example, so on my first day in office, I signed an executive order to ensure that individuals living with disabilities have the opportunity to pursue careers with the state of Ohio.”

For more information about how OOD’s Business Relations staff can support disability inclusion practices in the workplace, visit Business Relations Team.

OOD is the state agency responsible for assisting individuals with disabilities to gain meaningful employment, to live independently or receive disability benefits through the Social Security Administration. www.ood.ohio.gov.

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The services described are funded, in part, with federal funds awarded by the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) under the Vocational Rehabilitation (VR), Supported Employment Services, and the Independent Living Services for Older Individuals Who are Blind (OIB) programs. For purposes of the VR program, the federal VR grant paid 78.7% of the total costs of the program. In federal fiscal year (FFY) 2018, the VR agency received $100,336,097 in federal VR funds. Funds appropriated by the state paid 21.3% of the total costs $27,155,767 under the VR program.

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