They’ve adopted a stretch of highway for cleanup, they have a Relay for Life team, they volunteered for Art Battle, they made Christmas cards for seniors – and they’re opening a consignment shop in Middleton.
They’re local residents labelled with a disability, and most are members of People First.
“People First is a self-advocacy group for individuals labelled with disability,” said Jaymee-Lynne Dowell who is taking a leave of absence from her job to get the store up and running. “They advocate for proper housing, real wages, just inclusive treatment all around. It’s their way to speak for themselves.”
The Nictaux mother of three said People First created a second, sister non-profit called Inclusive Opportunities Association, and that’s the organization the store will open under.
“I work for Community Support Services, so for the last seven years I’ve helped individuals labelled with a disability learn to live independently in the community and some of my clients are People First members. So when they were stuck with no adviser and I got back off maternity leave they kind of wrote me in. And it just went from there.”
INCLUSIVE
“The consignment store is opening as the host for an inclusive employment skill development program,” said Dowell. “Our goal with that is to take on participants and pay them at real wages. So for the first six months they’re going to get the basic amount for minimum wage. At the six-month mark they’ll get a raise that will improve their self-worth, and their confidence -- all that stuff -- to go forward.”
Dowell said she’ll go out into different labour markets and interview different employers.
“’What are the skill sets that you require to employ anybody in this facility, not just people with disabilities, but anybody?’” she said. “Then we’re going to hone in to that with the individual where they want to work. I don’t want to see them set up in just any location because that’s setting up for failure. We set them up were they’re interested in working and we help them develop the skills required.”
She said it breaks the barrier between what’s discrimination and what’s lack of skill.
“We can support them going forward and also be employer to provide that support so the transition is very smooth,” she said, explaining the consignment shop will be used as a stepping stone in the process. “We can constantly have new people coming in and learning the skills and then being placed out in their permanent workplace. And we will pay them minimum wage because that is what we’re trying to promote – real work for real wages.”
THE STORE
“The consignment store will have kids’ clothing, women’s clothing, men’s clothing, some household stuff,” she said. “We’re also going to have furniture and stuff and hockey soaps from The Store Next Door in Yarmouth, which is also another social enterprise – that people label with a disability. They get paid minimum wage as well. They make amazing furniture out of hockey sticks. We’re going to have some of their stuff in the store to sell as well.”
People First member Eileen Prosser says the idea of a store is amazing. Asked if she was going to be an employee at the store she said she was. “I’m going to learn how to use the cash machine. And give out the proper change back,” she said. “Because I’ve never done that before. And I want to learn how to do that.”
Prosser is no stranger to work. She’s been employed at Tim Hortons and Pharmasave. She’s also a Special Olympics cross-country skier winning national and world gold. She said she thinks she’ll feel really included at the consignment shop.
Karen Montgomery will be helping out three days a week. She currently works but only gets paid $50 every two weeks for 25 hours of labour.
“I’d like to have a regular job to make more money,” said Montgomery. But she can’t do Project 50 and something else. Dowell said he government won’t allow it, and Montgomery doesn’t want to leave her present job just yet.
THE MEMBERS
The Annapolis County chapter of People First has 21 members, 17 of them active, Dowell said.
“We have other members who aren’t actually People First members,” she said. “They’re individuals labeled with a disability that I’ve worked with Community Support Services. Altogether we probably have about 30 different people with their hands in this to get it ready and going.”
That doesn’t include the board of directors and volunteers who aren’t labelled with a disability.
“I’m looking to break the stigma against individuals labeled with a disability,” she said. “Some of these guys’ work ethics – would anybody else on assistance work for 50 cents an hour just in lieu of that check.”
While the members all want to get paid a real wage for the work they do, Dowell believes it’s also important that they volunteer as well.
“I think a big part of inclusion is showing them all aspects of being a strong member of society and the community, and part of that is volunteering and giving back, not just expecting it,” she said. “They’ve been awesome. The hardest workers I’ve ever met. They keep me focused and grounded.”
OPENING
The consignment shop is at 159 Commercial Street across from Food Land and it opens on May 1 which is National Inclusive Employment Day.
“We’re having a grand opening party,” she said. “We’re having a barbecue, we’re going to sell 50/50, and we’re going to sell tickets on our Mother’s Day draw. And we’re going to have a meet-and-greet with some of the members who can be there. We’re really looking for community support on this.”
Opening day runs from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Dowell stressed that the venture is non-profit, they don’t have any grants yet, and that she’s invested her own money to get it started.
“I’ve taken a leap of faith. I’ve left my job. I have three kids. I’m a young mom,” she said. “I believe in these guys so much I’m going to take the leap with them and we’re going to make it work.”
She’s a believer. The new store is called More Than A Label Consignment. The motto? ‘Labels are for clothes, NOT people.’
“I want the world to see them the way that I see them,” she said, “and I think through this they will – see their work ethic and their drive and their heart and their commitment. They’ll see all that.”
GoOnline: More Than A Label Consignment
