On Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021, Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon and the City of Knoxville’s Disability Services Office will participate in a virtual celebration hosted by the Knoxville Area Employment Consortium of businesses that have successfully employed people with disabilities and individuals who are helping make the workforce more inclusive. 

“People with disabilities are our community’s largest population of untapped talent,” says Stephanie Cook, the City’s ADA Coordinator. “We’re excited to support the Knoxville Area Employment Consortium’s efforts to bring much-deserved attention to the value of people with disabilities in the workplace and how easy it is to include them.”

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

WATE TV Channel 6 News Anchor Lori Tucker will emcee the virtual event, which will include presentations by Mayor Kincannon, Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs, Parkwest Hospital President/CAO Neil Heatherly, Ingles CFO Ron Freeman and United HealthCare Director of Operations David Quick. 

During the ceremony, presenters will announce this year’s winners of awards named after Rudy Sullivan, co-founder of the American Job Center, and Christopher Willett, a Project SEARCH program graduate and Ingles employee who contracted COVID-19 and died in 2020. 

The event will be held on Zoom starting at 12 noon. Guests are asked to preregister at https://tiny.utk.edu/KAEClunch to receive the link to participate. 
            
For more information about the event, contact Paula Jones at [email protected]. 

For more information about the Knoxville Area Employment Consortium, visit www.kaectn.org. And learn more about the City’s Disability Services Office and resources available at www.knoxvilletn.gov/dso.