Skadsem receives achievement award

Laurie Skadsem

Anne Carlsen Center for Children's community integration manager, Laurie Skadsem, was awarded on May 3 the Outstanding Professional Achievement Award from ND APSE: The Network on Employment.

The annual award honors a professional who demonstrates a significant commitment to the growth and improvement of community-based employment of individuals with disabilities.

Since 1989, Skadsem, originally from Tolna, N.D., has been a driving force in the development and implementation of successful community employment options for people with disabilities.

She started her career at ACCC, located in Jamestown, N.D., as an occupational therapy assistant in 1982. It was through her work with a student that she developed a desire to provide more real-life experiences. She created the first community employment experience for the student who went from putting pegs in a board to untying raffia for flower arrangements at a local flower shop.

That was the beginning of ACCC’s Community Integration program, which today provides employment services to students of the Center as well as young adults all over North Dakota.

Once asked how many people she has helped, either directly or indirectly, to develop employment skills or find community-based employment Skadsem said "Oh, hundreds, probably."

She averages three to four presentations each year at statewide conferences. She uses these presentations as an opportunity to help others set up vocational programs within their schools and communities.

Wanting to build a strong employment support community for people with disabilities, Skadsem spearheaded the formation of Jamestown's CABLE group - Community Agencies and Businesses Linked for Employment - in 1989. Initially a group of six, today has an active membership of over 20.

She has also been an active member of the North Dakota Transition Council and served on the board for the N.D. Transition Grant in the early 1990s as a representative for Region 6. She has held nearly every office of the Jamestown Mayor's Committee on Employment for People with Disabilities, a group she's been active with since 1988.

ACCC's Community Integration program is recognized as a leader in vocational and employment services. The N.D. Department of Public Instruction has included the program twice in its Best Practices for Employment Programs.