good morning. this is "news 4 your sunday." >> and good sunday morning to you. i'm pat lawson muse. during the month of october there is a nationwide campaign to raise awareness about the contribution of workers with disabilities and to educate the workplace about the value of a workforce that is inclusive of their skills and talents. joining us this morning are darryn garbor who works for the union kitchen. andrew reese is director of the d.c. department on disabilities. collin gilchrist is ceo and founder of union kitchen. thank you for being with25 us s morning. andrew, your theme this year is inclusion drives innovation. what are some of the newest innovations in the workplace? >> i think some of the most imrt

tremendous progress with assistive technology. we see some -- we have a program that works with young people who are training in a hotel and they all use ipads which substitutes for where we used to use a job coach and now they have ipads that provide prompts about their job and also tracks their productivity. it is a benefit to them and their employer. >> technology is a wonderful thing, isn't it? you at dds have also implemented initiatives to help those with disabilities prepare for secure, maintain employment. give us a few examples of what you are doing. >> you know, one of the best examples recently, i have been in my position for a year and when i started out mayor bowzer talked to me not just about what we could do for people with disabilities to obtain employment in the district, but what is the district doing to make sure we're a model employer for people with disabilities. we created an internship program, the aspiring professionals program. it allows people to come and have a six-h

government. these are college -- from administrative staff up to college graduates, people with professional skills who have the opportunity to come in and demonstrate their abilities, their skills and their strengths, and then obtain employment within the agency where they've done the internship. that's just one of the many programs that we have to help prepare people and help demonstrate to employers what a contribution people with disabilities can bring. >> dds works closely with employees like -- employers like union kitchen. colin, your business is considered an accelerator. what does an accelerator do? >> we are here to grow successful food businesses, so we do that in d.c. with kitchen, a distribution company selling food to whole foods or moms and other stores around the city, and we have our own grocery stores where we are then selling that food. the idea is by building an ecosystem and by lowering barriers

businesses that bring diversity, vibrancy and work well in our communities. >> we know that it can be costly and involve risk. you have to lease space, buy supplies and equipment. you are helping businesses bypass some of that process. >> yes, absolutely it is very hard and everyone will tell you that. we are trying to do some of the hard fowork for them so they ca focus on making food, which is great, and selling food, which is great. we can take those things off their plate and lower their costs. >> darren, you experienced it firsthand. you work at union kitchen and you started your own business. tell us how you did this. >> i got the job through internship that led to a job. also, i started from a

up to a kitchen manager. i manage five guys and manage a space with 65 businesses in it, delivering great customer service through union kitchen. it is a great job to be in, you know, for a person with a disability. >> do you mind telling us, tell us about your disability? >> my disability, i'm bipolar. i am a major manic depressive too, which is mood swings. i thank god i wasn't on no medication, i had a therapist, but i was able to overcome some of my disability still today with the help of jesus christ. my church is the temple of praise in washington, d.c., and i'm grounded and rooted in the bible. it helps me focus and get through my day each and every day and with my disability because i trust in the word of god for everything. >> and you're -- and the work that you're doing at union tc

business, helps to ground you as well? >> to ground me as well. so my business is cleaning. my office services, you know, commercial cleaning services for different properties. i have two contracts. one currently at georgetown vegan restaurant, 3207-gray street. i employ two people right now. my fiance, renee long, and also i will get a job from the job. we do a great job for all small businesses. i'm small but looking to be large very shortly. >> okay. that's what this is all about. we will continue our discussion about inclusiveness for those with disabilities in the workplace after this. ♪

100% veggie diet. if i can raise you two, i can raise anything. perdue. raising more organic chickens than anyone in america. the old man's still got it. welcome back. october is national disability employment awareness month, and, andrews reese, tell us more about the aspiring professional internship, aspiring profession

how you're helping people train for jobs, keep the jobs and move up in their jobs. >> that's a couple of different questions. the aspiring professionals program is a new program with the district government, and so people who are currently clients of the rehabilitation services administration, which just means a person with a disability interested in going to work, or a person who is eligible for services from us just needs to talk to their vocational rehabilitation counsellor and they can then be referred, and then they can interview with one of many district agencies who have been hiring people. there are a broad array of services that are available to people with disabilities through the vocational rehabilitation program. essentially, whatever service a person with a disability needs to obtain, regain, retain or advance in employment can be made available through -- they develop an individualized plan for employment with a counsellor, and we stay with

