Richard Davis Email & Phone Number

Minneapolis, Mn, Us

United States

Chair the Employment Committee of the largest organization of the blind in the U.S. Manage annual Job Seeker Seminar and Job Fair at the National Federation of the Blind Convention. Advise D.C. area Job Fair at annual Washington Seminar. Oversee NFB Jobs listserv, Twitter job postings, and new website which is still under construction: http://employment.nfb.org/ The above things have been either added or enhance during my tenure. Getting blind people good jobs is the goal of the committee, and we are willing to enter into partnerships with any employer, training service provider, or other program that can help us advance our goals. If you can help, e-mail me at ddavis@blindinc.org.

About 50% of my job at BLIND, Inc. is helping our students explore careers and teaching them how to search and interview successfully for jobs. The most common statistic bandied about is that there is a 70% plus unemployment/underemployment rate among working age blind people. But if you know anything about statistics, they don't apply to individuals. At BLIND, Inc. we measure our success by whether our graduates either go directly into employment or into higher education and from there into employment. Using that measure, our student success rate is over 85%, closer to 90%.The difference in our student success rate versus the employment rate of blind people in general has to do with our expectations, which are very high, our operating philosophy, which comes from the National Federation of the Blind, and the excellence of our skills instruction, all of which draw blind people from throughout the country, and occasionally from other regions of the world. And the fact that our students get jobs and do well in them doesn't hurt either.If what we do sounds interesting and you would like to consider our students for employment, or if you would like to help out in other ways send me a note on LinkedIn, or e-mail me at ddavis@blindinc.org.

United States, Headquartered In Minneapolis, Minnesota

Consulting in anything that has to do with blindness and/or work with the blind. Have testified as an expert witness in discrimination court cases, worked with managers and staff of rehabilitation agencies, and conducted seminars for National Federation of the Blind divisions, state affiliates, and members. Customers include: Brown, Goldstein & Levy, Ho'opono Services for the Blind (Hawaii) , Oklahoma Visual Services, National Association of Blind Rehabilitation Professionals, National Organization of Parents of Blind Children, Utah Services for the Blind, and the NFB of Utah. National expert on employment of blind people, informed choice, and Individual Plans for Employment.

This is the consulting firm I run on a part time and occasional basis. I do expert witness testimony in court cases involving blind people, seminars, blind agency management and program consulting, etc.

I was a political appointee under the administration of Governor Arne Carlson, a moderate Republican. At that time, State Services for the Blind (SSB) was a full division of the Minnesota Department of Jobs and Training (DJT), later the Minnesota Department of Economic Security (DES). SSB had 120 employees and a $13 million budget. Much of my time was spent keeping SSB intact, which was difficult, given two attempts, in 1995 and 1999, by my superiors to merge it with the Rehabilitation Services Division, which I fought successfully with the help of the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota. When the two men who were behind both attempts became the department's commissioner and deputy commissioner, I knew my days were numbered, and following a discussion with them in January 2000, I submitted my resignation.As a board member, I persuaded the National Council of State Agencies for the Blind (NCSAB) to develop a partnership with the National Federation of the Blind (NFB). That partnership has lasted to the present day, and it was instrumental in defeating the Careers Bill, which would have ended public rehabilitation, in the U.S. Congress. Working with a committee of blindness agencies and consumer organizations convened by the NFB, I wrote the joint position statement opposing the Careers Bill, and then worked through the NFB, of which I am a long time member, to defeat it. Since my boss at the time favored the bill, opposing it was risky business. Keeping SSB from being swallowed up by the Minnesota WorkForce Center System was another of the challenges I faced. At the time, everyone in the department's management were practicing groupthink, so I ended up being the one to ask the hard questions. To keep SSB funds from being siphoned off by its infrastructure, I took on the job of developing the system's cost allocation methodology and getting it approved by the Rehabilitation Services Administration.

When Fred Schroeder became Executive Director of the newly created agency, he hired me to turn the center around. I was able to do that, and before long, it was considered on a par with the three NFB training centers: BLIND, Inc., the Colorado Center for the Blind, and the Louisiana Center for the Blind. Due to a reorganization in the field services department, I also served as southern area supervisor over the Alamogordo, Roswell, and Las Cruces offices. Loved the job.

Mfa (Partly Completed), Writing

Activities and Societies: University of Iowa Writer's WorkshopI am a grad school dropout. I ran out of money and decided to find a job.

Ba, English, History

Activities and Societies: Circle K, Alpha Sigma Phi, Student Senate, Concordian newspaper, Student Court.Great place; a little out.

Bachelor Of Arts - Ba, English Language And Literature/Letters

Activities and Societies: Alpha Sigma Phi, Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities