From the outside, it looks like just another three-level apartment building on Des Moines’ South Side. Inside, however, a number of training sessions are going on, each of them aimed at giving people with disabilities the skills they need to find employment.

Mainstream Living’s training center on Southeast McKinley Avenue, though still home to some residential clients, now also serves as classroom space for the agency’s vocational training programs.

It’s a new program area for Mainstream Living, which has provided residential services for people with developmental or mental disabilities in Greater Des Moines for about the past 20 years, said Pat Steele, Mainstream’s vocational services director. Steele said the agency began begin offering employment training last year to fill a gap created when Progress Industries stopped offering those services in Des Moines.

Mainstream is among a half-dozen agencies in Greater Des Moines working on the front lines to place more Iowans with disabilities into full-time employment.

According to a recent national Harris survey, the unemployment rate among people with disabilities is more than 65 percent. In Polk County, officials estimate there are more than 56,000 people with disabilities, of whom nearly 34,000 are unemployed.

At a January luncheon co-hosted by the Central Iowa chapter of the Society of Human Resource Management and Polk County Health Services, several companies shared their experiences in hiring people with disabilities.

In October, for instance, Principal Financial Group Inc. was among 16 companies that participated in a mentoring day coordinated by Easter Seals of Iowa.

“Our employees wanted to participate; we didn’t have any difficulty finding people who wanted to volunteer,” said Jennifer Gribble, Principal’s assistant director for diversity. “It’s really kind of a painless opportunity to explore your options in that area.”

Seeing firsthand the attitude of a disabled employee who now works in the operations department of Bankers Trust Co. through Easter Seals “has changed the hearts of a lot of people that she works with because they really love her and care for her,” said Renee Hardman, the bank’s senior vice president of human resources. “She’s proved to be one of the most dependable employees there.”

That employee began as a temporary worker with the bank in September 2003 and became a regular employee a year and a half ago.

“I think it’s critical to work to change the hearts of people who want to put up artificial barriers,” Hardman said. “That’s the No. 1 challenge. It’s not finding the people, we know they’re out there. It is changing the hearts and minds of management to show them and educate them about how this can work.”

Some agencies, among them Easter Seals, provide both screening and follow-up services for hiring people with disabilities.

“We act as a resource for human resource professionals,” said Ryan Uetz, a marketing specialist with Easter Seals, which currently has about 100 clients enrolled in three employment training programs.

“Once that person is hired, we do provide job coaching for that individual, as little or as much as you the business think you need, until that person is trained on their job, integrated with their tasks and is just another productive member of the staff.”

One of the programs Mainstream offers features computer applications classes of varying levels conducted by Manpower Inc. to prepare people to become temporary staffing employees.

“Right now we have 18 people in that program,” Steele said. “It varies from people who haven’t used a computer to others who may have more advanced skills. The reason we like working with Manpower is they do this training for people without disabilities, so they know the industry standards of how fast someone needs to work.”

Because the program is new, none of the participants have been placed yet, but Steele said he’s hopeful each will be able to find a position.

Christie Paul, a Mainstream client who currently works two days a week stuffing envelopes at the Iowa Medicaid office, is the first person to graduate from the clerical program, which she began in November. After she completes some additional classes, she hopes to begin looking for a full-time position within the next couple of months.

“I hope I can stay in a job longer than a year,” she said.

Joe Gardyasz can be reached by e-mail at joegardyasz@bpcdm.com.

Agencies offering hiring programs for people with disabilities in Greater Des Moines:

Creative Community Options – www.creativecommunityoptions.org

Easter Seals – www.eastersealsia.org

Goodwill Industries – www.dmgoodwill.org

Link Associates – www.linkassociates.org

Mainstream Living – www.mainstreamliving-dsm.org