RecycleTronics ...at Tommy Nobis Center
Donate Your Used Electronics
Protect the Planet while Putting People with Disabilities to Work
TVs/Computers/Cell Phones/Printers and more!
Mondays through Fridays, 8am to 3pm
Every Last Saturday, 9am to Noon
at Tommy Nobis Center
1480 Bells Ferry Road, Marietta 30066
770-427-9000
Processing fee for CRT-TVs & computer monitors (cash only):
$10 for one, $5 each additional
Items accepted at no charge:
Microwaves / Computers / CPUs / Stereos / Toasters / Laptops / Copiers
Printers / VCRs / Alarm Clocks / Cell Phones / Remote Controls / MP3s / Disk Drives
Can Openers / Camcorders / Floppy Drives / Speakers / Cameras / Modems / Mice
CD Players / FAX Machines and more!
Items not accepted:
Refrigerators / Washers / Dryers / Ovens / Freezers / Humidifiers / De-Humidifiers
For more information:
Contact Paul Yarbrough at 770-427-9000
PaulY@TommyNobisCenter.org
May 2010
Tommy Nobis Center’s Galaxy of Stars Event
Raises $76,000 to Provide Job Training & Employment
for Youth & Adults with Disabilities
The Tommy Nobis Center raised more than $76,000 at its 12th Annual Galaxy of Stars Luncheon & Tommy Awards Ceremony, May 11, 2010 at the Renaissance Waverly Hotel, Cobb Galleria. Lt. Governor Casey Cagle and TNC co-founder and former Atlanta Falcons linebacker Tommy Nobis presented the prestigious Governor’s Award to TNC graduate Steven Kelley, Jr. of Marietta.
The event highlights workplace successes of youth and adults with disabilities from throughout Georgia. “This year’s event honored 31 extraordinary nominees in seven categories,” said TNC President & CEO Connie Kirk. “Fostering public awareness and educating our community about these amazing individuals and the programs and organizations that champion their workplace success is the aim of this special day. We are delighted that around 350 Georgians came out to help celebrate these winners from all over the state.”
Kelley, who also won TNC’s Rising Star Graduate award, is an accomplished individual who happens to have autism. Early intervention by his parents, therapists and teachers helped him overcome the odds to become a successful student and leader in the community.
“Steve, a graduate of Pope High School in Marietta, graduated with a 3.75 GPA; participated as a peer coach and scorekeeper for football and baseball; and volunteers as a student leader of 5th and 6th graders in the Youth Venture Program at his church,” explained Ms. Kirk. His commitment to school spirit, academics, and friendship led his peers to select him as Mr. Pope High School in 2008.
Steve completed the Tommy Nobis Center training program at the Johnson Ferry Kroger Store in East Cobb, where he is now employed. He attends Chattahoochee Technical College with the goal of earning an associate degree in Early Childhood Care & Education.
Winners in the seven categories include:
· All-Star Employee – Leonard Ellis of Sandy Springs, Publix Super Market employee
· Barrier Breaker for Innovation – Georgia Georgia Tech’s GT Bionics Lab: Maysam Ghovanloo, Xueliang Huo, Behnaz Yousefi and Jeonghee Kim, all of Atlanta
· Outstanding Program – Horizon League in Acworth: MayorTommy Allegood, City Manager Brian Bulthuis and Director of Parks & Recreation James Albright
· Professional Advocacy – Jack Gilson of College Park, Georgia Department of Labor’s Vocational Rehabilitation Services Program
· Volunteer Advocacy – Barbara and Jim Kirk of Marietta
· Tommy Nobis Center Rising Star Graduate – Steve Kelley, Jr. of East Cobb, employee of The Kroger Company
· Outstanding Employer – Northeast Georgia Medical Center, Gainesville, Ga.
Sponsors supporting the event included Presenting Sponsor WellStar; Constellation Sponsors ProCore Solutions and Publix Super Markets Charities; Media Sponsor FOX5 TV; Comet Sponsor Southern Company; and Star Sponsors Five Smiths Foundation; Gas South; Marietta Power and Water; Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C.; and Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Sloane Evans of Smyrna, HR project manager with Southern Company, chaired the event. Frank McCloskey, vice president of Diversity at Georgia Power, served as honorary chairman.
