Job seekers of all abilities have an opportunity to connect with inclusive employers at the upcoming Ability-Focused Job Fair, co-hosted by DRTC (Dale Rogers Training Center) and Goodwill Industries of Central Oklahoma.
The event, held at Metro Technology Center’s Springlake Campus will feature the following accommodations:
American Sign Language (ASL) & Spanish interpreters
Accessible parking & wide aisles
Sensory-sensitive room
Visual aids/services
Vocational Rehabilitation Services will be at the event, along with Employment Training Specialists to help job seekers navigate the job fair and interview for open positions. This event is open to the public so there is no need to RSVP. We look forward to seeing you there!
Frontline workers at DRTC (also known as Dale Rogers Training Center) have been extremely busy since the pandemic, picking up the now familiar title essential worker along the way.
DRTC holds federal contracts providing custodial at Tinker Air Force Base, the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center at FAA, US Marshals and several federal buildings in downtown Oklahoma City. Chances are, if you’ve passed through these areas, DRTC played a role in its upkeep—all 7.1 million square feet! In addition, DRTC provides food service through another federal contract at Tinker Air Force Base, serving a wide variety of meals to military personnel 24/7/365.
Total, DRTC employs approximately 300 at these federal contract locations. As part of these contracts through SourceAmerica®, 75% of those employees have a disability. They provide mission-support to help keep vital government and military functions running smoothly. Through innovative internal programs, DRTC provides tailored on-the-job training, job advancement and employment opportunities.
Spearheading many of these changes is DRTC Executive Director Deborah Copeland, M.Ed. Since officially stepping into her role at the beginning of 2020, Copeland has navigated the agency through the pandemic, pivoting services and programs, but never losing sight of the agency’s mission of supporting people with disabilities through employment opportunities. Additionally, Copeland has become a leading voice in disability-inclusive workplaces as it relates to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Founded in 1953, DRTC is making plans for a 70th Anniversary celebration in 2023 that will honor disability-inclusive employers. If your business needs assistance with hiring and diversifying your talent pool, we have the right applicants for your needs. DRTC’s Employment Services Program helps transition qualified applicants into new jobs throughout the metro at no additional cost to employers. We’re also a great resource for accommodations and accessibility! Learn more at DRTC.org.
DRTC (Dale Rogers Training Center), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit agency, promotes a more disability-inclusive workplace and community. With multiple locations in Oklahoma, DRTC trains, serves, or employs approximately 1,000 people with disabilities per year. Visit us online: DRTC.org.
Staff with Dale Rogers Training Center (DRTC) visited vocational training program participants who have been staying safer at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff put together goodie bags and decorated an agency bus for the “We miss you tour” that stretched from Edmond to Moore, and Yukon to Del City.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
DRTC closed its main campus vocational training programs and divisions in late March in accordance with Governor Stitt’s Executive Orders. The agency is now implementing a phased approach to re-open the agency. DRTC’s divisions (Awards, Framing, Gift Shop and Promotional Items) are open and processing orders, offering curbside pickup during customer service hours of 8am-4pm, Monday-Friday.
Dale Rogers Training Center (DRTC), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit agency, is Oklahoma’s leading community vocational training and employment center for people with disabilities in Oklahoma. With multiple locations in Oklahoma, DRTC trains or employs approximately 1,000 people with disabilities per year. Visit us online: DRTC.org.
Craig Parr is a tall, strapping young man with a smile as big as his heart. On this day he sits next to his mom Theresa, with his arm around her, as he patiently poses for photos and answers questions. He’s a little nervous at all the attention, though, and his mom quietly reminds him to relax. He responds with a smile and a kiss on her cheek.
Teresa and Craig
At 18 years old, Craig attends high school and is taking a course on small engine repair at Francis Tuttle. His relationship with DRTC began at Camp Tumbleweed, which he attended for three summers. The Camp’s grounds are on the DRTC campus. Campers, aged 14-21, have fun, work on self-advocacy skills, enjoy arts & crafts and take a variety of field trips. Craig’s favorite? “Harkins Theatre,” he says unequivocally. Equally unwavering is his popcorn preference. “Salt and butter,” he says.
