Thursday, March 28, 2024

Financial aid now available to BC businesses to help hire people with disabilities

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BC small businesses will now have access to financial support to create environments for people with disabilities.

According to the BC government, the new $4.8 million grant with the Accessible British Columbia Act from the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction is designed to support small business employers hire people with disabilities, as well as procure the necessary tools to support them.

It’ll provide direct financial assistance to improve physical environments, technology, communication, and access to information for employees with disabilities.

Small Business employers can apply for grants of up to $1,000 per business. Grant applications are open from June 21st, to April 30th, 2022 for a range of eligible services.

The grant can be used to improve working environments, training, and policies, as well as purchase technology and communication documents such as ASL or braille versions of policies or documents.

The grant will be available to BC businesses with between one and 50 employees (part-time or full time) providing they include a covering memo describing the item(s) and/or service(s) they are purchasing.

“Almost a quarter of B.C.’s population are living with a disability, which ranges from physical disabilities to invisible ones like mental illness and communications challenges. We want to enable small businesses to retain and hire people with disabilities and to create long term employment opportunities so every person can fully participate in their community,” says Tom Conway, CEO of Small Business BC.

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