After 50 years of serving Northern Arizona’s employers and adults with physical, intellectual and developmental disabilities, the nonprofit Hozhoni Foundation is looking to expand its partnerships in the Verde Valley to provide adults with disabilities with employment.
Hozhoni currently runs 16 group homes in Flagstaff, which is its main area of operation, and five in Prescott, while its office in Cottonwood, which opened prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, focuses solely on employment services. “Right now, we [have] a transition to employment class [in Cottonwood] that we’re trying to fill, and there’s four spots for that,” Hozhoni Employment Manager Michele Eisenberg said. “Then we have a group-supported employment area, where [clients] go out and work at SpringHill Suites in Cottonwood, doing housekeeping, and we have four to five spots open for that.”
Hotels in northern Arizona will hire Hozhoni for its employment support services, which can include duties such as room cleaning or grounds maintenance. Hozhoni will then supply the labor of adults with disabilities who learn work skills while earning a paycheck.
“[We cover] developing good work habits,” transition to employment instructor Melissa Smith explained. “For example, one of our clients is making the bed here at SpringHill Suites. She does great. But, the hotels mandate certain ways to make the bed so they have a certain appearance when a guest walks in the room. So we teach them all of those specific skills. We’ll cover being on time [and] being thorough … They learn to look at a situation and assess. That’s what we’re working [on] right now at SpringHill Suites. Assessing if a room’s not really dirty. Do we have to do the full cleaning? Or can we lighten up on it?”
The benefits to employers are multifaceted, Eisenberg said, because Hozhoni will assume all the liability along with responsibility for worker’s compensation and payroll when housekeeping crews are hired. Under this arrangement, the employer pays Hozhoni, which in turn pays its clients.
Hozhoni also offers vocational rehab assistance, which is more of a one-on-one experience that allows their clients with disabilities to work directly for a local employer. Then Hozhoni will support the person with job coaching or potentially helping them with transportation needs.
“The benefit [of that arrangement] would be that they come with a job coach that can help train the individual,” Eisenberg said. “That way, they’re not spending a lot of time training them, they can show him the ropes, they can get them through the orientation process, in case maybe they have a reading delay or something like that. The job coach would help them with that kind of stuff.” “Here in Flagstaff for instance, we have someone who’s deaf, and Hozhoni managed to get him through orientation with staff support … and he applied for direct deposit,” Eisenberg said.
“Those are the kinds of support that we can help them with. That way they’re not taking up time from the actual organizations’ people to try to work with them to get them through, especially if they have any kind of a [developmental] delay.”
“Hozhoni” is a Navajo word that can be translated as “beauty,” “beautiful” or “harmony and balance.”
“The impetus for opening up the Cottonwood branch was ‘Who else can we bless?’” Smith said. “What we do is we train in job and life skills to get them ready for the workplace if they’re not already. A number of them come to us having already had some work experience, [because] we are dealing with [people] only 16 years old and up.”
Beyond employment, Smith added, Hozhoni also attempts to train its clients in normative social skills.
“[Hozhoni] will cover coping skills, identifying things that they’re comfortable, uncomfortable for them and how to understand your typical situations, when you’re dealing with coworkers, supervisors, et cetera,” Smith said. “Everything from dress, grooming and good work habits. We don’t necessarily get into counseling per se. But when you’re dealing with people you have an element of that anyway.”
The foundation also offers opportunities for its clients to express themselves artistically and makes their art available at the Hozhoni Art Gallery next to its main office building at 2133 N. Walgreen Street in Flagstaff. The gallery’s website lists its offerings as including “prints, clothing, jewelry, mugs and other ceramics, scarves, ties, hats and greeting cards. We also provide studio workspaces stocked with art materials and supplies for our artists. We encourage them to experiment with many different mediums to let their creativity flow.”
The foundation is funded by the Navajo Nation, the Rehabilitative Services Administration and the Department of Economic Security’s Division of Developmental Disabilities.
“We are looking for community partners, so if there is someone who’s interested in attempting to hire someone with a disability we can work with, we’re always looking for those kinds of partners,” Eisenberg said.
Eisenberg can be contacted at (928) 600-6275 or by email to meisenberg@Hozhoni.com.