In addition to Camp Tumbleweed, Craig participated in DRTC’s Transition School-To-Work program, which was the next step in his school’s special ed program. He’s proud to announce that he’s just gotten his learner’s permit, which his mom acknowledges like all moms do, with a slightly nervous smile.
“Craig’s self-advocacy has really become stronger since he’s been a part of DRTC,” Teresa says. “The training here really encourages them to tell someone when something isn’t right and how to (act) at a job. He’s made so many friends. He loves everyone, and he loves being here.”
This is Craig’s senior year, and one of the highlights of high school has been his career with ROTC. He’s an officer and a member of the Color Guard. “I like ROTC. We get to do fun things,” he says. His training shows. Craig is a confident, polite young man with a great sense of humor. Bowling with the Special Olympics in a special needs league is another favorite pastime, and he also likes to volunteer with other nonprofit organizations through DRTC.
Dale Rogers Training Center (DRTC) is the oldest and largest community vocational training and employment center for people with disabilities in Oklahoma. With multiple locations in Oklahoma, DRTC trains or employs approximately 1,000 people with disabilities per year. Visit us online: DRTC.org.
Lindsey Nguyen is a born multi-tasker. Now, she’s sorting mail into cross sections,
paying close attention to the details. “These are supposed to be by state and then by name,” she says. Her nose and cheeks are peppered with freckles and her shiny hair bobs as she turns her head.
Lindsey
While she chats, her eyes flick around the room, watching over her colleagues, ready to step in with words of support should someone appear bogged down. It’s mid-morning, and the room is abuzz: sorting, packaging of various items and convivial chatter and laughter. Among other things, Lindsey is looking forward to her lunch break. “I bring my lunch. My mom packs different things. Today I have chicken and potatoes. I’m diabetic, and we have to watch what I eat,” she says.
At 34, Lindsey’s experience with Dale Rogers Training Center has spanned more than a decade, beginning when she was in high school at Westmoore. A job coach at the school helped Lindsey get into the School-to-Work program, which in turn led to her gaining valuable skills, and her job with DRTC.
“Oh, yeah, I enjoy it. I’m an independent person. I’m always busy and hectic. If I need help I ask and get it. I get paid on the 15th and the 31st, and I save up my money, or I buy CDs and DVDs. I love Disney and Nickelodeon movies,” she says.
She’s also a fierce competitor, playing on a bocce ball league, and competing in the Special Olympics in basketball and swimming. “My stroke is freestyle. And breaststroke,” she says. Lindsey plays bocce in Norman and Stillwater. In basketball, she’s a guard. When asked if she’s good, she replies with the confidence of a seasoned athlete: “Yes.”
At DRTC, Linsdey is the president-elect of Happy Trails Civitan Club, which meets every Thursday night to plan fundraisers and give back to the community. “Awhile back we raised money to help people with self-advocacy,” Lindsey says.
When she thinks about the future, she says some day she will progress to working at a job in the community.
Dale Rogers Training Center (DRTC) is the oldest and largest community vocational training and employment center for people with disabilities in Oklahoma. With multiple locations in Oklahoma, DRTC trains or employs approximately 1,000 people with disabilities per year. Visit us online: DRTC.org.
Like many women, Emily Stone loves pretty clothes, sparkly jewels and spending time with her friends. “She’s extremely social, and that’s something people don’t always realize,” says her mother Genie Stone. “She does not talk, but she does use her voice, for example if something makes her happy, she’ll squeal. She can understand you and carry on a conversation if you ask her yes or no questions.”
Emily, now 46, has been coming to DRTC for more than 20 years, and spends her days accomplishing tasks and socializing with friends she’s known since grade school. With a little assistance, Emily and the rest of her friends in the Special Needs Program participate in paid vocational training/subcontract work, learn job skills, exercise, enjoy leisure activities and take community field trips.
Emily
In grade school, Emily spent about a year in a mainstream program, but her mom said it didn’t work out that well. “She was maybe 10 or 11 when she and one other child spent time in a first-grade classroom, but it was more for socialization. She also had speech therapy and physical therapy, but she didn’t learn to read. She does know some sight words, but schools really weren’t teaching special needs kids to read back then,” Genie says.
