$3.75 million grant from Wells
Fargo to provide employers with free neurodiversity education,
training, academic research, and talent connections
STORRS,
Conn., Oct. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Wells
Fargo has partnered with the
University of Connecticut's Center
for Neurodiversity & Employment Innovation to introduce
free neurodiversity workshops for corporate America. The new
workshops, an academic and corporate collaboration, aim to provide
instruction to key leaders from Fortune 500 companies to help
design neurodiversity initiatives end-to-end.
The full-day workshops are part of a larger $3.75 million grant from Wells Fargo to create
the Wells Fargo Center for Neurodiversity and Inclusive Employment
at UConn. There are three components to
the grant: 1) Providing neurodiversity education and training; 2)
funding groundbreaking academic research study to capture
much-needed metrics about the business outcomes of neurodiversity
programs and to create standards for measuring success in this
arena; and 3) working with universities, non-profits, and
vocational rehab agencies nationwide to bring efficiency,
programming, and education to their regions and better connect job
seekers and inclusive employers within their local communities.
Neurodiversity refers to the natural variation in the ways
people think, behave, and communicate. Neurodivergence is when that
variation falls outside of what is typical, often creating barriers
to success in finding and keeping meaningful employment.
Neurodivergent conditions commonly include autism spectrum disorder
(ASD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia,
and other differences.
Only about half of autistic college graduates are fully employed
compared to their peers, according to Stephen DeStefani, the Wells Fargo team's
program executive who has led the initiative to partner with
UConn.
"Partnering with Wells Fargo's team has been amazing," says
Judy Reilly, Executive Director of
UConn's Center for Neurodiversity and
Employment Innovation. "Wells Fargo's willingness to share their
real-world industry expertise to create—and deliver at no
cost—education for corporate America that's grounded in academic
and research excellence is unheard of in this field."
"This partnership enables UConn to
blend academic instructional design and research with real-world
industry application and expertise to create solutions for
corporate America," Reilly says.
"The workshops further the Center's mission to create inclusive
workplaces by increasing employer awareness and understanding of
the value of neurodivergent talent," says Anne D'Alleva,
provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at
UConn. "This is a great example of how
UConn's research provides novel
approaches to solve real-world problems in Connecticut and nationwide."
"Since we launched our Neurodiversity program in 2020, we've
experienced first-hand the significant impact these highly skilled
individuals can have on the nation's largest organizations," said
Kristy Fercho, head of Diverse
Segments, Representation and Inclusion at Wells Fargo. "With
continued underemployment of neurodivergent talent, we understand
our responsibility to work with our corporate partners to
collectively educate and bring awareness to this extraordinarily
valuable and untapped talent pool."
Job seekers and organizations can learn more about the new
workshops and programming at neurodiversity-employment.org or
neurodiversity.employment@uconn.edu.
About the University of
Connecticut Center for Neurodiversity and Employment
Innovation
UConn's center was launched in
January 2021 and works nationally to
educate and train employers about neurodiversity as a competitive
advantage and how to implement inclusive practices to attain that
advantage. The center also helps connect neurodivergent candidates
with companies that value and support their neurodiversity and
drives critical academic research into the impact of neurodiversity
on organizational outcomes.
The University of Connecticut
(UConn) is a public, land grant
research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Conn. Founded in 1881, UConn has more than 32,000 students and is
accredited by the New England
Commission of Higher Education.
About Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:
WFC) is a leading financial services company that has approximately
$1.9 trillion in assets. We provide a
diversified set of banking, investment and mortgage products and
services, as well as consumer and commercial finance, through our
four reportable operating segments: Consumer Banking and Lending,
Commercial Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth
& Investment Management. Wells Fargo ranked No. 34 on Fortune's 2024 rankings
of America's largest corporations. In the communities we serve, the
company focuses its social impact on building a sustainable,
inclusive future for all by supporting housing affordability, small
business growth, financial health, and a low-carbon economy.
For media inquiries, please contact:
UConn media contact:
Grace Merritt
gmerritt@foundation.uconn.edu
Wells Fargo media contact:
Marissa Ivo
Marissa.B.Ivo@wellsfargo.com
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SOURCE Wells Fargo Center for Neurodiversity & Inclusive
Employment at UConn
