by Brett Glirbas

After one year of an unsuccessful search for employment in the field of adaptive recreation, I completed a grant writing internship and a passion was born; a passion that allows me to use my skills to make a difference and to work at my own pace.

I graduated from Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, MN with a combined major in Adaptive Recreation and Special Education. I was unable to find a job in recreation so I tried grant writing after a family member suggested it. During an internship at the St. Frances House in Sioux Falls, I developed my writing skills and found that I could use my skills to benefit others. In addition, I found that grant writing would allow me to work at my own pace. This is very helpful because I have Cerebral Palsy, an impairment that affects the coordination in my hands and impacts the speed in which I type.

While doing some minor freelance grant writing, I was also working with Loni Broton, a Job Developer, and Dan Rounds with the Freedom to Work Project. Fortunately, a friend of Dan’s indicated that she was looking for a grant writer. Soon after, I met with Maxine Schochenmaier with Capital Sense Consulting. Max and I decided to work together, but knowing the guidelines with maintaining Social Security benefits, we wanted to make an arrangement that would meet both our needs.

At first, Max and I discussed wage employment, which meant that I would work and get paid an hourly wage through Capital Sense Consulting. But after meeting with a variety of experts, including a Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) counselor, Freedom to Work Project staff, local benefits specialists, and Dave Hammis (PASS expert and consultant), we found that it would be best for both parties if Max’s business would contract with me for my services. I also found that I would benefit from starting my own business. With the erratic income of grant writing, some months I would be well over the SSI resource limit of $2000 or not have enough money to live on. A business account will hold my income and allow me to take an amount each month to live on without exceeding the SSI resource limit. With hard work and mentoring from Max, I established my own business called Achievable Ventures Consulting.

During the process of developing my business, I realized that I lacked some of the equipment and supplies that are necessary to operate a business. Fortunately, Vocational Rehabilitation provided some assistive software that allowed me to read a large amount of material in a short time and another program that speeds up my typing. This is also where a Plan for Achieving Self Support (PASS) was very helpful. During the time of the PASS, I will continue to put my entire grant writing income into my business via the PASS account and still receive a full SSI check to live on.

So far, I have used the funds in my PASS to purchase:

• Transportation
• Laser printer
• Office supplies
• Accounting/Accounting software
• Desk and other office furniture
• Professional business cards

In addition to starting Achievable Ventures Consulting, I recently had the honor of accepting the 2009 Richard L. Hicks Award. This award recognizes outstanding leadership in my community and at the South Dakota Youth Leadership Forum. I also enjoy sharing my success story with others because I truly believe in a quotation by an unknown author: “A disability does not change a dream; it just changes how the dream is achieved!”