When it came time to graduate, options for much beyond staying home with mom all day were few and far between. DRTC soon launched its Special Needs Program, and Emily’s mom got her registered. Her schoolmates Patty, Jason, Kenny and Heath also joined the program and their community blossomed.
Emily and Genie
Genie’s voice wavers as she thinks back to those days. “I don’t know what we would have done without DRTC. Not so much for us but for her. We were all just trying to care for our kids, and we’re all still taking care of our children. DRTC has been a lifesaver for us. I don’t think Emily would be 46 if she hadn’t had DRTC. She never wants to miss, she loves her friends, and it just would have been really rough to not have had that. It’s a lifesaver for us.”
Dale Rogers Training Center (DRTC) is the oldest and largest community vocational training and employment center for people with disabilities in Oklahoma. With multiple locations in Oklahoma, DRTC trains or employs approximately 1,000 people with disabilities per year. Visit us online: DRTC.org.
Jacklyn McDaniel is an energetic young woman and an enthusiastic grocery sacker at Crest Foods grocery store in Midwest City. She’s also a creative soul, an aspiring writer who spends her free time working on her Disney-inspired fiction project “Snow Rose and the Beast,” and an artist whose illustration was selected for the 2016 Dale Rogers Training Center holiday card.
“I started at Dale Rogers Training Center as a newbie. I didn’t know where to sit, I didn’t know anything. I sat at an empty table and here came Dustin. He said, ‘Hey, what’s your name?’ Then I began to learn, little by little. (DRTC) helped me a lot. I like to work. Working inspires me to work!” Jacklyn says.
From March 2015 to November 2016, Jackie was a part of the Vocational Services Program , and participated in the Crest training program during her time at DRTC. She later sought job assistance through DRTC’s Employment Services Program, landing a job with Crest in 2017, where she shares a nearby home with her parents. Jackie moved to long-term stabilization through DDS until Feb. 2019, when her DRTC case was closed for successful completion. DRTC can/will provide support should Jackie need it in future.
She now confidently earns her own paycheck, doing a job she loves, which allows her to help her parents with bills, which makes her extremely proud. “I’m not going to spend my money on useless things. I like to help my parents.”
Jacklyn’s tasks at work include sacking groceries and helping customers take them to the car, as well as some cleaning and light stocking chores to make sure her area is work-ready. “Shirley, my manager, and about five ladies worked with me every day to be less stressed, focus on the job, and always have a smile on my face,” she says.
Jacklyn
“Say you want your bags light. I’ll put five, maybe six items in the bag. But if you say very light, I’ll but more like three or four items,” Jacklyn says. “I just learn, little by little. We aren’t stupid, we just have a hard time learning sometimes.”
Jacklyn, like most of us, identifies with what she does for a living, and her work is meaningful. Theresa Flannery, Community Resources and Compliance Director for Dale Rogers Training Center, says that’s exactly as it should be. “Jacklyn is a very young woman. She’s being given the opportunity to think about her life beyond just living with her mom. DRTC gave her the opportunity to do paid work. Crest hired her, and that allows her to keep growing.”
Disability is no longer the kind of barrier it once was. “People aren’t bad, but they sometimes don’t know how to integrate people who are different from them. Without these kinds of opportunities, without Dale Rogers, the only option for people like Jacklyn was to stay home,” Flannery says.
Instead, today, Jacklyn is flourishing, a fact that makes Flannery smile. “What I love about Jacklyn is her independence, her confidence in pushing boundaries, her creativity and her vision. She’s got so many opportunities ahead of her and we’re excited to see her grow.”
Dale Rogers Training Center (DRTC) is the oldest and largest community vocational training and employment center for people with disabilities in Oklahoma. With multiple locations in Oklahoma, DRTC trains or employs approximately 1,000 people with disabilities per year. Visit us online: DRTC.org.
Derek Burton, a sweet-tempered man wearing a green vest covered in patches from around the world given to him by his customers, carefully makes his way into the room. He’s moving a little slower than usual due to a badly-stubbed toe, but his sunny disposition remains intact. His hair is carefully-combed, his clothes neat and pressed. He smiles ear-to-ear and his laugh is easy and frequent.
