Mission
 
The mission is to create a resource center that provides for the dynamic exchange of knowledge among public and private businesses, community leaders, as well as job seekers, employees and consumers with disabilities.
 
 
Vision
 
The vision is a business-led organization that serves as a resource center for employers who seek to understand, utilize, and benefit from the valuable resources that people with disabilities represent in both the consumer and labor markets. 
 
 
Background
 
The Business Leadership Network (BLN) was a project of the former federal President's Committee on Employment of Persons with Disabilities (PCEPD), Employer Subcommittee.  Initially, ten states including Michigan were selected to pilot this project. Currently there are networks operating in most of the states.  Information is available at www.usbln.org.  In 2004, the Business Leadership Network in Michigan reengineered itself to better serve the community. 
 
  
Involvement
 
We seek leaders and professionals who recognize the benefits of including people with disabilities in their workforce and marketplace and view people with disabilities as strategic business partners in today’s workplace.
 
 
Benefits
 
·        Businesses actively market their products and services to consumers with disabilities because doing so creates profit.
 
·        Employers actively recruit, hire, train, advance, and support workers (with disabilities) because doing so raises productivity.
 
·        Agencies and vendors (that exist to serve the employment needs of people with disabilities) recognize and respond to the fact that employer satisfaction is a fundamental service outcome that must be addressed to guarantee their success and survival.
 
·        People with disabilities, once hired and properly accommodated in their jobs, are not “workers with disabilities”, but simply workers.

 

 
Goals

 

The MIBLN offers outstanding programs, services, and activities through its resource center.  The information below will assist you in learning more about what you can receive through the MIBLN.
  
Employer Consultation & Technical Assistance:  To aid employers in their efforts to maximize productivity in their workforce through hiring, training, supporting, and advancing workers with disabilities. To aid employers in their efforts to reach and appeal to the market niche identified as consumers who have disabilities.
 
Training:  To advance employer and coworker knowledge and skill in the effective integration of workers with disabilities into the business organization. To advance the knowledge and skill of agencies and vendors (that exist to serve the employment needs of people with disabilities) to effectively and efficiently interface with employers on disability issues. To advance the knowledge and skill of people with disabilities have to effectively represent themselves as consumers in the marketplace and workers in the workplace.
 
Liaison/Networking Support:  To create, maintain, and develop linkages between employers, person’s with disabilities and their representative organizations, agencies, and vendors and to encourage communication between them.
 
Employment Service Consultation:  To re-orient employment service providers such that their values, structures and efforts respond to employer satisfaction with their outcomes. To facilitate the Placement, Training, Advancement, and Support of workers (with disabilities) in new employment or return to work using innovative best practice models.
 
Research & Development:  To subject the structures and practices of the Business Leadership Network of Michigan to rigorous quality control for the purposes of continuous improvement of service delivery and employer/member satisfaction. To advance best practices in the placement and career advancement of people with disabilities through applied research. To disseminate research findings for the benefit of Business Leadership Network of Michigan members, Business Leadership Networks across the nation, and the related helping professions and academic programs.
 
Public Relations:  To raise public awareness of the efforts of the Business Leadership Network of Michigan and its members to (a) hire and advance workers with disabilities and (b) market themselves to consumers with disabilities.
 
 

Join us today!