CREATING FOR GOOD: Students from Concord High School in Wilmington, Delaware and from California State University, Los Angeles stand with SourceAmerica leadership and their coaches after winning in the 2017 SourceAmerica Design Challenge in April 2017. (From left) Dr. Dennis McBride, Vice President, Strategy and Innovation, SourceAmerica; members of the first place high school team from Concord High School in Wilmington, Delaware; members of the first place college team from California State University, Los Angeles; Steve Soroka, President and CEO, SourceAmerica.

 Fortunately, many high school and college students every year are becoming aware of this pressing national crisis by participating in the annual SourceAmerica Design Challenge. This national engineering competition encourages students to use their science and technology skills – and their passion for social justice – to create breakthrough assistive technology to enhance workplace success and employment options for people with disabilities.

Fortunately, many high school and college students every year are becoming aware of this pressing national crisis by participating in the annual SourceAmerica Design Challenge. This national engineering competition encourages students to use their science and technology skills – and their passion for social justice – to create breakthrough assistive technology to enhance workplace success and employment options for people with disabilities. or the 2016-2017 school year, 160 teams of tech-savvy students from 26 states competed in the 2017 SourceAmerica Design Challenge. Throughout an intense six-month process, students across the country worked closely with people with disabilities in their communities to understand the challenges they faced in performing their jobs. By applying their math, science, and engineering skills, the student teams created innovative assistive technologies to greatly enhance workplace efficiency. The service-learning component of this STEM competition gives students a real-life experience and application of those skills and a window into SourceAmerica’s nonprofit agency mission: to create employment opportunities and choices for people with significant disabilities. What's more, knowing how to build an inclusive workplace is a lesson SourceAmerica hopes these students will implement as America’s future business leaders. On April 5, 2017, representatives from each of the five high school and three college finalist teams arrived in Washington, D.C., where the final championship event took place. In the days leading up to the final competition, more than 70 students received disability awareness training and had the opportunity to meet with their congressional representatives on Capitol Hill. They discussed their Design Challenge experience with legislators and advocated for the many employees with disabilities with whom they worked during the competition.