Strategic Partnerships Lead to Career Building | Envision Blog

Strategic Partnerships Lead to Career Building

By Envision Marketing • Mar 03, 2022
A female envision employee sitting at a computer working.

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As the Envision Workforce Innovation Center (WIC) continues to grow and innovate, one of the focus areas is strategic partnerships that help to provide career opportunities for people who are blind or visually impaired. One of these recent partnerships is with Meritrust Credit Union, headquartered in Wichita, Kan. Many employers are feeling the pain of the current labor shortage and Meritrust has not been immune to these issues. To proactively and intentionally address these issues, Meritrust has partnered with Envision to develop accessibility within their workplace in order to hire people who are blind or visually impaired – who are ready, able and willing to work.

“Meritrust has made a commitment to test and implement change in order to become a more accessible workplace,” said Karyn Page, VP, Innovation for Envision. “We couldn’t be prouder of their efforts to enhance their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and to hire more people who are blind or visually impaired. Alison Roets will be the first of many who blaze this trail in Wichita.”

Lisa McCabe, Member Support Manager of the Meritrust Contact Center, has been supportive of Alison’s new role.

“I’m so excited that Alison will be joining our Contact Center team. She has been in training over the past 6 weeks learning how to support our members by phone,” said McCabe. “When Alison determined this was the career path she wanted to pursue, we happily encouraged her to apply for one of our open positions! She will be a great addition to our team.”

Envision’s WIC team worked hand-in-hand with Meritrust to identify ways they could improve their accessibility and be ready to employ more workers.

“This is what Envision is all about,” Page continued. “Identifying career paths for people, helping them to be more independent and fulfilled. Also, Meritrust is setting the gold standard for what DEI truly stands for by including people with disabilities.We hope that other organizations follow their lead. Their inclusion efforts prove they live their mission: to improve the lives of their members and the communities they serve.”


Moving Up, But Not Moving On
By Alison Roets

Alison Roets wearing her headset and sitting at the computer in WIC's call centerWorking at Envision’s BVI Workforce Innovation Center (WIC) has been an amazing experience. It’s so comforting to work with people who understand your day-to-day struggles and get advice from them on how to solve a problem. One of the main reasons why I love WIC so much is because the goal is to secure jobs for people who are blind or visually impaired in the community – and for me it happened in just over a year. I started working at WIC in October 2020 as an intern. In July of 2021, I was hired full-time as a Customer Care Specialist. Now in March of 2022, I will be starting as a Member Support Associate at Meritrust Credit Union. Thanks to the hard work everyone at WIC put in to get our placement contract at Meritrust, I was able to go through a full training program and excel in the position to a point that they offered me a job. I am very excited to start this new journey in my career. Even though I will miss my family here at WIC, the Meritrust team is accepting and understanding of my visual impairment. It means a lot to me to be accepted into their community without being asked to change. I can’t wait to make it an even more accessible environment so more people with sight loss can obtain jobs within more parts of the community. 

Editor’s Note: We are all proud of Alison and her accomplishments. She is one of many Envision enthusiasts who have been involved since a young child. Alison has been engaged in nearly all Envision programs and events including Heather’s Camp, Level Up, Casino Nights, fundraisers and more. We will miss you Alison and wish you the best of luck! We know you will excel in your next career journey.