Community Employment Inc. creates revenue, jobs

Community Employment Inc. helps individuals with disabilities find employment. And when the 501(c)3 not-for-profit turned to the task of fund raising, it developed a program that it hopes will bring not only dollars, but also jobs.
That new program is Consider It Sold!, a service that acts as a broker for individuals and businesses interested in selling surplus items on the Internet. And it provides another employment outlet for the disabled persons its parent organization was founded to support.
“We started this in an effort to help us with alternative funding,” said Amy Waldrop, Community Employment Inc.’s administrative manager.
“But also, (it’s) another place where people with disabilities can go and make competitive wage – actually the workers … make above competitive wage – and can learn skills that they wouldn’t have the chance to learn out in the community,” said General Manager Jenny Smith.
Currently, there are three workers with disabilities among the five staff employed at Consider It Sold!, and as the business grows, the goal is to offer benefits to those employees, Smith said.
“And if it grows as we hope it does, we will employ 30 people,” Waldrop said.
Sellers bring their wares to the Consider It Sold! office at 1419 S. Enterprise, where staffers evaluate, research, photograph, write descriptions, list on the Internet, sell, package, and ship the merchandise for a percentage of the sale price. Fees are determined by a sliding scale: items $100 and under are assessed a 25 percent service charge; items that bring in more than $3,000 are charged a flat rate of $350.
Consider It Sold! also accepts donated items to sell in a similar manner; proceeds go to Community Employment Inc., and a fair market estimate of the item’s value will be provided to the donor for tax filing.
Matt Thomas, operations manager for Consider It Sold!, said that the service, which began in October 2004, started with an estimated 50 items for sale and now posts an average of 16 to 20 items per day.
“We’re certainly looking for – and can do – more than that,” Thomas said. His goal is to post 600 items per month, he said.
As of March 10, the service sold 1,035 items for a total of $16,873, Thomas said. He estimated that 99 percent of those items were brokered rather than donated.
The auction assistance service is not the only fund-raising effort Community Employment Inc. has in the works, either. Thomas said that he is working on adding an automobile listing service to Consider It Sold!’s offerings, and had just implemented an appraisal program that will charge $25 for an item to be evaluated and given a certificate of appraisal value that is recognized by the Association of Online Appraisers.
The appraisal will be done by an outside source. Of the $25 payment, $20 will be transferred to that vendor and Consider It Sold! will retain $5 for its role in the service, which includes photographing the item, writing detailed descriptions, and forwarding the information to the vendor, Thomas said.
This year, Community Employment Inc. also added a new position to its staff roster, a public relations coordinator whose duties include implementing fund-raising events and soliciting donations.
Mary Rothenheber has taken on that responsibility; she said that her long-term goals include planning four events per year and developing a roster of annual donors. Rothenheber is now focusing on introducing herself to local businesses – she’s a North Dakota native new to the Springfield area – and spreading the word about Community Employment Inc. and Consider It Sold!
She said she would like to find a car dealership to donate an automobile for a raffle that could be held during the Chocolate Blues Silent Auction, a fund-raising event that will be presented by the Decision Makers Network. Chocolate Blues, benefiting Community Employment Inc., will be held May 13 at the Oasis Convention Center.
Waldrop and Smith founded Community Employment Inc. in May 2002. It is one of six supported employment providers in Greene County.
Through Community Employment, persons with disabilities can obtain functional assessments, assistance with employment plans, job development, coaching and follow-alongs.
The benefits to employers include trained staffers matched to specific jobs by physical ability as well as personal interest, lower turnover rates, and employer tax credits. On turnover, according to Community Employment’s annual report, 70 percent of individuals who found employment in 2004 retained their jobs through the first 90 days, and Waldrop said that the organization recently celebrated one client’s 10-year anniversary.
The community benefits, Waldrop said, because employed workers receive reduced government benefits, as well as have additional income to spend at local businesses and retailers.
In three years, the organization has grown from a budget of $150,000 to an estimated $1.5 million in 2005, Smith said. A Joplin office was added in January, and there are plans to open another office within the next six months. That office will be outside of Springfield, but an exact location has not been determined, Smith said.
Community Employment Inc. placed 91 people in jobs in 2004 and has served 298 individuals since its opening.
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