SourceAmerica (formerly NISH) is a U.S. nonprofit agency, located in Vienna, Virginia, that creates employment opportunities for people with disabilities through its national network of affiliated nonprofit agencies.
History
SourceAmerica is one of two U.S. central nonprofits designated in the Javits–Wagner–O'Day Act to support nonprofit agencies participating in the AbilityOne Program. Both central nonprofits work to provide employment opportunities for people who are blind or have other significant disabilities by providing them opportunities to produce goods and services under federal contracts.
SourceAmerica was incorporated on June 26, 1974, as National Industries for the Severely Handicapped (NISH). The organization changed its name to SourceAmerica on July 1, 2013.
Its largest customer is the U.S. Department of Defense, and affiliated nonprofits manufacture military uniforms, gear for Special Forces, chemical protective suits, military recruit bags, and other items. Its agencies also sew American flags that the Veterans Administration sends to military families when a veteran passes.
SourceAmerica and its network of nonprofit agencies also contract with commercial entities to provide products and services. In addition to companies such as Starbucks, Inter-American Development Bank, PetSafe and Grainger, small entrepreneurial ventures such as Blush & Whimsy and Luna Innovations Incorporated have found business solutions with nonprofit agencies in the network.
Services and programs
SourceAmerica consists of a network of hundreds of organizations that create employment opportunities and choices for people with disabilities. Through that network, SourceAmerica provides employment opportunities to more than 100,000 people with disabilities.
Headquartered in Vienna, Virginia, SourceAmerica provides its nonprofit agency network with business development, contract management, legislative and regulatory assistance, communications and public relations materials, information technology support, engineering and technical assistance, and extensive professional training needed for successful nonprofit management.
The agency hosts an annual Grassroots Advocacy Conference to empower people with disabilities to speak up for themselves on Capitol Hill. Since 1998, it has invited members of its network to Washington each June to meet with lawmakers about disability employment issues.
Every year, the SourceAmerica Design Challenge teams high school and college students with people with disabilities to invent engineering solutions. Students meet with a nonprofit agency or business that employs people with disabilities to create processes, devices or programs that improve the workplace.
SourceAmerica Pathway to Careers is a customized employment program designed to pair applicants with employers. Pathway's staff uses the participant's profile to match applicants with employers in the community.
At both the Special Olympics 2018 USA Games and the Special Olympics 50th anniversary celebrations in Chicago, SourceAmerica hosted a job fair for athletes. The Journey of Employment job fair included vendors such as Amazon, Walmart, Kaiser Permanente, Brooks, Boeing and more. Athletes visited a series of stations to assess, polish and present their skills to prospective employers that recognize the potential of Special Olympics athletes on the job.
Governance
SourceAmerica is governed by a board of directors. Each of the six founding organizations has a permanent seat on the board: Goodwill Industries International, National Easter Seals Society, United Cerebral Palsy, The Arc, Network of Jewish Human Service Agencies and ACCSES.
Investigations
On July 31, 2015, CNN reported that SourceAmerica was being investigated by authorities for illegal operations, financial fraud, mismanagement, operating in violation of the law, steering of contracts, and possibly obstruction of justice.
On September 4, 2015, federal agents raided the corporate offices of Goodwill Industries in Memphis, Tennessee in an apparent escalation of the investigation of the AbilityOne Program. Goodwill Industries has received more than $22 million in AbilityOne® contracts since 2010, and in 2017 SourceAmerica had two Goodwill executives on its board of directors.
On November 16, 2015, WikiLeaks released over 30 hours of recordings of SourceAmerica's former attorney Jean Robinson. "That's the way they play the game. We are dealing with the mafia here, the old SourceAmerica mafia," Robinson states.