Our History
The Self Employment Resource Network (SERN) was born from a work incentives working group meeting in 2000. The initial mission was to work as an advisory team for agencies assisting individuals with disabilities. This group concluded that a Task Force on Self Employment was necessary to in order to maximize our effectiveness in assisting populations that served persons with disabilities, we needed to form a Task Force on Self Employment.
2001
May 10th, the task-force officially adopted the acronym SERN, the Self Employment Resources Network. Our founding members consisted of Marsie Frawley, Katherine Burson, Dave Porter, Gene Oulvey and Sue Walters.
2002
SERN launched ‘First Friday’ monthly tele-conference calls as a free service to both entrepreneurs and service providers. These monthly calls consist of presentations about self-employment related issues for persons with disabilities who are interested in starting and running their own business, and small business operators who provide positive examples of successful determined individuals.
2003
SERN expanded to become a conduit networking other self-employment entities thereby enhancing opportunities for further disabled owned and operated business development.
2004 & 2005
SERN researched, developed and provided 5 training Video-Conferences. The target audience included Vocational Rehabilitation staff; Small Business Operators, Small Business Development Center staff; educators and banking personnel, and other people interested in disabled-owned small business operators. These videos covered such topics as, the pros and cons of operating a small business as a disabled person, financing small business start-ups, writing effective business plans, contracting with the State of Illinois, and Developing effective marketing strategies.
2005
SERN reached out to small business enterprises and provided education on the viability of working with persons with disabilities and necessary supports for successful employment. We formalized our Task Force in May 2005 by incorporating as a not-for-profit organization.
2006
SERN focused on building our organizational infrastructure. We expanded the First Friday conference calls to include webinars. SERN also became more involved with WIPA (Work Incentive Planning and Assistance Projects) and strengthened our alliances with the 42 statewide Small Business Development Centers, and the Illinois Assistive Technology Program.
2007
SERN developed a small business mentorship program and conducted several Mentor Training Seminars for vocational rehabilitation counselors, business coaches and supervisors. Betty Odem Davis, Bureau Chief of the Bureau of Blind Services (BBS) was instrumental in making this vision a reality.
2008
SERN recruited and secured five small business mentors and launched a pilot project with the BBS with five initial clients. To date, two clients are successfully operating their own businesses and three of the clients are consistently progressing towards success. Our mission was to work as an advisory team for agencies assisting people with disabilities. This group concluded that in order to maximize our effectiveness in assisting populations that served persons with disabilities, we needed to form a Task Force on Self Employment.
2009
SERN collaborated with the Bureau of Blind Services to provide webinar trainings for persons with disabilities to become self-employed, including appropriate resource information and available training and technical assistance. The webinars were made available to individuals in accessible formats at local DRS offices and also encompassed education on the position of a business mentor and a universal screening tool to identify and match potential business owners with interested people with disabilities; how to provide training to the business mentor in assistive technology and resources; strategies to increase financial literacy; state government human service agency’s client rights; and the development of a business plan.
2010
The Division of Rehabilitation Services (DRS) partnered with SERN to offer a series of workshops designed to introduce the role of the business mentor model to DRS counselors, their customers with disabilities interested in researching and possibly starting their own business, and the people who assist them in making those decisions. The trainings covered options, available supports, and exciting new possibilities for accessing small business development assistance to achieve successful self -employment goals and dreams. Five state region offices were chosen to offer the training and pilot the business mentor program: Northern IL, Chicago/Cook County, Southern Cook County, Central, IL, and Southern IL.