employment. make sure that they've stabilized in employment, and then, like mr. barber had said, when they're ready to advance if they need additional training we can help with that. if they're ready to start their own business, we can help with that as well. >> cullen, what were some of the biggest challenges you faced and found you had to make at union kitchen? >> our focus on business is lowering barriers to business. we structured our team in a similar way that we're not trying to create barriers that a disability or a lack of skill necessarily would run up against. the key for us is that people that want to be at work, they want to show up, they want to work hard, and if them have those skills we have the ability to train them. if they want to be trained, we can have a good time together and we can build them into our team, promote them over time. that's what happened with darren. he came in, worked his butt off and he's still working his butt off. we found more and more for him to do. we createdos

in mind and have been able to grow our own company while darren has grown within our own company. >> darren, yours is really a success story, isn't it? >> yeah, well, i just thank god for the country. you know, cullen and union kitchen. it is one other guy that came through the program with me, we were both able to excel with leadership skills from union kitchen and working with cullen and also with dds services. i think people with disabilities can do anything they want to do, you know, when they put their mind forward to it. i thank god for businesses like union kitchen and dds services where they provide an outlet for us to come through and to get a job and to sustain a job. >> andrew, he makes an excellent point. but employers sometimes are, i guess, concerned maybe they can't afford it, and then there's the culture that also has to be adjusted. can you talk about both of those? >> absolutely. we do f i

biggest barriers, are attitudes, recognition by employers of what this job seeker brings to the job, not looking at their disability but looking at them and seeing the strengths and the attributes that they bring to the job, that they're going to offer to the business. we're not asking businesses to do us a favor by hiring a person with disabilities. we are bringing qualified applicants to them who are seeking employment, who will help them as with union kitchen to grow their business. >> and, cullen, what do you plan to do with union kitchen from this point on? >> we're trying to -- >> you want to expand it and, you know, become jose andres or something? >> yes, we want to continue making successful businesses. right now we have worked with about 400 businesses, we want to continue on that path. more than anything we want these businesses to find success, sustain themselves and grow. over 70 store fronts in the city, in d.c., have been opened

we are really proud of that. it is creating a lot of jobs, a ton of revenue, which, you know, stays in our community and builds our community. we want to continue on that path. >> cullen and andrew and darren, thank you all for the great job you are doing and the doors that you are forcing open every day. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. up next, learn about a special theatrical production written and performed by three local women who want to shine a bright light on the problem of domestic violence. be right back. ♪

october is also domestic violence awareness and prevention month, and in our effort to keep you safe at home we want to introduce you to a group of women who are highlighting the issue in a very dramatic way. take a look at this. ♪ >> a story of passion. >> cha

>> you lied to me! really, i know. shut up! you ain't nothing, you ain't gonna be nothing. you hear me! you ain't gonna be nothing! >> no. >> let me tell you something -- ♪ >> a pain. >> i can't do this! why me! why [ inaudible ]. ♪ >> of betrayal. [ inaudible ] joining me now are two of the women responsible for what you just saw, a play, a dramatic presentation entitled "deliver

me." nicole green mckella is director of team trinity, a production company she is working with, along with claudine barbot who is also a writer, producer and director with team trinity. both of you wrote, produce and directed that production which was very moving. claudine, it is based in part on your own personal experience, isn't it? >> it is. it is based on my experience with domestic violence. i was married to a police officer and we experienced domestic violence in our home. it was very traumatic, and after nicole and the other writer on this as well, jocelyn barbot, my sister, we -- after everything came to an end, we decided to get together and write this play to promote domestic violence awareness. >> you watched her go through a horrible experience. >> yes, i did. >> what did you learn from it and what were you -- what was yo

were you trying to help her? did you know what to do? >> yes, i did. like claudine just mentioned, myself and her sister, jocelyn barbot, we helped her pick up the pieces from a horrible situation. she was suffering with this domestic violence situation for years, and essentially we helped her pick up the pieces, put her family back together, helped her through it. it was really -- we were really a pillar of support for her and her children during this time. >> which is critical for survivors. so what you did was the three of you, you, your sister and your best friend, got together and you formed a production company. >> we did. >> it is called trinity, team trinity. tell us about team trinity. >> so what we do, we highlight situations that are seen as controversial or things that people don't typically talk about. we were writers prior to the experience, so we wrote a novel together and we write

books. however, we decided to take this experience and utilize it to, you know, bring awareness to the situation. beyond this, we would like to bring awareness to other situations, other topics or issues that are controversial that people have a tendency to back away from. >> was it tough for you to deal with it in this format? first of all, to talk about it, to be open and public about it, and then to put your own experience, your own person experience on a stage? >> actually, it was -- initially i was a little afraid, not because of how people would receive it but because of my former abuser. i didn't know how it would -- if it would have any backlash, you know, from him trying to come back or anything. but i believe that, you know, i survived for a reason. and because i survived for a reason, it is to help other women in the same situation. so it is actually therapeutic. my children play themselves in th

well. you know, i think it helped us all get from the point of we were in a situation to finally realizing, you know, turning into a strategy and realizing it was all a bad situation at a time but it happened for a reason and now we can help other people. >> your children were in the production. are the others we saw, are they actors or have they had experience with domestic violence as well? >> no, they're actually local actors we just had audition, and they came to tryout for the pougs a production and they were given the role. they're local actors showcasing talent. >> showcasing a very critical issue facing so many in our community now. domestic violence. we will continue talking with team trinity in a moment. stay with us.

