{"id":24014,"date":"2018-11-08T15:16:00","date_gmt":"2018-11-08T20:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/?p=24014"},"modified":"2018-11-08T19:01:43","modified_gmt":"2018-11-09T00:01:43","slug":"tennessee-gov-bill-haslam-praises-utc-orange-grove-center-partnership-in-thursday-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2018\/11\/tennessee-gov-bill-haslam-praises-utc-orange-grove-center-partnership-in-thursday-visit\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam praises UTC-Orange Grove Center Partnership in Thursday visit"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Gov. Bill Haslam, left, greets Michael Decosimo Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018, in the University Center dining area.<\/p><\/div>\n

Successful collaboration between the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, the local Orange Grove Center and state agencies advocating for employment opportunities for the intellectually and developmentally disabled is an example of \u201chow government is supposed to work,\u201d Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam said during a Thursday visit to UTC.<\/p>\n

Orange Grove University is the name of a partnership between Orange Grove Centers that serve the developmentally disabled and UTC to facilitate employment for disabled people. The partnership resulted from Haslam\u2019s Employment First Task Force, initiated in 2013 to encourage more jobs for Tennesseans with disabilities.<\/p>\n

Haslam\u2019s visit was to meet people employed at UTC as part of the Orange Grove University partnership and to formally receive the fifth and final annual report, as Tennessee governor, on the work of the Employment First Task Force.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love that we are here. The partnership between Orange Grove and UTC is kind of how it should work\u201d Haslam said. The event gathered around 100 Chattanooga leaders from the Orange Grove Center, UTC and Aramark, the University\u2019s food service vendor.<\/p>\n

Haslam was joined by the state Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Commissioner Debra K. Payne, Department of Human Services Commissioner Danielle W. Barnes, UTC Chancellor Steven R. Angle and Executive Vice Chancellor Richard Brown.<\/p>\n

Brown praised the opportunity for partnership by saying, \u201cThis is truly the mission of the engaged metropolitan university as we touch the community and transform the lives of all Tennesseans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haslam, who leaves office at the end of 2018 and two terms, also noted \u201cthe remarkable progress\u201d at UTC over his eight years as governor.<\/p>\n