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NISH

Logo of NISH, showing slogan text 'Creating Employment Opportunities For People With Severs Disabilities'. NISH, formerly the National Industries for the Severely Handicapped, is the national nonprofit agency designated by the Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind Or Severely Disabled to provide technical assistance to Community Rehabilitation Programs (CRPs) interested in obtaining federal contracts under the Javits-Wagner-O'Day (JWOD) Program. NISH is one of the two (National Industries for the Blind (NIB) being the other) central nonprofit agencies designated under the JWOD Program. NISH's role is to work closely with CRPs and government.

Through the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Program, NISH develops and maintains employment and training opportunities for people with severe disabilities. NISH provides associated CRPs regulatory guidance, training opportunities, product and service support, financial support, legislative updates, and additional supports.

NISH offers a variety of financial assistance programs to assist CRPs in starting new projects, provide incentives for CRPs to seek job-rich Procurement List additions, and assist in improving the performance and productivity of CRPs on contracts. It does this through the NISH loan, lease and grant programs.

NISH Ticket to Work Role

The Social Security Administration has overall program authority for the Ticket to Work Program and has awarded a contract to MAXIMUS to serve as the Program Manager to assist in the administration of the program. MAXIMUS has subcontracted with NISH to assist in the recruitment of Employment Networks (ENs). NISH's partnership with MAXIMUS creates, within the Workforce Development Department, a Ticket to Work Team devoted to marketing the Program.

NISH's team:

· Answers any questions a CRP may have: What payment method will best suit its needs?

· Walks a CRP through the easy application process - a non-competitive, open-ended award

· Provides a CRP access to free training - including NISH training designed specifically for Ticket to Work

· Joins a CRP at events in its NISH region or state - such as Regional National Council of Work Centers (NCWC) Conferences

· Is a CRPs central information source on this Program.

NISH Goals

· Sustain existing contracts and develop new jobs for people with severe disabilities within JWOD producing community rehabilitation programs

· Aggressively increase employment opportunities to realize higher wages, better benefits, upward mobility, and maximize integrated employment for people with severe disabilities.

· Increase and improve the level of training, technical assistance, service and support to our customers.

· Expand and strengthen NISH's ability to monitor, influence, and initiate federal legislative, regulatory and administrative activity affecting JWOD and other public policies impacting our customers

· Maintain and improve NISH's organizational effectiveness through leadership, good governance, strategic planning, resource stewardship, teamwork, technology, diversity and a highly skilled, trained and motivated team.

NISH Structure

The NISH organization consists of a National Office located in Vienna, Virginia, and six Regional Offices, located nationwide. The NISH National Office staff is responsible for a variety of tasks, including: back-up engineering support, product/service identification and development, training, costing/pricing review, contract administration, regulatory assistance, fiscal management, marketing, communications, workforce development, research and program development.

The NISH Regional Offices are staffed with project managers, engineers, cost/price analysts, and experts in a variety of different service and product areas. This decentralized organization facilitates working directly with nonprofit agencies and local offices of contracting activities to identify potential JWOD opportunities and carry out other functions associated with adding products and services to the Procurement List.

Contact Information

NISH
8401 Old Courthouse Road
Vienna, VA 22182

Phone: (571) 226-4660
Fax: (703) 849-8916
TDD: (703) 560-6512

Email: info@nish.org

Additional Information

NISH maintains an on-line list of Community Rehabilitation Programs (CRPs) affiliated with NISH or producing under the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Program at:
http://www.nish.org/NISH/Rooms/DisplayPages/layoutInitial?Container=com.webridge.entity.Entity[OID[8FA1D1883FEE184DA7FAE467737E5C82]]

Source

Information for this topic was drawn from the NISH website at:
http://www.nish.org/

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