By Ashley Kus
Communications Coordinator
After a day of training at the new INspire Cafe in Wakefield, Massachusetts, Janis Mamayek’s son Whitman was all smiles.
“He was beaming ear to ear,” Janis said. “The joy was just abundant.”
Whitman, who will turn 30 in May, has CdLS and is nonverbal. His mom, Janis, and other parents in the community are working to open the inclusive INspire Cafe for all abilities after a previous cafe that Whitman and other employees worked at closed two years ago.
“Our mission is to inspire change,” Janis said of the new cafe on Main Street. Besides being a parent, Janis is also a board member of Friends of INspire Cafe (FOIC) and an architect for the new space.
What started as a pop-up cafe this past summer has become a brick-and-mortar space for the community to gather and socialize, along with a diverse staff of varying abilities eager to get to work.
The cafe inspires employees like Whitman to foster skills, confidence, personal growth, and independence. Janis said this is especially important given that the employment rate for this population is relatively low.
According to the Office of Disability Employment Policy and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), the employment rate for working-age people (ages 16 to 64) with disabilities was 38% last year (Q2)— up from 30% in 2009 (Q1.)
“The long-standing employment gap between working-age people with disabilities and those without has declined in recent years, but the gap persists,” said the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. DOL.
Janis and other parents in the community are hoping the INspire Cafe helps increase these trends.
“This has been a labor of love,” she said.
Thanks to the support from the local Boys & Girls Club and the Friends of INspire Café, along with other community partners and friends, the cafe is set to open early this year. Before the holidays, the cafe sold special merchandise like sweatshirts and mugs.
Janis hopes the community response helps launch more employment opportunities for adults like Whitman and those with varying abilities outside her state.
What a wonderful accomplishment. I am so proud of you.