On Saturday April 1, twenty students from the Collegiate Schools in Richmond traveled to the campus of Jackson-Feild Behavioral Health Services (JFBHS) and transformed the recreation center into a boutique filled with racks of formal dresses and tables overflowing with shoes, jewelry and make-up.

The day was filled with excitement and ear-to-ear smiles as Collegiate students paired up with JFBHS residents to help them find ensembles that make them feel special. When a girl found the perfect dress, laughter rang out and a huge round of applause was heard.  Each of our young men were provided with a pair of dress trousers, a white shirt, and a tie of their choosing. Our youth are looking forward to the upcoming spring dance on campus where they can spend an evening dancing to their favorite songs and snacking on special treats provided by our food service staff.

JFBHS residents and staff would like to thank Collegiate Schools and The Fairy Godmother participants for their generosity and kindness. The students work year-round collecting gently-used formal attire and holding fundraisers to purchase supplemental items such as shoes and makeup. Just as important, the students always have a remarkable ability to engage with the youth at JFBHS as they encourage the sometimes-reluctant residents to “Try it on!  It’s the perfect color for you!”

The mission of the Fairy Godmother Project is to provide a high school prom experience for youth in circumstances that prevent them from having such an experience. For the past 20 years, Collegiate students have collected and provided formal attire and accessories for JFBHS residents.

It is conservatively estimated that over 700 prom dresses have been given to residents since the inception of this project.

By Ryan Nadeau, Capital News Service

RICHMOND, Va. ‒ Gov. Glenn Youngkin recently recommended the General Assembly accept an amended version of a bill that ends the practice of paying subminimum wage to certain Virginia workers with disabilities.

A certificate exemption under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act allows employers to determine pay for disabled workers based on a productivity calculation compared to other employees, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. These workers are currently listed within the "tipped employees" section of state code.

The original House Bill 1924 eliminated use of the certificate and increased minimum hourly pay to $9.50 in July. This rate would continue to increase incrementally until 2027, when it reached Virginia minimum wage. The slow increase is meant to help employers adjust, according to Del. Patrick Hope, D-Arlington, who introduced the measure. 

Hope's bill passed the House unanimously on a block vote, meaning it was not discussed prior to voting. The bill passed the Senate 22-18.

The governor's proposed amendment adjusts timelines. It would remove the incremental pay bumps of the original bill. Instead, the wages of all previously exempt employees would be raised to Virginia's minimum wage when use of the certificates ended in 2030. 

Any currently certified employer would be grandfathered in until 2030, but no new certificates would be issued after July 1.

The national average for workers being paid subminimum wage is $3.34 an hour, according to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights 2020 report.

"I don't know how anybody could pay that and look themselves in the mirror," said Sen. Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax, when speaking to the Senate. "That's disgusting. And there's no other way to describe that." 

Disabled workers can encounter long Labor Department processing times that prevent them from getting back pay owed due to incorrectly calculated wages, according to a study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. 

The certificates gave disabled workers "an entry point" into the workforce in the 1930s, said Jewelyn Cosgrove, Melwood's vice president of government and public relations. Such exemptions need to be reevaluated through a modern lens, she said.

Melwood is a nonprofit organization that provides jobs and opportunities for people with disabilities, according to its website. It held a certificate until 2014, Cosgrove said.

Disabled workers have access to more jobs these days, versus when it used to be "get a job, any job," Cosgrove said.

"People with disabilities should be and can be engaged in the workforce in meaningful ways in the careers of their choosing," Cosgrove said. 

There are six employers in Virginia with active certificates as of January. These employers pay at least 286 total workers subminimum wage, according to the Labor Department. Four more employers in Virginia are pending approval for their certificates.

Active certificates are down 46% since 2018, according to a study by the Association of People Supporting Employment First. The same study found employment of disabled workers is on the rise across multiple states.

"I would never, ever accept a job where I was making $3 an hour," said Virginia APSE lobbyist Matthew Shapiro. "You wouldn't do that, so why is it OK for us to do that to more vulnerable ... folks than me?"

Shapiro was born with cerebral palsy, a condition that affects almost every part of his life, he said. He is the founder and CEO of the consulting firm 6 Wheels Consulting. 

Resources such as job coaches, at-home work and self-employment render the certificate exemption no longer necessary, Shapiro said.

"What kind of Virginia do we want to be?" Shapiro said. "Do we want to be one that pays people fairly for the work that they do, and at good wages? Or are we OK saying we're going to pay somebody $10 a week?"

Thirteen states already have legislation in place to prevent employers from paying subminimum wage, according to the APSE study. Reforms are also being attempted at the federal level.

"This is a very demoralizing issue, and it shouldn't really be an issue in the 21st century," said Charlotte Woodward, the National Down Syndrome Society's education program associate.

Woodward was born with Down syndrome, she said. Her advocacy work is important to her because she believes disabled voices provide needed visibility, she said. 

"The doctor told my mom I would never learn to read or write," Woodward said. "That, when I grew up, I would work in a sheltered workshop." 

A sheltered workshop is traditionally defined as a supervised workplace for adults who have a physical or intellectual disability.

"Of course, my mom didn't take those words to heart," Woodward added.

Opponents of the bill question if sheltered workshops and subminimum wage are harmful to disabled workers. Sen. Thomas Norment, R-James City County, spoke to the Senate about the disabled son of his former administrative assistant.

"He never once, never once, mentioned how much he was paid or what the compensation was," Norment said. "It was the intangible reward and satisfaction and fulfillment of his day that he got going to work."

