Valley Packaging Industries plans summer camp for teens with disabilities who want to work in manufacturing

APPLETON - Valley Packaging Industries is partnering with Nuts, Bolts and Thingamajigs (NBT) to introduce a summer camp that will help train individuals with disabilities to work in the manufacturing field.

The NBT Inclusion Camp, presented and funded by Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation and Nestle USA, will last from July 25 to Aug. 19 at Valley Packaging in Appleton.

It is a four-week program that allows participants to tour local manufacturing facilities, and work through soft skill training and job readiness activities. Attendants will also participate in a paid work experience at Valley Packaging in a variety of production lines, where they will get the opportunity to learn "hard" manufacturing skills.

Participants are paid above minimum wage for their work at the facility. The camp is of no cost to participants.

Individuals must be 16 or older and have a disability to attend the camp.

Valley Packaging runs a number of employment opportunities centered around individuals with disabilities or other disadvantages.

"This [camp] was just a natural fit with our mission and just gave us an opportunity to try something new and try to meet some of the unmet needs in our community," said Megan Gerl, director of mental health and education at Valley Packaging.

The company's mission is to promote the dignity and worth of individuals who have disabilities or are disadvantaged and to assist them in developing their optimum level of social, vocational and economic independence in the community, according to its website.

Nuts, Bolts and Thingamajigs, a foundation run by Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, Intl., has presented many successful summer manufacturing camps for participants age 12 to 16.

Their first inclusion camp was introduced in 2021, specifically designed for young people with disabilities, and with it's success, NBT was able to launch three additional camps this summer.

In an article by Entrepreneur, the Department of Labor found employers who embraced disability saw a 90% increase in employee retention. The professional services company Accenture also found that companies that have improved their inclusion of persons with disabilities are two times more likely to outperform their peers in terms of total shareholder returns.

In March, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the labor force participation rate for individuals with disabilities was 37.8% with an unemployment rate of 9.8%. This is in contrast to the labor force participation rate for those without disabilities being 77.2% with an unemployment rate of 3.6%.

NBT says tapping into the talent pool of workers with disabilities would significantly help countless manufacturers who are impacted by the skilled labor shortage.

“VPI is all about promoting inclusion and innovative workforce solutions to our Fox Cities community," said Gerl in a news release. "The partnership with NBT and the Inclusion Camp is a great way to show both individuals with disabilities and employers that the individuals we work with can make a significant impact on their workforce needs and increase inclusion in our community."

Applications for the camp are due by June 30 and can be accessed via virtual application or in a physical application that can be printed and mailed/emailed in.

Application can be mailed to Valley Packaging Industries, 2730 N. Roemer Road, Appleton, WI 54911, or email to Gerl at mgerl@vpind.com.

Virtual applications can be accessed here. 

Reach Jelissa Burns at 920-226-4241 or jburns1@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @burns_jelissa or on Instagram at burns_jelissa.

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Valley Packaging Industries plans program for teens with disabilities