ralpand as a doctor, nobody ever asked if i'm a democrat or republican. they just want my help. so if donald trump is helping virginia i'll work with him. but donald trump proposed cutting virginia's school funding, rolling back our clean air and water protections, and taking away health care from thousands of virginians. as a candidate for governor, i sponsored this ad because i've stood up to donald trump on all of it. ed gillespie refuses to stand up to him at all. we're talking now about domestic violence and about the production by team trinity, "deliver me," a play which aired

at the bully arts -- >> center for performing arts. >> so what kind of response did you get to this very, very emotional and graphic play? >> so the response, i mean it was really astounding. i mean people really did love the play. they felt like they were given an education and awareness, and it just brought the light to many situations that many people deal with that, again, they don't want to talk about because the play deals with domestic violence and sexual abuse. those two topics are something often considered controversial and taboo. people loved it. >> some people were uncomfortable with some of the scenes, but overall we had a great response. >> so now this was a one-time production, but your troupe is together and you want to take this play around the region and to show it -- to perform again, to continue this effort, your awass

right? >> yes, we do. we want to take the play around prince georges county, the dnc basically and beyond that and we want to use it to promote awareness not only around domestic violence but around domestic abuse. >> what would you say are some of the most important lessons that you learned having gone through this and then getting out of it and still living in an area where your former abuser is still around? >> the most important lesson that i will say that i learned from the entire situation, i learned a lesson in faith. i really learned that -- because there were a lot of times when i knew what was happening and i knew i had to leave, but i kind of ignored it, you know, and kind of stayed, trying to make the relationship what i wanted it to be instead of taking heed to what was going on and leaving. >> because you had friends and family. >> yes. >> trying to extract you, to save you. >

it is funny because nicole was never -- she was never really influential -- she didn't judge me, you know. she kind of let me see it for myself. and when things got really, really bad, then she would have that talk with me. so her support, it was different because a lot of times people judge you in that situation. oh, well, you're stupid, why are you still with him, why don't you just leave. it is not really that easy because my abuser was very controlling and very into everything that i did. he knew where i was, when i was supposed to be there, you know. if anything was out of, i guess, routine he would pick up on that and he would present himself. so it was never really a clean opportunity to leave, and it was kind of -- the way the situation occurred was we eventually had to call the police and as a result that was my way out. so i'm thankful for how things happened, but if i had to go back i think i would leave when i saw the signs initially because i did see

i stayed anyway. that's the biggest -- if i had to have a regret, that would be it, but that's the biggest lesson that i learned, to just trust your instinct, trust your gut and go with faith and leave. there's nothing that -- staying in a situation is worse. you know, i was scared because they don't -- you know, money was a big thing for me, breaking up my family, divorce, the stereotypes affiliated with it, and of course the kids, being a single mother. those are the type of things that kept me there, but there's also a stigma associated with being in a household and your children seeing that when they're growing up. >> nicole, you were watching as an onlooker, what was the toughest part for you? >> it was difficult seeing your friend experience all of these terrible situations. before she left it became a situation where she was being abused more often, and it was not only physical abuse it w, i emotional abuse. i really

always there to comfort her and support her and i never wanted to tell her what to do, but i became very upset and it did start to wear me down because i could tell it was really wearing her down. i didn't know if she was going to be killed because i was very fearful of that. >> well, you certainly have taken a terrible experience and you turned it into something positive. so now "deliver me" is the play. you want to perform it again. so people want, you know, this play to come to their church or their group, how do they contact you? >> we have a website which is teamtrinity.com. we have an instagram which is @teamtrinity. >> and we should spell that. >> yes, it is not the common trinity the t-r-i-n-i-t-e-e. >> okay. >> claudine barbot and it has been great talking to you. to see more about the program log on to the

website and search community. >> thank you. ♪

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breaking news, hurricane nate makes a second land fall before turning into a tropical storm. where the storm is headed next. >> an encouraging update about one of the victims of the las vegas massacre that's from our region. the improvements tina frost is making each day. >> ryan zimmerman. >> oh, yeah. they wake up. what fans are hoping for as the team gets ready to head to the windy city. friendlyon