Ventures ATL has partnered with Dooney & Bourke to create an autism awareness themed collection of handbags to address the significant unemployment gap within the autism community. These beautiful handbags allow customers to show their support for autism and provide employment to autistic adults who will be fulfilling each customer's order. We launched our collection in February of 2018, which can be viewed in our online store by clicking "SHOP" on our main menu.
Ventures ATL is a nonprofit based in Atlanta, Georgia whose mission is to provide meaningful, sustainable jobs for adults with autism and related developmental differences. We do this by operating a portfolio of businesses for which there is strong commercial demand and which play to the strengths of our target employees. We utilize the skills and talents of neurodiverse individuals which include focus, attention to detail, affinity for repetitive tasks and their strong motivation to work. In June 2017, Ventures ATL started providing data entry/management services and product fulfillment services to clients.
Data Entry & Data Management – helping our clients with the challenges related to the threshold entry and management of data.
Product Fulfillment – facilitating the fulfillment process by performing the pick, pack, label, ship (and related) steps in the delivery of products to customers, employees, and other stakeholders.
Adults with autism and developmental disabilities possess many strong employment skills yet have a high rate of unemployment or underemployment. It is estimated that the rate of unemployment or underemployment for persons with autism is at least 80% despite the fact that many have job skills that are valued in the employment market. Our mission is to bridge the gap between this underutilized group of people who can supply the very skills that are frequently in demand in the commercial marketplace. By operating businesses that draw upon their strengths, we provide the enrichment that comes with meaningful and sustainable employment.
We carefully choose to operate businesses for which there is real demand and which emphasize the strengths of our employees. Since we are the employer, we can provide a work environment that enables the overall success of our employees while maintaining the requisite level of discipline and focus to meet or exceed the expectations of our clients. While we are organized as a nonprofit, our businesses must deliver the same value propositions as those which apply to any commercial enterprise. During 2017, we successfully performed engagements for commercial clients who became repeat customers and thus validated that we can be a valuable resource for hard to find (and retain) skills.