Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation Helps Fill Tech Employment Gap by Collaborating to Empower Youth with Disabilities

CES 2023 Future of Work Presentation Highlights Benefits of Assistive Technology and Inclusive Job Skills Training to Contribute to a Global, Sustainable Smart Society

Mitsubishi Electric and Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation (MEAF) will present at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas on the benefits of harnessing the use of assistive technology to prepare and empower youth with disabilities to access workforce training programs to help fill today’s high-tech employment gap and contribute to a global, sustainable smart society.

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“We are working to address the tech skills gap by supporting organizations that help build a pipeline of diverse, capable and reliable talent to meet the workforce needs of today and tomorrow”

Since 1991, MEAF has worked with nonprofit partners to develop curricula, learning technologies, and corporate alliances to promote inclusive, quality education to empower youth with disabilities and prepare them for the competitive job market. According to Kevin R. Webb, senior director at MEAF, despite slight gains made by workers with disabilities as reported in the Kessler Foundation and the University of New Hampshire November 2022 National Trends in Disability Employment (nTIDE) Report, people with disabilities are still twice as likely to be unemployed as people without disabilities. While this pool of capable talent sits on the sidelines, the 2018 Skills Gap and Future of Work Study by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute predict that 2.4 million manufacturing jobs will go unfilled by 2028, while the 2021 Salesforce and RAND Europe survey predicts the digital skills gap could lead to $11.5 trillion in cumulative lost GDP growth by 2028.

“We are working to address the tech skills gap by supporting organizations that help build a pipeline of diverse, capable and reliable talent to meet the workforce needs of today and tomorrow,” said Webb. “The nonprofit partners with which we have collaborated and funded develop highly sophisticated learning programs with leading technology platforms that are very much in-demand to prepare youth with disabilities with the skills to help meet today’s workforce needs.”

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Examples of leading technology learning programs supported by MEAF include: NSITE’s Cisco®-certified 40-week training model that prepares individuals who are blind or visually impaired for careers in IT and cybersecurity; Career Launch@Perkins, an innovative customer experience workforce development program for people who are visually impaired and interested in Salesforce® and customer service careers; The Uniquely Abled Project® which prepares young people with autism for careers as CNC machine operators; and Exceptional Minds’ academy and studio for artists and animators with autism, providing them with valuable experience to work in gaming and on Hollywood studio films.

Webb, who also leads sustainability and social impact efforts at Mitsubishi Electric US, Inc., states that the Foundation’s work is just one facet of Mitsubishi Electric’s broader environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy to advance a global, sustainable smart society by using the power of the company’s people, processes, products, and philanthropy to address societal challenges.

“Our offerings span many industries that are vital contributors to growing a smart society,” Webb said. “That puts us is in a unique position to gather data-driven, cross-industry business insights that will improve our solutions, help our customers achieve their business goals, and – over time – help solve macro social challenges such as accelerating decarbonization, optimizing use and re-use of vital resources, and promoting well-being and inclusion for all people, especially those with disabilities.”

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