STEP experiencing growth in services offered | News, Sports, Jobs

ABOVE: STEP Employment Director Abby McFarland, Intace and Compliance Manager LilyAnn Berg and HR Generalist Madysen Eckmann stand with their sign in front of their office building, where they manage the cases of 150 people with disabilities in or seeking employment. Of these, 110 are in Martin County.

FAIRMONT – With October being National Disability Employment Awareness Month, Support, Training and Employment (STEP) is helping dozens of local people with disabilities find and keep work.

STEP Executive Director Heidi Smith said they offer several different ways to engage people with disabilities in employment, from Medicaid waiver referrals through case managers and through Vocational Rehabilitation Services. Opportunities include support in direct hires, crew jobs and in-house pre-employment.

With direct hires, a company hires the person, and STEP can provide a job coach to provide support and ensure everything goes well. With crew jobs, a company will contract with STEP to hire a whole crew for a particular job. For pre-employment, STEP will offer individuals the opportunity to work on a project for minimum wage, helping them develop a particular skill.

STEP Intake and Compliance Manager LilyAnn Berg said the process of finding employment is very individualized.

“We do a lot of interviewing the person, their family, their caregivers, really find out what they’re looking for, what they’re interested in,” she said. “We do a lot of things called job trials. We go out and try different jobs in the community with them, see what they’re interested in doing. It’s a lot of very person-led, whatever they’re interested in doing.”

Having been in operation for around 65 years, STEP Employment Director Abby McFarland said the connections they’ve made benefit setting up places of employment for people.

“There are a lot of different businesses in the Fairmont area that work with STEP,” she said. “If we have certain individuals say they’re really interested in cats, we reach out to the Humane Society, and they let us come in and trial different things. If it’s something else they’re really interested in, we reach out to that business and do a work trial.”

Currently, STEP supports 150 individuals throughout the Martin, Faribault, Watonwan and Blue Earth County areas, including 110 in Martin County. Berg said this number has doubled since the COVID-19 pandemic.

To support all those individuals in finding work, Smith said the reputation they have developed has been helpful.

“We’ve created quite a reputation for being available, for being good,” she said. “That extra support helps if somebody says they might not have ever worked with people with disabilities. We explain how we support in the background or otherwise.”

They have also drastically increased their workforce. When Smith joined in June of 2023, there were 45 staff members. A little over two years later, they are now up to 85.

By helping people with disabilities find employment, McFarland said it helps them discover something they enjoy and socialize with others.

“It’s them feeling like they’re everybody else,” she said. “Being able to do something they enjoy doing, and not just always being told what to do. Being able to do something that they’re passionate about.”

Their main event during National Disability Employment Awareness Month is October 30, when they will be doing business after hours at their new location on 304 Downtown Plaza.

“We invite people to come and see,” Smith said. “We’ll have staff and folks we serve talking about what we do, if [people] want to learn more.”

With a month dedicated to awareness surrounding employment for people with disabilities, McFarland said anytime they can spread awareness is very important.

For more information, visit https://www.stepinc.org/.