Sen. Jill Vogel, R-Fauquier, also opposed the bill. It would take away opportunities for employers to provide "a haven, a place, a job for people where they do not pay them minimum wage," she said.

Almost all of the workers originally employed under Melwood's former certificate are still employed by the organization, but now at "full wage," Cosgrove said. 

"It's about recognizing that our employees' voices, and their desire for that full wage, brought that dignity — brought that stability," Cosgrove said. "It improved our employee morale immediately." 

To assume disabled workers will thrive in sheltered production does not account for individual ability and interest, said Tonya Milling, executive director of The Arc of Virginia.

"Think of it as the same way you approach things in your own life," Milling said. "When I looked for a job, I looked for something that matched my skills, matched my abilities and could hold my interest."

Shapiro sympathized with concerns over disabled workers and their well-being.

"There is a 'dignity of risk' argument that can be made here," Shapiro said. "Are we going to allow [them] to go out into the world and break a nail? Or are we going to keep [them] in a bubble their entire lives?"

The Virginia Department of Aging and Rehabilitative Services plans to aid transitioning employers with nearly $14 million in provided federal funding, according to the Disability Law Center of Virginia. 

Youngkin's amendment, in addition to codifying the funds, would require DARS to report to the governor's office in 2024 about the transition away from certificates.

Lawmakers will vote on Youngkin's changes when they reconvene on April 12.

By Chloe Hawkins, Capital News Service

RICHMOND, Va. ‒ An interstate divided the Jackson Ward neighborhood in Richmond decades ago, and now leaders hope a bridge will help reunite it.

The proposed project area for a bridge deck to better connect the neighborhood runs from the Belvidere Street bridge to east of the North First Street bridge over Interstate 95. Federal dollars from a new program will help fund the project.

The interstate was built almost 70 years ago, and in recent years many citizens and leaders have acknowledged its long lasting impact on the community. Local and state agencies launched the Reconnect Jackson Ward Feasibility Study in January 2022 and utilized citizen input throughout the process. Grant applications were submitted last October to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program.

Democratic Virginia U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine announced in late February nearly $3 million in federal funding to improve transportation infrastructure and reconnect communities in Richmond and Norfolk. 

Approximately 20 states have used transportation departments to build connections over highways, according to the final report from Reconnect Jackson Ward. Design elements include bridges, caps and lids to cover highways and create parks and pedestrian and bicycle pathways, according to the report.

The DOT pilot program will help reconnect neighborhoods that lack economic opportunity due to transportation infrastructure, according to a press release. Norfolk will receive $1.6 million and Richmond will receive $1.35 million toward the Jackson Ward project. 

The congressional Bipartisan Infrastructure Law established the pilot program and funded it with $1 billion over the next five years, according to an agency press release. The first round of funding distributed $185 million across 45 U.S. communities.

Warner recently visited the St. Paul's neighborhood in Norfolk to celebrate the project funding. 

"Too many communities were cut off by the development of the interstate system," Warner stated on Twitter. 

The Norfolk I-264 Reconnecting Communities Project will be used to find a solution to a jumbled, 14-lane stretch of interstate called the "spaghetti bowl" that blocks a low-income, majority African-American neighborhood from access to the downtown Norfolk area, according to a press release.

"I'm glad this funding is coming to Norfolk and Jackson Ward to bring together communities that were separated and burdened by the placement of past infrastructure projects," Kaine stated in an email response to an interview request. "I'm looking forward to seeing the positive impacts of these investments." 

Kaine will continue to look for opportunities to help Virginia communities that may be cut off economically, he stated. 

Gary Flowers is the radio host of the "Gary Flowers Show," a weekday morning radio show that highlights civic engagement and Black history, according to Flowers. He leads frequent walking tours through Jackson Ward that explore the influences which led to the ward's earlier identity as the "Black Wall Street" and "Harlem of the South." 

The government must answer a few questions in order to address the displacement in Jackson Ward, he said.

"How will it address the Black residents displaced by I-95?" Flowers said. "Secondly, if there is a connector, then who is being connected?"

The interstate system was needed, but forced Black communities out of their neighborhoods, Flowers said.

"What was nefarious about the placement of I-95 from Maine to Florida is that communities of color were deliberately chosen for placement of the much needed federal highway," Flowers said. 

The "white power structure" chose to build the interstate through the prosperous Jackson Ward community, Flowers said. Approximately 300 Black-owned businesses, seven insurance companies and five banks were located there, according to Flowers.

Flowers hopes to see the historic Jackson Ward neighborhood extended to its original boundaries, and people reimbursed for their losses, he said. 

"To address the question of recompense for those homeowners, business owners and church congregations that were deliberately disrupted by I-95," Flowers said.

The interstate divided a thriving, self-sufficient Black neighborhood, which left the area vulnerable to the impacts of redlining by "white Richmond banks," Flowers said. Redlining is a now illegal practice where lenders avoid investing in individuals who live in communities of color because of their race or national origin.

The federal funding will help on "many different fronts," according to Melody Short, co-founder of the Jackson Ward Collective Foundation and vice president of programming. The Jackson Ward Collective supports current and aspiring Black business owners, according to its website.

"[Funding] helps with beautification, which naturally increases the attraction and value of the neighborhood," Short said. 

The neighborhood also needs funding to help build more affordable housing, she said. 

"It is a neighborhood that has been gentrified, and so historically that pushes the folk out of the neighborhood, and that's not helpful," Short said. "This was once upon a time an all-Black neighborhood."

Preliminary engineering and design plans for the bridge deck are slated to occur over the next two years, according to a project timeline, with construction projected to be complete by 2028.