September 2009
Atlanta Sports Legends Help Raise $86,000
at Tommy Nobis Center Celebrity Golf Classic
The 24th Annual Tommy Nobis Center Celebrity Golf Classic took place Sept. 27, 2009 at scenic Marietta Country Club. ProCore Solutions was Most Valuable Title Sponsor, with WellStar as Club Level Sponsor.
Celebrity team sponsors included:
Atlanta Falcons
Cobb EMC
Five Smiths Foundation
Gas South
Georgia Baptist Healthcare Ministry Foundation
Kaiser Permanente
Marietta Power & Water
Moore & Cubbedge
Solvay Pharmaceuticals
Atlanta celebrity sports legends played with five-some teams that sponsored at the Title, Club and Celebrity donor levels.
Celebrity guests included Greg Brezina, Ken Burrow, Buddy Curry, Chuck Dowdle, Mike Haynes, Roger Kaiser, Fulton Kuykendall, Billy Martin, Terance Mathis, Phil Niekro, Dan Reeves, Ken Rodriguez and Jessie Tuggle.
Funds raised at the event helped to provide job training, employment and vocational support for 895youth and adults with disabilities and other barriers to employment.
Individuals with Disabilities Find Success at Call Center
Tommy Nobis Center Partners with Ryla Teleservices
to Employ Customer Service Reps
March 16, 2009 -- The Tommy Nobis Center (TNC) and Ryla have created a partnership that provides workplace success for TNC graduates and a new source of talent for Ryla.
TNC is a community rehabilitation program headquartered in Marietta that develops and provides job training and employment for youth and adults with all types of disabilities. And Ryla, headquartered in Kennesaw, is a leading provider of outsourced call center and customer contact solutions. “Ryla bills itself as a different kind of call center, and we certainly found that true when they reached out to the Center to recruit some of our customer service certificate grads,” said Connie Kirk, president and CEO of Tommy Nobis Center. “This is a great partnership. It’s a win-win for the Center and for Ryla but, most important, for our customer service program graduates.”
Ryla recently offered positions as customer service agents to four TNC customer service-certified graduates. Holly Miller serves as TNC’s job coach for Ryla employees. Miller remains with the employees daily to coach, mentor and ensure a smooth transition to the workplace. She explained, “This is a great benefit for Ryla and for other call centers, because they’re getting employees who are dedicated and dependable, who are excited to come to work each day.”
One such employee is David, a TNC graduate who began working at Ryla in December. “David feels he has a future at Ryla,” said Miller. “He loves to go to work, he arrives on time each day, he’s making friends – it’s an environment he’s thriving in.”
“At Ryla, we hope to recruit more Tommy Nobis Center graduates for our call center,” said Karen Clay, Ryla’s VP of Marketing. “It truly is a strategic partnership that is bringing success to everyone involved.”
About Tommy Nobis Center:
The Tommy Nobis Center develops and provides job training, employment and vocational support throughout metro Atlanta for youth and adults with disabilities and other barriers to success. Since opening in 1977, the Center has served approximately 20,000 individuals with emotional, physical, mental and sensory disabilities.
In 2008, the Tommy Nobis Center’s economic impact of putting people to work totaled $1.9 million in wages earned, taxes paid and reductions in public assistance – turning tax consumers into tax payers and full participants in the community. To learn more, visit www.tommynobiscenter.org.
About Ryla:
Ryla is a leading provider of global customer contact solutions for companies and government agencies requiring Excellent Interactions Every TimeSM. Domestically based, Ryla delivers both ongoing and on-demand customized solutions and staffing to meet each client’s business goals, including quick ramp-u, project-based solutions for crisis response, seasonal retail and political needs.
Headquartered in Kennesaw, Ga., Ryla is a different kind of call center, ranked one of the fastest growing private companies in the nation by Inc. magazine and nationally recognized as a top workplace. To learn more, visit www.ryla.com.
Tommy Nobis Center Graduate Wins Vehicle Drawing
Donated car gives the gift of transportation
to a successful graduate
12/11/08 – Chris Wasserman of Marietta recently won the Tommy Nobis Center’s (TNC) annual Graduate Vehicle Drawing. Wasserman won a 1998 Ford Taurus sedan which had been donated to the Center’s Vehicle Donation Program. To be eligible, participants must be graduates of the job training program provided by TNC for individuals with disabilities or other barriers to employment.
