SourceAmerica IDEATE Competition registration underway

High school and college students designing innovative workplace solutions for people with disabilities

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Oct 21, 2021, 07:47 ET

VIENNA, Va., Oct. 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Students from across the U.S. will put their creativity and engineering skills to the test this academic year in the inaugural SourceAmerica® IDEATE Competition.

IDEATE, previously known as Design Challenge, is an acronym that stands for: Imagine, Design & Evaluate Assistive Technologies for Employment. This competition invites motivated high school and college students to design solutions that improve workplace inclusion and opportunities for people with disabilities.

"Over 50 teams registered already, and we still have another week to go," said Charissa Garcia, productivity engineer at SourceAmerica and the IDEATE program manager. "We are providing these students with a chance to foster their growth in the engineering field and this competition puts assistive technology at the forefront."

Throughout the school year, the students will design assistive technologies that solve workplace challenges and increase the earning potential of people with disabilities, through scalable and repeatable inventions. In April 2022, three college and five high school finalist teams will be invited to a virtual finals event to share the technology they developed with a panel of judges, their families, and supporters. The teams' submissions will be judged on demonstrable results in the workplace.

After the winners are selected, the IDEATE paid internship program will provide five college students from the finalist teams with additional mentorship, work experience, and opportunities to see their ideas put into practice. These interns will have access to SourceAmerica's resources and the benefit of working directly with people with disabilities.

"Interns get valuable, paid work experience to help kick start their futures and SourceAmerica gets the pleasure of mentoring the next generation of engineers to discover solutions that improve employment opportunities for people with disabilities," said Garcia. "It is really a unique, reciprocal relationship where we all win because we are ultimately working for the same cause – accessibility in the workplace."

Details about IDEATE 2022 are available at sourceamerica.org/IDEATE.

About SourceAmerica
SourceAmerica connects government and corporate customers to a national network of approximately 700 nonprofit agencies that hire a talented segment of the workforce – people with disabilities. Established in 1974, SourceAmerica is committed to increasing economic and social inclusion and advocating for a more accessible future of work for people with differing abilities. As a leading job creator within the disability community and distinguished as an AbilityOne authorized enterprise, SourceAmerica harnesses the momentum and boosts the capability of its network and customers. To learn more, visit SourceAmerica.org and @SourceAmerica on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

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