A Border-based support service is launching a new program to create more employment opportunities for people with a disability and address a critical shortage of workers across the region.
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Kirinari Community Services has teamed up with Jigsaw Australia to form Rise Training, an initiative that will upskill and transition people with a disability into award wage employment.
The first training hub outside of a capital city will be opened in Lavington later in 2023 at Northpoint Tower on Griffith Road.
Kirinari's innovation and development manager Paul Vaccaro said Rise Training would get participants work ready and provide sustainable pathways for people who often faced barriers gaining employment.
Rise Training will be an office-based environment to allow people to learn and develop soft skills such as communication, teamwork, problem solving, time management and critical thinking.
"Initially, we're looking for a cohort of about 40 participants who have got some funding through the NDIS to participate in the program," Mr Vaccaro said.
"What we're hoping is that people with an employment goal within their NDIS plan can transition through this program, learn the soft skills, and then work with other agencies to help them transition into other pathways.
"We know that people with a disability have got at least a 48 per cent lower rate of employment than people without a disability.
"We're hoping that this can be a multi-pronged approach to creating capacity within regional Australia for more workers."
![Kirinari Community Services community engagement lead Hannah Louwrier and innovation and development manager Paul Vaccaro are excited to launch Rise Training, a program that will create more employment opportunities for people with a disability in the region. Picture by Mark Jesser Kirinari Community Services community engagement lead Hannah Louwrier and innovation and development manager Paul Vaccaro are excited to launch Rise Training, a program that will create more employment opportunities for people with a disability in the region. Picture by Mark Jesser](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/beau.greenway/c19b9439-cec2-4cd3-9027-82c87a1ff603.jpg/r0_0_5568_3712_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The program is open to all people with a disability in the community.
Once established, Mr Vaccaro hoped to have at least 100 people coming through the program consistently, which would allow it to expand to other regional cities where Kirinari operates, such as Wagga and Bathurst
"People will go at their own pace through the program, but obviously some will transition through faster than others," he said.
"As people progress through, they may stay in that award wage employment for 12 to 24 months or even longer, but once they're through that process, we'll hopefully be able to place them into workplaces.
"Matching their skills to relevant employers is what we're trying to do, but the foundation of the employment is making sure that their transferable skills are really well embedded, because we know that they're the key to successful placements and ongoing placement.
"We recognise that there are workforce shortages in every industry at the moment. This is an opportunity for us to help create some capacity for employers to have more access to people with skills in the workplace."
Jigsaw Australia's Sydney hub partnered with insurance company Allianz in 2022 to process a high volume of claims and clear backlogs.
Tasks are broken into eight different components that increase in complexity as the employee develops skills.
"Task one might be filling in information, but task eight is actually talking to customers," Mr Vaccaro said.
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Kirinari community engagement lead Hannah Louwrier said the Rise Training model stood out because minimum wage employment was more typical than award wage in similar programs.
"A lot of our customers want general employment, but just don't get the opportunity," she said.
"With this model they're guided through that and when they're transitioning to award wage employment, we're there with them.
"We don't just say, 'see you later, enjoy your job.' We support them whilst they're in the workplace, which isn't generally offered.
"It will help keep customers engaged in employment and they're in a job that hopefully they actually want to be in.
"For career progression, a company wouldn't need to train employees because they've been doing it for at least 12 months."
Jigsaw Australia chief executive Paul Brown said the model was designed to be replicated by other service providers.
"We're excited to partner with Kirinari to bring our 'prepare for work, through work' approach to Albury-Wodonga and look forward to seeing more people with disability in the region achieve improved employment outcomes," he said.
Mr Vaccaro said Rise Training would also provide employment opportunities for staff already with Kirinari to take a different career pathway.
Kirinari will hold two information sessions in Lavington at 12.30pm and 5.30pm on Wednesday, August 23 for people interested in the program.
Anyone interested in attending or businesses keen to be involved can email risetraining@kirinari.com.au for further information.
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