Aiding the blind:
Artist honored for ‘encore’ career providing skills to job seekers
Woman is honored for “encore” career providing skills to job seekers.
Many people move to San Francisco for its jobs. Others are attracted to its vibrant culture. Kate Williams came because she could enjoy the city without a car.
Williams, 72, arrived from Southern California after she began losing her vision 25 years ago because of a congenital disease.
“San Francisco is a mecca for individuals who are blind and visually impaired,” she said. “I wanted to continue my independence and lead a full and rich life.”
Now she helps others do the same. At Light-House for the Blind and Visually Impaired, she
runs a program that trains job candidates in resume preparation, interviewing and other skills.
Citing Williams’ work over the past three years, Encore.org recently awarded her a $25,000 Purpose Prize, which celebrates innovators older than 60 who create an “encore” career and apply their life experiences to help their communities.
According to the National Federation for the Blind, the unemployment rate for the roughly 4 million people in the U.S. who report vision loss is between 65 and 75 percent.
Matching skills to careers
Seeking to change that, the LightHouse program has worked with 115 people, and graduates now earn $1.65 million in annual salaries instead of claiming government benefits, said Bryan Bashin, the nonprofit’s executive director.
He said blind people have often been steered into stereotypical roles, such as massage therapists.
“We take individuals who come here with very specific backgrounds, and we help them actualize it and become who they really want to be in the world,” he said. “We have office managers and salespeople and professors and teachers and administrators and on and on.”
LightHouse, which recently held a seminar with 50 job seekers and Google, has put a special focus on opening doors in San Francisco’s thriving high-tech sector.
“We’ve given big tech a huge payroll tax break,” Bashin said, referring to the 2011 tax exemption designed to draw firms like Twitter to the blighted Mid-Market area. “We have lots of blind techies in the Bay Area who would love to work for big tech here. We find the hiring process, the outreach very insular. And so we would like to partner with big tech especially because this is where the jobs are.”
One successful graduate of the program, Sara Hadsell, said Williams and LightHouse taught her how to network, which helped her land a job at the Department of Labor after she had sent out 100 or more resumes without any response.
“Kate is the kindest, most
“Kate truly cares about all of her students and works hard to make the connections that they need.” Sara Hadsell, job program graduate
caring person I know,” Hadsell said in an e-mail. “Kate truly cares about all of her students and works hard to make the connections that they need to point them in the right direction.”
Williams, who is also a singer and artist, came to LightHouse after working in recruiting for pharmaceutical and technology companies in the Bay Area. After one company folded in 2009 and her vision continued to decline, she was afraid no one would hire her.
Work ethic ‘off the charts’
But she now sees hiring blind workers as smart business, with companies creating an “inclusive environment” while obtaining a devoted employee.
“They’re so excited about having a job,” she said. “Their work ethic is just off the charts. They’re gonna be there early. They’re gonna stay late. Also, the turnover can be reduced because they tend to stay with the company longer.
“There are pluses to being blind,” she said. “It forces you into looking for change.” Haiy Le is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: hle@sfgate.com