Through the success of the Vehicle Donation Program, which began in April 2003, individuals donated 1,428 cars, trucks, boats/trailers, RVs and motorcycles in 2008. Funds from the sale of those vehicles directly support TNC’s job training, employment and vocational programs. Since its inception in 1977, TNC has provided job training, employment and vocational support to around 18,000 youth and adults with disabilities.
“This is one way we can encourage our graduates and celebrate their successes. Our goal is to support individuals with disabilities in finding, and successfully maintaining, employment. This drawing is a high five for our graduates and their accomplishments,” said TNC President and CEO Connie Kirk.
TNC provided funding to offset the cost of Wasserman’s title, tag and registration, and six months of insurance.
Charities lament disparities
Marietta Daily Journal
By Marcus E. Howard
Published: 11/17/2008
MARIETTA - Despite the grim economy, individuals and corporations are still making cash contributions - although perhaps more to the powerful than the poor.
General election seasons, of course, see political candidates raking in large donations. Between April and September of this year, candidates in Cobb reported receiving $1.2 million all together. That’s about twice as much as Cobb’s candidates received for the same months of 2006, when donations totaled $634,000.
Three leading charitable groups reported a combined $693,814 in donations from April through September this year. Their cumulative donations in 2006 totaled $490,611.
The figures portray only a snapshot comparison, and are not complete.
The Journal reviewed campaign-finance reports for local candidates for the June 30 and Sept. 30 reporting deadlines in 2008 and 2006, both years that had general elections. Loans to campaigns were excluded, and the total does not include candidates running statewide, or for federal office. Also, some candidates did not have reports on file.
For comparison, several large local charities and nonprofits were asked for their cash donations in the same time frame. Several hesitated, fearing a drop in donations.
“From a nonprofit standpoint, there is a big concern about the holidays and if there will be enough funds to go around,” said Joan O’Connell, executive director of Cobb Community Collaborative, a consortium of social-services groups.
Jeri Barr can see both sides of the story. She is chief executive officer of the Center for Family Resources, which helps more than 14,000 local households receive food, housing, financial and job assistance.
She’s also the wife of Bob Barr, the 2008 Libertarian candidate for president who previously represented Cobb in Congress. Though their professions depend on donations, she said she and her husband have never helped each other raise money. “We keep our professional lives totally separate,” Jeri Barr said.
Nearly everyone involved in any political campaign is looking to raise money. The three presidential candidates — Democrat President-elect Barack Obama, Republican Sen. John McCain, and Barr — together raised $1.55 billion over the 2007-08 election cycle, the Associated Press reported.
“When I hear the large dollar amounts raised by politicians, I always think about how many people we could help to stay in their homes or how many families we could provide food for a week,” Jeri Barr said.
“However, I believe I’ve read that Americans spend more for potato chips each year and spent more on Halloween this year than was raised and spent on the presidential race. It is just my job to think about the families we serve and how to do it better each year.”
The Center for Family Resources collected $42,152 in donations between April 1 and Sept. 30. During the same period in 2006, CFR took in $23,265.
“Donors still give to nonprofits in good times and in bad times,” Barr said. “But, they give to fewer nonprofits and they give less money.”
Likewise, Kerwin Swint, a political science professor at Kennesaw State University, said economic conditions sometimes affect how much money campaigns raise.
“But some contributors will give anyway if they believe their money goes to candidates who will work for the kind of change the contributor believes in,” Swint said. “So candidates who talk tax cuts, for example, can still rake it in from the true believers, regardless of bad economic times.”
As can charities. Cobb’s three YMCAs took in $192,732 during the six months of 2008, up more than $100,000 from the $91,272 received in 2006.
Still, “we are receiving significantly higher requests for financial assistance, and are in need of donations now more than ever,” said Kristen Obaranec, a spokeswoman for metro Atlanta YMCAs.
State Sen. Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock) easily won re-election in November. He has represented Senate District 21, which encompasses northeast Cobb and southern Cherokee counties, since 2004. Rogers, who will seek to become the Senate’s majority leader in 2009 — reported raising more than $107,000 this year.
Rogers readily admits that charities are more deserving of financial help than politicians like himself.
“Economic struggles are real for a large number of Georgians. Local charities and churches are negatively impacted when money is tight,” Rogers said. “Political fundraising pales in comparison to the importance of the money raised for these charities.”
Karen Carlisle, a vice president at the Tommy Nobis Center in Marietta, said all nonprofits are struggling with an increasing need for help at a time when donations are decreasing.
