⁄Tactics⁄ You’ve been in your current role for about nine months. How has that been? It’s been great. It’s been exhilarating. It’s been challenging, but also has just been a lot of fun getting to know the Portland community, getting to know all the employees and what they do, and trying to solve problems and create a vision for the future. There are many nonprofit agencies that are very similar to Relay, and they run very similar programs. I’ve got a lot of creative ideas that I think will really leapfrog into the future. So what I’m really focused on is what is disability inclusion going to be like in employment in 20 years? The way that we do disability inclusion right now is very person- centered. You start with a person with a disability, you look at their strengths and their weaknesses and what their interests are, and then you try to help them find a job. All of that is really great, because we’re really taking the individual into consideration. The problem with this model, though, is that it’s incomplete. The problem with this model is that once that person with a disability has a new manager, or let’s say there’s a brand-new leadership model, or let’s say there are new products that they want to sell — if that organization isn’t committed to hiring people with disabilities and supporting them, it’s very easy to lose a job and then to have to start all over again. When it comes to changing employment for people with disabilities, what are you seeing in the landscape now? That idea of building the job around the person is one that I think makes a lot of sense to people, and I think that’s what a lot of people are familiar with. What are some of the other models that we could consider? The key thing here is to normalize disability inclusion in our communities. Many companies have programs, like an autism program or a neurodiversity program, and I think that that’s a great place to start. I really want to commend companies that are intentionally trying to create space for people with a variety of disabilities to be included. But true inclusion or belonging, that’s not a program. It’s got to be part of what you do on a normal basis. I think that companies are on the right track, but I really see in the future that it’s more than awareness, it’s more than a special program, it’s more than charity or nonprofit. It’s really, truly leveraging universal design to take into account all the voices — not just people with disabilities but people who are racial minorities, people who are in the LGBTQIA+ community, just looking at all of the needs of people. Because when we consider everyone, then we have a much better chance of building systems and processes that are truly inclusive and meant for everyone, building spaces where people truly feel like they belong. I think in the future we really need to think through universal design, to capture all those minoritized populations and make sure that we build spaces, employment spaces, schools, communities where people belong, and that we normalize disability. Disability is just a natural part of the human condition. Any one of us can be disabled at any time. When we think about it that way, it’s not this foreign thing where we’re afraid of it or scared it can happen to any one of us. I think the more we widen the doors to people who have a variety of differences, a variety of ways of being, I think we just have a better society altogether. Jennifer Camota Luebke Wants to Change the Game for Disabled Workers The president and CEO of Relay Resources reflects on her new job, and how employers can put hiring people with disabilities front and center. INTERVIEW BY CHRISTEN McCURDY “I always like to tell people that first and foremost, I’m a mom,” Jennifer Camota Luebke tells Oregon Business at the start of a Zoom call in April. She’s been advocating for people with disabilities for decades—her 25-year-old son has an intellectual disability and is a recent graduate of Georgia Institute of Technology through its EXCEL Program — but only in recent years has her paid work focused on disability issues. Previously, Camota Luebke worked for companies like Electronic Arts, Genentech and Juul Labs in a series of finance-centered roles. In 2016, she cofounded Ability Revolution, an organization that provides training and advocacy on disability justice, equity, diversity and inclusion and advocacy for students and companies. From 2021 to 2023, she served as the chief workforce inclusion officer at PRIDE Industries, a social enterprise organization that partners with large employers in sectors including health care, aerospace and renewable energy to place people with disabilities in new jobs. Last year Camota Luebke — a lifelong Californian — relocated to Portland to take the helm of Relay Resources, a social enterprise organization also focused on employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Currently, Relay has three lines of business, which employ 700 people altogether. The first is janitorial; the company has contracts throughout the state of Oregon, and some in Washington, to provide janitorial work, landscaping and floor care for clients that include the Portland Airport and Portland State University. The second line of business is document solutions, which involves digitizing and indexing paper documents. The third is supply-chain solutions, which includes light manufacturing, packing and shipping for clients that include Danner Boots, Oregon Soap and Bob’s Red Mill — which hires workers to put labels on products that are set to be shipped internationally. Relay also owns 19 different affordable- housing apartments, which are not necessarily for people with disabilities, though many residents are disabled. Camota Luebke spoke with OB about her first months on the job and how employers can make disability inclusion a priority rather than an afterthought—and rooting for the Blazers after a life of cheering for the Warriors. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 14
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