This is a man who is confident and content. He’d sung in his school choir for years, and after graduating from Classen High School, had worked and attended community college. But in the early 1990s, it was a different story. By then he was a young, single father of two small sons, in a precarious situation. Like most parents, he needed a job so he could support his children. The hitch? Derek has limitations which seriously affect his mobility and ability to stand. But it has never affected his spirit or determination.
He’d worked for a decade at Sears, and during his tenure there had earned his associate’s degree in computer science from Oklahoma City Community College. When Derek heard Sears was closing that store, he felt like a heavy weight had been placed on him. For three years, he desperately sought another job without any success.
Derek
He had experience and an impeccable work record, but no one would hire him. That was until one day when his vocational rehabilitation counselor told him about a cashier position for a new Food Service contract set aside for the Dale Rogers Training Center on Tinker Air Force Base through the AbilityOne Program, creating a confluence of circumstances which led to the impossible becoming possible for a man whose biggest dream was to be able to send his sons to college.
Derek applied and was hired on a cold December day in 1992. “I applied, and I got the job,” he says. “Dale Rogers (Training Center) gave me a chance to grow and to believe in myself. Many times, we don’t think we can survive or compete, but we can do more than just suffer with disability. At (DRTC), you become a part of the family, and it gives you confidence.”
Burton’s own family motivates him to do a good job at Tinker. He spends his time away from work determined to return the favor and consistently motivate his now-adult children to also do their best. “I try to teach my sons how to live everyday life and to do the right thing,” Burton said. “That’s my number one goal.”
His naturally-outgoing personality allowed him to treat the young airmen and women, often nervous and away from home for the first time, with fatherly warmth. When they come through his line, he greets them with a smile and asks how they’re doing. “When they first come in, they’re scared and maybe lost a little, so you just grab hold of them and make them feel like they’re part of the family,” he says.
On his well-worn green vest is the tangible evidence of how much Derek means to his customers. Patches and emblems cover nearly every inch of it. “Each patch is a gift. I got this red star from a sailor who was headed to Switzerland. He wanted me to have something to remember him by. Tinker was his first station and he said I made him feel like a little brother. That red star started it all,” Derek says.
Today, some 25 years later, Derek and his two sons are thriving, and the dreams of this father have come true. Dakoda, his eldest son, is now in vet school, and younger son Dylan is completing his internship to become a pharmacist.
Dale Rogers Training Center (DRTC) is the oldest and largest community vocational training and employment center for people with disabilities in Oklahoma. With multiple locations in Oklahoma, DRTC trains or employs approximately 1,000 people with disabilities per year. Visit us online: DRTC.org.
Derek Burton, a sweet-tempered man wearing a green vest covered in patches from around the world given to him by his customers, carefully makes his way into the room. He’s moving a little slower than usual due to a badly-stubbed toe, but his sunny disposition remains intact. His hair is carefully-combed, his clothes neat and pressed. He smiles ear-to-ear and his laugh is easy and frequent.
This is a man who is confident and content. He’d sung in his school choir for years, and after graduating from Classen High School, had worked and attended community college. But in the early 1990s, it was a different story. By then he was a young, single father of two small sons, in a precarious situation. Like most parents, he needed a job so he could support his children. The hitch? Derek has limitations which seriously affect his mobility and ability to stand. But it has never affected his spirit or determination.
He’d worked for a decade at Sears, and during his tenure there had earned his associate’s degree in computer science from Oklahoma City Community College. When Derek heard Sears was closing that store, he felt like a heavy weight had been placed on him. For three years, he desperately sought another job without any success.
Derek
He had experience and an impeccable work record, but no one would hire him. That was until one day when his vocational rehabilitation counselor told him about a cashier position for a new Food Service contract set aside for the Dale Rogers Training Center on Tinker Air Force Base through the AbilityOne Program, creating a confluence of circumstances which led to the impossible becoming possible for a man whose biggest dream was to be able to send his sons to college.
Derek applied and was hired on a cold December day in 1992. “I applied, and I got the job,” he says. “Dale Rogers (Training Center) gave me a chance to grow and to believe in myself. Many times, we don’t think we can survive or compete, but we can do more than just suffer with disability. At (DRTC), you become a part of the family, and it gives you confidence.”