“It’s fair to say that all nonprofit organizations are guarded in making projections about next year’s donations,” she said. “I’ve attended several workshops on this topic recently. The recurring message has been that companies and foundations hope to maintain their levels of giving but they don’t plan to increase the amounts or donate to any new organizations.”
The Tommy Nobis Center provides job training and work for people with disabilities. From April to September this year, the center took in $458,930. In 2006, the center received $376,074.
The Rev. John Moeller leads MUST Ministries, a homeless outreach nonprofit in Cobb and Cherokee. He declined to say how much his group had taken in, but like the others, expects even harder times to come.
“The big question mark in all of our minds, as to donations, is ‘what will it look like down the road?’” he said.
October 2007
Georgia Trend Magazine
By Shannon Wilder
As it celebrates its 30th year, the Marietta based Tommy Nobis Center estimates it has helped some 15,000 disabled youths and adults in the Metro Atlanta area find work.
That's no mean feat, says President and CEO Connie Kirk, who's been with the organization since its inception. "Seventy percent of adults with disabilities are unemployed," she says. "Compare that to the general population with a 5 percent unemployment rate. There's a significant need for assisting people to assist themselves."
The Nobis center employs a variety of means, from providing job skills training to placing clients--many referred by its close partner, the Georgia Department of Labor's Vocational Rehabilitation Services--on site with other partners, performing functions ranging from clerical to janitorial.
The center operates a production center (warehousing, packaging, shipping) at its headquarters. Business services are also offered onsite for clients, who include NAS, Social Security Administration and HUD.
Though the center receives payment for these services, all funds are plowed back
into operations. That's a boon, says co-founder and former Atlanta Falcons linebacker Tommy Nobis, because it means the center doesn't have to spend all year fund raising.
The center kicked off its fourth decade by branching out, establishing a base in Rome (at the Department of Labor's request) from which it will enhance its community based efforts. Such programs, Kirk says, include a partnership with Kroger that involves training clients in an actual store. Other partners include WellStar, DHL, Owens & Minor and First Data.
In the end, however, it's about more than just getting someone a job; it's about changing lives for the better. So many clients, Nobis says, "never thought they'd be able to make it on their own...driving an automobile, having their own apartment, buying their own clothes, just being self-supportive, making down payments on a home. To know that we have played a small part in that, you can imagine how gratifying that is."
May 2007
Marietta Daily Journal
By Rebecca Fowler
A Success Story 30 Years in the Making
CEO Connie Kirk has been with the Tommy Nobis Center since its beginning in 1977 when the staff started training people with disabilities to learn new job skills in an old trailer donated by a construction company. Now, with 16,000 clients having been placed in new jobs, Ms. Kirk praises the Cobb business community for welcoming Nobis alumni into the work force.
Nobis Center landmark anniversary celebrates helping 16,000 with disabilities find new jobs
Marietta--Sometimes, as in the case of the Tommy Nobis Center, the numbers just add up.
This year, the center celebrates an impressive milestone--30 successful years of assisting metro-Atlanta residents who have disabilities. But an even more impressive number is the 16,000 clients, as the center calls them, who have been trained and placed into jobs since it opened its doors three decades ago, some 117 in the past year alone.
Through its job training, the center has helped save $1.4 million in public assistance money that would have been paid to newly independent clients.
But Tommy Nobis, the former "Mr. Falcon" and the center's namesake and co-founder, insists that, "the dollar amount isn't the real importance here." The real importance, he said, is the pride these people feel in what they've accomplished.
Nobis, along with Joyce Slaughter and Bobbie Knopf, founded The Tommy Nobis Center in 1977.
Ms. Knopf taught Ms. Slaughter's daughter, Karen, in special education at Northside High School in Atlanta. The two women soon realized the limited opportunities available post-graduation for people like Karen Slaughter.
Instead of waiting for something to be done about it, they took matters into their own hands. Ms. Slaughter and Ms. Knopf conducted a needs assessment, Nobis said, and then invited him to a meeting.
"It was a pretty easy sale," Nobis said, who was widely known as a staunch supporter of the Special Olympics. "I went to one meeting and in that meeting I saw that there was a great need for this in this area."
In only 30 years, the center has grown from its humble roots into a nationally recognized program. "The center started in a trailer donated by an old construction company." Nobis said.
