To mark National Disability Employment Awareness Month, MMI Monthly spoke to a local employer who has a long history of hiring and retaining persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Nicole Jesse, whose family has owned La Casa Pizzaria on Leavenworth Street for 68 years, has no formal connection with the Munroe-Meyer Institute.
In fact, she’d never heard of it until she was teamed with an MMI parent during the 2017 SHARING the Green golf tournament. "MMI is a godsend," the parent told her.
But although Jesse wasn’t familiar with MMI, she has embraced one aspect of its mission. For more than two decades, she and her family have employed people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
"We have four employees right now who have come to us from different agencies," she said.
One came through an Omaha Public School program. "There was a gentleman who approached me many years ago, and I knew him because we went to grade school together," Jesse said.
One employee was placed through the Community Alliance.
Another was recommended by a server who also is a social worker.
So La Casa has never had a formal recruitment process or an official community partnership. Jesse has just interviewed people who’ve been recommended and, when the fit was right, hired them.
"I actually would love to be more proactive if we had someone we could work with on a regular basis," she said. "We’ve never actively recruited, but some of that is that I was unsure who to go to."
What Jesse is sure of is that her employees — one of whom has been with her for 20 years — are a valuable part of the La Casa team.
"The thing I would tell other employers is that these applicants have a wide range of abilities," she said. "There are all these labels we put on people, but until you have an opportunity to work with people, you don’t know what they can do. They may have some limitations, but hey, we all do. You never know what people are capable of until you work with them."
There can be a need for accommodation, she said. "Maybe our training plan might have to be tailored a bit. But in reality, you pretty much tailor your training plan to everybody."
Currently, Jesse has two part time cleaners, a customer assistant and dishwasher.
"You have to be flexible," she said. "If someone comes to you and you’re being told about the things they find difficult, you have to take time to listen to their strengths, too. Don’t let the labels limit the individual."
"There are a lot of individuals who are told ‘You can’t do this or that,’" she said. "As a business owner, you have to think about what people can do – how they can help make your business a success."
Scott Wright, a former Special Olympics athlete, has been working at LaCasa for 19 years. He enjoys the schedule and the different responsibilities. He works as a dishwasher, busboy and can fill in for other roles as needed.
"They’re good people to work for and good people to work with," he said.