Be a Part of the Orion Family with Their Limited Edition Ornament

Hidden in plain sight by the Auburn Municipal Airport is Orion Industries, an aerospace manufacturer making a significant impact in the community. Being an award-winning aerospace manufacturer allows Orion to fulfill its profound social mission of helping people find work. 

Orion originally started in 1957 as a small nonprofit in a church basement. “My understanding of that time,” explained Orion CEO Jerry Chase, “is that Orion began by loving parents of adult children with barriers to employment. They were looking for how to engage their children in the community and how to make them productive. I think that ethos exists today. A lot of thinking has evolved as to how to best do that.”

Orion’s Limited Edition Ornament
One of the new ways Orion has developed to support their mission of helping those with barriers to employment is their limited-edition Orion Christmas ornament. Made of high-grade aircraft aluminum, and produced by program participants and Orion staff, each ornament will be one of only 500 made. This 2019 ornament is the first of many unique Orion Christmas ornaments to come (for all you collectors out there).

Every purchase of an Orion Christmas ornament directly supports the Orion mission. “We’re not selling an ornament,” shared Chris Hedegaard Orion Marketing & Communications Manager. “We’re reaching out to people, to give them an opportunity to support our mission, and become a part of the Orion family. To display this ornament proudly in their homes during the holidays, and engage with us over the years. Because every dollar that comes in through [this ornament] is going to help turn somebody’s life around.”

You can purchase your ornament online at https://shop.orionworks.org/products/orion-christmas-ornament.

Building a Pathway to Independence
Orion’s Training and Education Program is open to anyone who may face a barrier to employment. More than 2,300 people have utilized Orion’s extensive, award-winning training and education programs. Almost 1,000 individuals have been placed in sustainable careers. 

Training program tours are offered multiple times a week at both the Auburn and Mukilteo facilities.   Once an individual enters the paid-training program, they are placed on a regular work schedule. The program length varies depending on the individual. Chase estimates that at any one time, there are approximately 55 program participants on the factory floor, 45 in Auburn and 10 in Mukilteo.

Mentors Play an Integral Role
During their time in the program, individuals will rotate jobs on the manufacturing floor. This rotation gives program participants exposure to a variety of skills and engagement with multiple mentors. Mentors are current Orion employees that work with program participants. These employees volunteer to be mentors, a position that is an integral part of the training program.

By working closely with participants, mentors can identify each individual’s strengths, help them build skills, and form a seamless network in partnership with Orion’s training and employment staff. This partnership will help support each person in achieving their goals.

In addition to manufacturing skills, Orion offers office and business skills education. These training opportunities are offered at no cost to program participants. “We try to meet people where they are,” explained Chase. “We try to be responsible providers of services in our community.”

Soft skills are taught throughout all of Orion’s training programs. These critical employee skills, such as how to take constructive feedback, showing up on time and ready to work, and how to properly engage in a workplace, are invaluable tools program participants will carry with them. “It’s a combination of hard skills and soft skills. Often it’s the soft skills that we find to make people more employable,” said Chase.

Using the Skills Learned in a Living-Wage Career
As a part of the training and education program, Orion assists participants with job placement. Though an aerospace manufacturer, participants are not always placed in the aerospace industry. “Our job developers go out and call on large warehouses, like McKesson, or Amazon. Or they may go to Target. We cast the net wide. We find out what folks like to do when they’re here. [Participants] can rotate between a variety of jobs, up to six or eight jobs, before we see that ah-ha moment in their eyes. We try to match them out in the community with jobs that they will be successful at.”

Chase estimated that in Auburn, above 80% of program participants do get placed in aerospace industry positions. “I think it’s because of where we are.”

Orion remains engaged with program participants and employers for up to a year after placement. This engagement includes coaching of the program graduate and the employer of how to best engage to ensure success in the graduate’s employment with the company.

The most frequent reason for lack of program graduation is attendance. But failure to graduate does not mean participants are not given further chances. “We do not kick people to the curb,” said Chase. “If they want to come back into the program, they can. If someone gets out into the community with a job, and for some reason, it doesn’t work out, we’ll take them back into the program. Once you’re part of the Orion family, you’re part of the Orion family.”

According to Seattle Business Magazine, last year, Orion provided “paid on-the-job training to 433 people and placed 139 into living-wage jobs, with a retention rate of 84%. 96% of people served by the organization were living at or below 200% of the federal poverty level, and 62% have a disability. 84% of people that have completed company training programs have found permanent jobs.”

Orion Awarded for Aerospace and Social Impact Work
Orion’s work in both the aerospace industry and as a nonprofit has not gone unrecognized. In 2019 alone, Orion won the Auburn Area Connect Spotlight Impact Award, Community Impact Award from Seattle Business Magazine, and the Community Impact Award from Center for Advanced Manufacturing Puget Sound. Orion’s transitional employment model has also been recognized as a national leader by REDF and Stand Together, both philanthropic organizations that fund, support, and recognize outstanding social enterprises. 

The Auburn manufacturing facility is a three-time winner of Boeing’s Supplier of the Year Award, and in 2017 Orion received its third Global Supplier of the Year award from Boeing. This recognition, “means the world,” said Chase.

“We fuel [our] mission with the business,” continued Chase. “Both of them have to advance. To advance the mission without the business, we can’t do it because we are largely self-sustaining. And to advance the business without the mission makes no sense for Orion. They have to go hand-in-hand, and we have to do both of them extremely well, and we do. What the team has created here works very well for both. So, it’s the recognition that we’re an equal partner in the community, for other people that are trying to do good things for really some of the most acute problems facing our society.” 

 “[Orion] started with loving hearts, loving parents, and trying to do well by people who have barriers to employment,” said Chase. “Fast forward to today, and that spirit is very much alive on the Board of Directors, certainly on the leadership team and throughout the staff. You can see it in positive body language, mentoring, and job development. We’re here all these many years later trying to help people with barriers to employment, trying to get them into good, sustainable living circumstances.”

Orion isn’t helping people just find work; they’re helping them find hope.