A Tucson dealership was singled out this spring for its efforts to expand job opportunities for people with disabilities. Jim Click Automotive received the Business Partnership Award in recognition of its work increasing employment for people with disabilities through a partnership with Beacon Group. The honor was announced at an annual gathering of organizations involved in federal disability employment programs on May 20 in Grapevine, Texas.
Jim Click Automotive staff stand together in a dealership lot; the company was recognized nationally for increasing employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
The award program was presented by a national nonprofit that helps administer the AbilityOne Program, which creates employment opportunities for people with disabilities through federal product and service contracts. The organization announced winners at its Xforce Conference and said the Achievement Awards honor employees with disabilities, nonprofit agencies, business partners and military customers whose work advances disability employment across the country.
Recipients were selected on the basis of leadership, innovation and impact in the field, the nonprofit said. The awards are intended to highlight work that produces measurable results for government and commercial customers while supporting broader economic and community benefits tied to disability employment initiatives.
A Jim Click Automotive team member washes a vehicle on the dealership lot; the company earned national recognition for expanding inclusive hiring and job-training programs.
Jim Click Automotive’s Business Partnership Award specifically recognized the dealership’s collaboration with Beacon Group to expand inclusive hiring and job-training opportunities for people with disabilities. The award citation focused on how the partnership increased the number and variety of roles available to qualified job seekers and strengthened pathways into steady employment.
“This year's honorees underscore how valuable meaningful employment opportunities can be for workers with disabilities, and the significant impact these workers have on our nation's economy,” Richard Belden, the nonprofit’s president and chief executive officer, said when announcing the awards. Belden added that the achievements of winners demonstrate how the AbilityOne Program strengthens communities, promotes economic growth, supports military readiness and delivers results for government and commercial customers.
The announcement also underscored the scale of the challenge the awards seek to address. More than 70 million U.S. adults report having a disability, the nonprofit said, and the unemployment rate for working-age individuals with disabilities remains more than double that of those without disabilities. Organizers said the awards highlight private-sector and nonprofit examples of how targeted partnerships and federal contracting programs can expand employment options for job seekers with disabilities.
Alongside the Business Partnership Award presented to Jim Click Automotive, individual honorees were also recognized. Winners included Derek Point of Melwood in Upper Marlboro, Maryland; Italy Turner of Goodwill Industries of North Georgia in Decatur, Georgia; and Valentino Corbett of PRIDE Industries in Dothan, Alabama. Irving Middleton of Palmetto Goodwill Services in North Charleston, South Carolina, was another individual recipient named during the ceremony.
In the nonprofit agency category, Huntsville Rehabilitation Foundation in Huntsville, Alabama, and ARS, Inc. in Pasadena, California, were acknowledged for their work. The awards highlighted a range of efforts — from job coaching and training to operational partnerships with businesses and federal customers — that support employment and economic participation for people with disabilities.
The Achievement Awards were announced at the Xforce Conference on May 20 in Grapevine, Texas, an annual event that brings together organizations involved with AbilityOne and related programs. The nonprofit emphasized that the awards were intended to showcase examples of leadership and innovation that produce measurable benefits for workers with disabilities, their employers, and government customers who rely on federal product and service contracts.
For Jim Click Automotive, the Business Partnership Award adds national recognition to a local initiative that paired a private employer with a community nonprofit to build employment pathways. The partnership with Beacon Group was cited as the basis for the award, marking the dealership’s role in expanding inclusive hiring and job-training programs that create steady, meaningful work for people who have historically faced higher barriers to employment.