The woman who created a model for disability employment

Caroline Croft Estay's Grow Well model can be a template for other employers

I’ve been busy trying to deal with my own challenges lately. So instead of writing a diatribe about all that, I’ll share some good news, some solutions news.

As a former Solutions Journalism Network mentee, I’m always seeking stories about people making a difference. And as luck would have it, the Christian Science Monitor has a section called People Making a Difference. I recently had a story published there about Caroline Croft Estay’s program to make her workplace at Vertical Harvest Farms accessible for everyone. Granted the three-story greenhouse was built with accessibility in mind, but Croft Estay’s Grow Well model provides a means for everyone to, not only have a job, but to have one in which they thrive and grow.

Vertical Harvest employee, Tim McLaurin, clearly appreciates everything Caroline Croft Estay does for him and all the employees at the greenhouse in Jackson, Wyoming.

One case worker said this about one of her clients who had just started working at Vertical Harvest:

“I am already seeing it being more empowering to him than other places he’s worked. He feels he’s part of something that matters and that’s important and huge and something he isn’t going to find if he was working someplace else.”

If adopted by more employers, Grow Well could change the way we ALL work and make the working world more equitable and accessible.

You can read the story here.

Do you work for or are you an employer that has a unique way of attracting and addressing the needs of disabled employees? If so, please get in touch. I’d love to hear about it and maybe even write about it.

Thanks for reading and, as always, stay kind.