Arc Baltimore Honors Area Businesses

Baltimore area organizations providing meaningful employment opportunities to persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities will be honored when The Arc Baltimore holds its annual Employers of Distinction Awards Breakfast.

To take place on Wednesday, October 29, 7:30 – 9:30 a.m. at the North Baltimore Plaza Hotel (2004 Greenspring Drive, Timonium, MD), Employers of Distinction will recognize Miller’s Minuteman Press and its President and CEO, Keith Miller, as its 2014 Employer of Distinction for directly employing individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

In addition, The Arc Baltimore will honor two companies as Partners of Distinction. PDP Group and its Senior Operations Manager, Brian Hartman, and Cardinal Health and its Director, Operations Management, Brian Riemer, will be recognized as Partners of Distinction for contracting with The Arc for services in landscaping, janitorial, or workforce support.

Lee Levinson, who is employed by MedStar Union Memorial Hospital, will receive The Arc’s 2014 Outstanding Supported Employee Award.

Employers of Distinction will also feature a panel discussion on the benefits of hiring employees with disabilities. Panelists, all of whom have worked with The Arc Baltimore to employ persons with disabilities, will include:

• Brian Hartman, Senior Operations Manager, PDP Group;
• Vassie Hollamon, Associate Director of Operations and Maintenance, University of Maryland, Baltimore;
• Gynette Parker, Director of Administration, Blades & Rosenfeld, P.A.; and
• Dennis Lawson, Dining Services Manager, Charlestown Retirement Community.

Panelists will discuss their own experiences in hiring persons with disabilities, information they now know that they wished they knew, their experiences in working with The Arc Baltimore’s job coaches, and how the hiring experience has benefitted their organizations.

“These organizations have made achievement and success possible for the supported workers whom they employ,” explains The Arc Baltimore Executive Director Stephen H. Morgan. “They have committed both the time and resources to enable individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to be productive and confident members of the workforce, setting a tremendous example that inspires the entire business community to do the same.”

The Employers of Distinction Awards Breakfast is open to employers and business executives throughout the region. For more information, contact Lauren Seabolt at 410-296-2272 or lseabolt@thearcbaltimore.org, or visit The Arc Baltimore website at www.thearcbaltimore.org.

About The Arc Baltimore

Dedicated to providing advocacy and high quality, life-changing supports since 1949 in Baltimore City and Baltimore County, The Arc Baltimore supports more than 6,000 adults and children with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. As one of the nation’s largest and most respected organizations of its kind, The Arc Baltimore is an indispensable resource, providing employment training, residential services, supported employment, and other programs and services. For more information, visit www.thearcbaltimore.org or call 410-296-2272.