Burton’s own family motivates him to do a good job at Tinker. He spends his time away from work determined to return the favor and consistently motivate his now-adult children to also do their best. “I try to teach my sons how to live everyday life and to do the right thing,” Burton said. “That’s my number one goal.”
His naturally-outgoing personality allowed him to treat the young airmen and women, often nervous and away from home for the first time, with fatherly warmth. When they come through his line, he greets them with a smile and asks how they’re doing. “When they first come in, they’re scared and maybe lost a little, so you just grab hold of them and make them feel like they’re part of the family,” he says.
On his well-worn green vest is the tangible evidence of how much Derek means to his customers. Patches and emblems cover nearly every inch of it. “Each patch is a gift. I got this red star from a sailor who was headed to Switzerland. He wanted me to have something to remember him by. Tinker was his first station and he said I made him feel like a little brother. That red star started it all,” Derek says.
Today, some 25 years later, Derek and his two sons are thriving, and the dreams of this father have come true. Dakoda, his eldest son, is now in vet school, and younger son Dylan is completing his internship to become a pharmacist.
Dale Rogers Training Center (DRTC) is the oldest and largest community vocational training and employment center for people with disabilities in Oklahoma. With multiple locations in Oklahoma, DRTC trains or employs approximately 1,000 people with disabilities per year. Visit us online: DRTC.org.
Eager job seekers listen intently, take notes and soak up information hoping it will help them in their next employment opportunity.
It’s a break from the typical job hunt through Dale Rogers Training Center’s (DRTC) Employment Services Program, which helps people with disabilities find, train for, and keep jobs in the community. Today, a group of University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) students is putting on a presentation to educate them about what to do and not to do when seeking a job and working.
DRTC Employment Services Program participants and UCO students.
Elyse Barnett, Abby Graham and Jordan Michela, all seniors at UCO, developed the presentation as part of their Corporate Training and Consulting class, led by Dr. Christy Vincent. Working in tandem with Linda Sechrist, DRTC Employment Services Manager, the students conducted a training needs assessment and developed their topics and activities based off this feedback.
“The presentation was well planned, and the materials and handouts were appropriate for individuals in attendance,” said Linda. “The activities were not only instructional but also fun.”
Presentation praise
LaQuoya, seated left, enjoys the presentation by UCO students on job readiness.
LaQuoya, who has done housekeeping work for 10 years, enjoyed the presentation, particularly the sections on being respectful and body language.
“I like to work,” LaQuoya said. “I want to do an office job.”
The topics covered also served as a refresher for some participants, like Evan, looking to find their next work opportunity.
Evan participates in the UCO students’ presentation.
“I’m always on time,” Evan beamed. “I hope to work in the medical field.”
Employment Services Program participants learned about several topics, including the importance of making a good first impression, professionalism, and communicating with colleagues, customers and bosses.
“We hope you’re successful in that first day and beyond,” Jordan told program participants during her portion of the presentation.
“I felt like I had a personal investment in it,” said Elyse, whose sister has Prader-Willi syndrome.
“I think we had a passion for it,” Abby said of their collaboration.
More training to be done
For Abby, Elyse and Jordan, this is the culmination of months of preparation. However, their work doesn’t end here. Their full presentation will be used by DRTC’s Employment Services Program as part of its vocational preparation class and could even be used for the agency’s Transition School-to-Work Program which helps provide job training to high school juniors and seniors with disabilities.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
DRTC/UCO partnership
This isn’t the first time Dale Rogers Training Center has teamed up with students from the University of Central Oklahoma. Students with UCO’s Speech and Hearing clinic have provided therapy sessions, with guidance of a speech pathologist, every semester for people in DRTC’s various on-campus programs since 1999 on a weekly basis.
Dale Rogers Training Center (DRTC) is the oldest and largest community vocational training and employment center for people with disabilities in Oklahoma. With multiple locations in Oklahoma, DRTC trains or employs more than 1,100 people with disabilities per year. Visit us online: DRTC.org.
On his well-worn green vest is the tangible evidence of how much Derek means to his customers. Patches and emblems cover nearly every inch of it. “Each patch is a gift. I got this red star from a sailor who was headed to Switzerland. He wanted me to have something to remember him by. Tinker was his first station and he said I made him feel like a little brother. That red star started it all,” Derek says.
