The Maine Business Leadership Network is a state affiliate of the United States Business Leadership Network (USBLN). The BLN offers member employers resources for recruiting candidates with disabilities, information on disability issues/topics, recognition for best disability employment practices, and exposure to an untapped market for their goods and services. We also view our role as that of a catalyst and a "connecting point" to promote dialogue and sharing of best practices between employers, in a peer-to-peer setting.

1. Maine Business
Leadership Network
EnsuringPositiveEmploymentOutcomesforPeople
withDisabilitiesinMaine
Maine BLN – Jim Baumer Augusta Kiwanis Club 3/28/2013

2. Affiliate of the USBLN
• Serves as the collective voice of over 50 national
affiliates
• An employer-led, non-partisan, business-to-
business network Represents over 5,000 national
employers

3. Walgreens Hiring Model
• Inclusive
• Goal to have 10 percent of all Walgreens’
distribution centers staffed by people with
disabilities
• Randy Lewis, former senior VP of Supply Chain
and Logistics
• Retail Employees With Disabilities (REDI)

4. Other National Employers
• Ernst & Young
• Wal-Mart
• Marriott
• Qualcomm
• Southwest Airlines
• Microsoft
• Lowes

5. Maine BLN affiliate
• Launched in April 2012
• First director, August 2012
• Partners
• Maine State Chamber
• Maine Bureau of Rehabilitation Services
• Bureau of Employment Services/MDOL
• DHHS/OACPD & OAMHS
• Lead employer/Procter & Gamble-Tambrands

6. Maine BLN Mission
The mission of the Maine Business Leadership Network (BLN):
• be responsive to the needs of Maine’s employers and the demands of
the state’s workforce.
• work closely with our business and community partners to create a
culture that is inclusive of people with disabilities.
• recognize talents of people with disabilities as workers and
entrepreneurs, as well as customers and consumers, and their essential
role in Maine’s economic vitality.
• encourages and facilitates a business to business approach through
collaboration with employers and other partners in promoting best
practices, providing information and resources, and developing more
sustainable, enhanced opportunities for qualified people with
disabilities, including entering and succeeding in the workplace.

7. Maine BLN Goals
• Assist businesses to attract and retain new
employees/customers with disabilities
• Develop business leaders who value diversity
• Promote communities that include people with
disabilities
• Compile best practices of employers that are
successful in hiring people with disabilities

8. Making the Case to Business
• ROI
• Increase revenue/reduce costs
• Boost your image
• Attract customers from disability community
($1 trillion)
• 87 percent of Americans prefer to do business with
companies committed to hiring people with disabilities

9. The Value of Becoming a
BLN Member
• Dialogue from a business to business perspective; BLN members
have a ready-made network;
• Exchange ideas on diversity, disability and corporate culture;
• Share ongoing successes and challenges in the workplace,
marketplace and supply chain;
• Develop promising practices;
• Access to pertinent disability-hiring information;
• Establish themselves as a disability-friendly business in the
community.

10. Workforce Demands Support It
• 1 in 5 Americans have a disability
• Maine has an aging workforce; median age is
41.5
• People with disabilities are more loyal
• Hiring people with disabilities makes sense from
a talent management standpoint

11. BLN Plans in Maine
• Increase business membership of BLN
• Develop sustainability
• Regional employment conferences in 2013
• Partner with others statewide (SHRM, DHC)

12. Resources
• USBLN
http://www.usbln.org/
• Think Beyond the Label
http://www.thinkbeyondthelabel.com/
• National Council on Disability
• http://www.ncd.gov/
• Job Accommodation Network (JAN)
• http://askjan.org/
• Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP)
• http://www.dol.gov/odep/#.UHL2flEROv4

13. Contact the Maine BLN
• Jim Baumer, director
• director@mainebln.org
• 207-215-1492
• http://mainebln.org