BY TIM PENNINGTON EDITOR
Foothills Vocational Opportunities creates jobs for
people with barriers to employment.
Powder Coating
with a Purpose
24
SEPTEMBER 2015 — pfonline.com
The question is often posed to Rob Wahlstrom, director of
operations of FVO Solutions in Pasadena, California. The
query is legitimate about his powder coating operation, and
he is happy to put the prospective customer at ease.
"I tell them, 'Yes, we have employees with developmental
and other disabilities,'" says Wahlstrom. "And then I give
them our references and tell them to call anyone on the list.
We wouldn't keep doing this if we didn't produce quality
workmanship."
It's a question Wahlstrom gets often at FVO Solutions,
which was formerly known as Foothills
Vocational Opportunities. The facility's
mission is straightforward: create jobs
for people with barriers to employment,
create opportunities that would not
otherwise exist and have a vision that
everyone with a disability or disadvan-
tage who wants to work has an opportu-
nity to do so.
For the past 50 years, FVO Solutions has operated as
a nonprofit social enterprise that uses the methods and
disciplines of a business to provide contract manufacturing
assembly, packaging, fulfillment, mail house, powder
coating and staffing needs.
"We have about 120 clients with disabilities who work
in our factory, and about 30 staff members who help
supervise and job coach," Wahlstrom says. "We have 50
to 60 people we helped to get and keep jobs in the local
community."
Lights & Speakers
The powder coating operation
usually has a crew of five to six
clients and a supervisor coating
anything from light fixtures or
speaker housings to the paper
punches that the facility manufac-
tures for the office products industry
POWDER COATING
"The goal is to get them a
full-time job so they can
provide for themselves.
When they leave us, it is a
happy day."