EPI-HAB Phoenix, Inc. operates under one primary goal: “to provide meaningful employment for individuals with epilepsy and other challenges by performing valued work for area businesses.” For more than 60 years, our organization has emphasized the abilities of our employees, not their disabilities.
We are always thrilled to learn about new organizations and initiatives that share our commitment to the local disabled community. Recently, we were blown away by the scope of the newly-announced Phoenix Precision Project, of which longtime EPI-HAB partner Salt River Project is a charter member.
What is Phoenix Precision Project?
Phoenix Precision Project is a new, innovative partnership aiming to create hundreds of jobs over the next few years for adults with autism and other developmental disabilities.
The initiative is led by nonprofit community developer First Place and The Precisionists Inc. (TPI), a company that advises and assists companies in hiring people with disabilities. By the end of the year, TPI plans to build an Innovation & Technology Center in the Phoenix area and hopes to secure more than 10 business and government clients.
How is Salt River Project involved?
Three organizations have already committed to the Phoenix Precision Project: Arizona public power utility Salt River Project (SRP), the Arizona Department of Economic Security and Mobile Mini.
TPI works with its employment partners to assess, train, and place people with disabilities in project-based positions, including software development, software testing, database analytics, cybersecurity, backoffice accounting, data entry and auditing reports. Some of these tasks are performed on-site at SRP and other charter member companies’ locations; others will be performed at TPI’s Innovation & Technology Center.
Through the Phoenix Precision Project, SRP has hired eight full-time TPI associates for its information technology department, with all associates being paid competitive wages.
“Right now, we’re looking to expand the program within the company,” said Stephanie Winn, SRP’s manager of talent acquisition, in an interview. “We are working on getting other departments to sign on.”
What does Phoenix Precision Project look to achieve?
TPI expects the program to create more than 500 Arizona jobs for adults with autism and other disabilities within the next three to five years—and about 1,000 jobs by 2025.
“This is a big win for our community and our state,” said Denise Resnik, founder of First Place, who recruited the Precisionists to Arizona. “It represents public, private, philanthropic and nonprofit collaboration at its finest. It helps set the bar higher for what we can expect for people who have a different ability and to create more hopeful futures.”
How does EPI-HAB lend a hand to SRP?
In addition to its commitment to the Phoenix Precision Project, SRP supports local adults with epilepsy and other challenges through its partnership with EPI-HAB. SRP looks to the EPI-HAB team to complete repetitive work that saw high employee turnover when assigned in-house.
EPI-HAB receives SRP’s M-Power units (used by SRP’s prepaid price plan customers) several times per day, strips each unit of its packaging materials and sorts them by model number. Each unit is then scoped for operational defects, and the units that pass inspections are deep cleaned. Once thoroughly cleaned, the M-Power units are repackaged, with all new informational brochures and returned to the warehouse, where they’ll await re-issue to the next customer.
From simple hand labor to complex assembly, EPI-HAB can do it all! Are you wondering how EPI-HAB can help your company? Contact us today to learn more: 602-254-7027
