SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today Northwest Center, one of the leading advocates and service providers for people with disabilities and their families, is launching its newest social enterprise, an online printing service that will direct 100% of its profits toward programs serving children and adults with disabilities. Built on more than 20 years of industry expertise, Print it Forward is available nationwide and provides customized, scalable printing needs for individuals, fellow nonprofits and all businesses.
Print it Forward offers online ordering for a wide range of products made in the U.S. including brochures, catalogs, signage, stationery, business cards, and embroidery such as hats and shirts. Print it Forward can also help enhance an organization’s accessibility and inclusion with custom Braille services designed to blend seamlessly into any space.
“Along with providing excellent service, this business will also help expand a more than fifty-year legacy supporting children and adults with disabilities,” said Tess Connor, Chief Growth and Operating Officer for Northwest Center. “By working with Print it Forward, organizations can meet their own needs while helping fund critical programs that lead to more inclusive schools and workplaces across the country.”
With one in four Americans having a disability, people with disabilities are the country’s largest minority group. However, they face unemployment rates more than double the national average. That’s despite research showing businesses that hire more people with disabilities report higher revenue.
100% of the profits from Print it Forward and seven other social enterprise businesses, fund Northwest Center programs to support people with disabilities and their families at work, school and home including
- Employment services: educating employers on inclusive hiring, providing job coaching for people with disabilities and connecting them with positions that match their skillset. Northwest Center also employs people with disabilities across its social enterprise businesses.
- Early learning: training early learning centers across the country on how to create more inclusive schools. Children with disabilities make up 13% of preschoolers but account for up to 75% of all suspensions and expulsions. Keeping children in classrooms also keeps parents at work, supporting local economies.
- Childhood development therapy and support: providing evaluations and therapy to families of children with developmental delays that can greatly improve their development and growth.
“Print it Forward and all of our social enterprises are more than just businesses, they’re catalysts for change,” said Brad Spikes, Vice President of Strategic Ventures at Northwest Center. “By choosing to work with us, customers are also investing in a future where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.”
With the profits from its social enterprise businesses, each year Northwest Center provides employment support for more than 600 adults with disabilities, serves nearly 1,500 babies and toddlers and their families, and reaches more than 12,000 children through disability inclusion training in schools.
Profits from Print it Forward will grow that work and support other organizations as they expand their own impact. To learn more about Print it Forward and its mission of inclusion or to request a quote for services, please visit https://printitforward.net, email support@printitforward.net, or call 888-598-8421.
ABOUT NORTHWEST CENTER & NORTHWEST CENTER SERVICES
Northwest Center (NWC) and its sister entity, Northwest Center Services (NWCS), form one of the nation’s most comprehensive organizations providing disability inclusion programs and services advancing equal opportunities for people of all abilities. Northwest Center was founded in 1965 by Seattle parents who refused to give up when their children with disabilities were kept from public education. The parents went on to help write the country’s first disability inclusion law.
Today, Northwest Center provides Early Supports and inclusive Early Learning for children from birth to school age and promotes inclusion and anti-ableism in early-education centers and workplaces through training and consultation. Northwest Center Services provides employment services to adults with disabilities across Washington state and in Idaho.
Northwest Center’s portfolio of social enterprise businesses delivers best-in-class service and products, employs inclusive workforces, and – most importantly – provides funding for critical services and programs for people with disabilities.
For more information, visit www.NWCenter.org/.