In 1991, the program moved to a brand new 52,000-square-foot facility on Bells Ferry Road. "The community supported it so much that the day we moved in, it was completely paid for," said Connie Kirk, CEO of the Tommy Nobis Center.
"If you have a disability, you want to live in Cobb County," Ms. Kirk said. "So much is available here. This is the friendliest, most responsive community to the needs of people with disabilities."
Ms. Kirk should know--she has been with the Tommy Nobis Center since its beginning in 1977. "I didn't intend to be here this long when I first started. This is the best career, because there's so much job satisfaction and success around you." She plans to stay with the center until her retirement, which she hopes will be within the next four or five years.
When asked if she'd noticed any changes in the center's program in 30 years, she proudly described its recent switch to community based services. "One-hundred percent of what we did in 1977 was housed in the facility." Clients were trained in and employed at the center, she said. Recently, however, "our referral services and our clients said, 'We want to train in a real world, not a simulated environment,'" center vice president Karen Carlisle said.
Today, the majority of training and employment opportunities are conducted in the Cobb community. To illustrate, Ms. Kirk described a six-week training program partnering with Cobb Kroger stores. "We take a crew and a training supervisor...they're there for six weeks," she said. Clients spend two weeks testing out the various departments within Kroger and then decide on a specific area in which to train for the remaining four weeks. At the end of the program, clients are placed in a job with a grocery store near their home.
"Our tagline is 'Abilities at Work,'" Ms. Kirk said. People with disabilities really do have abilities at work."
September 2006
NISH Workplace Magazine
U.S. Department of Labor Honors Tommy Nobis Center
The Nonprofit Agency, Tommy Nobis Center (TNC) of Marietta, Georgia was one of just seven organizations honored recently by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) for creating opportunities in the workplace.
At the U.S. Department of Labor annual awards ceremony hosted by the department's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao presented Connie Kirk, TNC president/CEO, with the Exemplary Public Interest Contribution Award (EPIC) for TNC's support of federal contractors in their Equal Employment Opportunity efforts. The EPIC awards are the most desired equal employment opportunity awards ever instituted by the OFCCP.
"It is an unexpected honor to receive this award and to be recognized for exceeding national standards for equal opportunities and diversity in our organization," Kirk said. "NISH's support with federal contracting enables the Center to expand our mission by offering integrated employment at multiple worksites. As the national unemployment rate among people with disabilities hovers at 70 percent, we are proud to serve individuals to affect change in the Metro Atlanta area."
TNC Vice President of Human Resources, Linda Mosher, and NISH South Region Executive Director, Micky Gazaway, also attended the DOL awards ceremony in Washington, D.C.
"These employers are to be commended for their efforts to promote equal employment opportunities at their workplaces," Secretary Chao said during her remarks at the awards ceremony at the Department of Labor headquarters in Washington, D.C. in April. "Their commitment to ensure that people with disabilities, veterans, people of color and women have access to gainful employment and the American dream is laudatory."
Each year, the Secretary of Labor, Assistant Secretary for the Employment Standards Administration, and the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Federal Contract Compliance Programs present these awards at a ceremony honoring federal contractors and non-profit organizations that exemplify best corporate practices. This furthers the OFCCP mission of nondiscrimination and equal employment opportunity. It is also consistent with the agency's efforts to form alliances with corporations and public interest organizations.
The Tommy Nobis Center provides a variety of services to government agencies and manages eight federal contracts through the Javits-Wagner-O'Day (JWOD) Program that employ approximately 60 people. TNC Federal Government customers include: the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Social Security Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency.
TNC was founded in 1975 to assist youth and adults with disabilities transition from school to work. At that time, a need for services in the north metro Atlanta area was identified and the advisory board approached one of the most visible sports celebrities in Georgia, Tommy Nobis, for support based on his commitment to Special Olympics and other programs for people with disabilities.
From those early years working out of a portable classroom, TNC has developed into a 52,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility in Cobb County. Training and employment opportunities are provided at the facility and at 13 community based work sites throughout metro Atlanta, GA. Today, TNC is one of the largest private, not-for-profit community services agencies in the state, serving more than 800 people annually and a total of some 13,000 people since it opened its doors 30 years ago. Even more impressive, it consistently maintains 90 percent ratio for direct labor hours being performed by people with disabilities and nearly half of its workers are minorities.