We are excited to offer a professional opportunity for people with disabilities. The Dendros Group is working with the State of Minnesota’s Olmstead Implementation Office to update Minnesota’s Olmstead Plan. This plan aims to ensure that people with disabilities can live, learn, work, and enjoy life in the community, in settings that include everyone.

Dendros will select, train, and support 17-23 individuals with disabilities to work as Inclusion Consultants. These consultants will play a key role in the project’s success. Leadership by people with disabilities is key to the success of this project.

Please review the details below and consider applying. We encourage people from all backgrounds to apply. You can also join one of our Q&A sessions to learn more. (Attendance at one of these sessions is not required.)

• Zoom Q&A: Monday, February 3, 2025, from 1:30-2:30 PM.

• DeafBlind Q&A: Friday, February 7, 2025, from 2:00-3:30 PM, at 2642 University Ave W, Saint Paul, MN.

Captioning, ASL interpreters and other accommodations will be provided when requested. please RSVP at www.dendros.com/qa page. If you can’t attend, recordings and a written FAQ will be available. 

Please help us share this opportunity widely! 

Angela M. Carter, Ph.D

Job Title: Inclusion Consultant

Location: Some in-person work in Saint Paul, MN. Some remote work. Some possible work in Greater Minnesota.

Application Deadline: February 24, 2025

Start Date: March/April 2025

Pay: $50/hour (20-35 hours per month). Consultants will be independent contractors. They will be responsible for their own taxes.

Job Responsibilities

As an Inclusion Consultant, you will:

• Represent Disabled Experiences: Represent the perspectives of people with disabilities and their experiences.

• Provide Insights: Reflect on your lived experience and the experiences of other people with disabilities. Offer advice and feedback to improve services, systems, and policies for individuals with disabilities.

• Advocate and Educate: Help stakeholders understand the barriers faced by people with disabilities.

• Engage with Systems: Share insights on navigating state programs, nonprofits, benefits systems, and other services: transportation, healthcare, nutrition programs, schools, court system, juvenile justice, veterans benefits, housing, and others.

• Collaborate: Work with state agency teams to co-create goals and advocate for change to build a more accessible and inclusive Minnesota.

• Co-facilitate Community Meetings: Work with 1-2 other consultants plus our team, to recruit, and facilitate online and in-person conversations with people across the state.

• Support Other Consultants: Participate in online and in-person monthly meetings of other consultants in communities of practice.

Qualifications

• Personal experience living with an intellectual, physical, sensory, or other disability condition. This includes mental illness and chronic health conditions. 

• Experience dealing with challenges with services and systems. 

• Demonstrated experience in self-advocacy or advocating for others.

• Ability to discuss difficult experiences related to marginalization, trauma or insecurity, and share them constructively.

• Demonstrated creativity and innovative problem solving skills when faced with obstacles.

• Experience working collaboratively or working on committees. 

• Current resident of Minnesota eligible to work in the United States. 

Ideal Candidates

The Inclusion Consultant role is ideal for someone who has faced obstacles such as: 

• Segregation

• Discrimination based on disability

• Housing and food insecurity

• Economic insecurity

• Accessing health care

We are looking for individuals with strong self-advocacy skills, leadership experience, and the courage to share your story and insights in public and professional settings

• Leadership experience, such as public speaking or community involvement.

• Experience working with state programs, nonprofits, or advocacy groups.

• Understanding the challenges of marginalized communities.

• Strong connections to local communities.

Additional Details

This is a complex state-wide project requiring that Candidates are also: 

• Able to commit to two years of service and participation.

• Available during business hours (8am to 5pm CST) for a series of trainings April through May of 2025. 

• Available during business hours for 1-2 meetings per week.

• Available for some possible evening or weekend meetings, depending on assignment.

• Familiar with Google Applications.

  Meetings will be online and in person in St. Paul. Transportation, lodging, and accommodations will be arranged. Photos and recordings may be used to document the project.

How to Apply

Application deadline: February 24, 2025.

Complete the online application

• You will be asked to provide contact information, demographic information, veteran status and answer a few conventional questions about your legal ability to work.

• You will be asked about your experience with services and about your identity. 

• You will NOT be required to describe the accommodations you need to be successful in this project; if you are hired, accommodations will be provided.

• You will also be asked to provide three references of people who have known you and worked with you directly. These need not be former supervisors or employers. We encourage you to provide references that can speak to your skills as a leader and advocate, and your ability to work in a team planning environment. You’ll be asked to provide contact information and a description of your relationship with each reference.

You will be asked to upload application materials

• Your resume -or-

• A video message in ASL or English (3-5 minutes) -or-

• A letter (1-2 pages)

Please address the following questions in your application materials:

• What is your experience with living with a disability?

• What experience do you have advocating for yourself or others?

• What skills or other qualifications do you bring to this project?

• What experience do you have working and planning in groups? 

• When have you been a leader and what did you do?

• What advice would you give a system professional or elected official trying to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities across Minnesota?

• What else should people know about you?

About the Minnesota Olmstead Plan

The Minnesota Olmstead Plan is the state of Minnesota’s commitment that people with disabilities live, learn, work, and enjoy life in the community, in the most integrated settings possible. The Plan is a set of measurable goals, developed as the result of a Supreme Court case decision (Olmstead vs. L.C.) which affirmed that people with disabilities (such as mental illness, brain injury, sensory disabilities, substance use disorder, developmental disabilities, and people who are blind, Deaf, or DeafBlind) have the right to make their own decisions about their lives under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The Olmstead Subcabinet, a cabinet-level body of 12 state agencies and the Metropolitan Council, creates the Minnesota Olmstead Plan, and ensures the state follows the goals outlined in the Plan. The Subcabinet also conducts more detailed work through the Olmstead Leadership Forum, which is a group of agency leadership from the Subcabinet agencies. The Olmstead Implementation Office (OIO) supports and coordinates this work. The original Olmstead Plan was first approved in 2015 and has been amended regularly since that time. The Olmstead Subcabinet has decided to create a new iteration of the Olmstead Plan. 

About the Dendros Group

The Dendros Group is a woman-, minority-, and disabled-owned business in Saint Paul, MN. We have 20+ years of experience in planning and strategy development with government, nonprofits, and businesses. 

Interview Process

If you are chosen for an interview, there will be two possible interviews. The first interview will be a 30-45 minute interview with one of our team members. If chosen for a second interview, that interview will be 45-90 minutes with 2-4 members of our team. Accommodations will be provided for interviews, including an in-person interview in St. Paul, if requested.

Because many Dendros and OIO team members have multiple roles within the disability community, we are taking proactive steps to reduce potential conflicts of interest. If a member of the hiring committee has a previous close personal or professional relationship with an applicant, that committee member will not be part of the initial review of that candidate. If a previously known applicant is invited to interview, the Dendros team will ensure that there are two interviewers present who do not know the applicant.