CAREERS Collaboration with Carmel High School Results in 2012 Award
CAREERS has collaborated with Carmel High School (CHS) for several years to provide school-to-work transition services, including setting up community internships, for students with disabilities. This successful collaboration provides a “supported employment” model designed to lead to paying jobs.
With our partnership and nomination, CHS received a 2012 Youth Transition Award from The New York Office for People with Disabilities (NYS OPWDD) at its annual “Works for Me” event in October. We nominated CHS for their strong commitment to providing job opportunities for high school students with disabilities.
Together, we provided services to 11 students in 2012, all of whom gained valuable skills in retail work, office administration, childcare, automotive detailing, food services and library science. Some of the students have even been offered paid positions!
CAREERS Seeks Developmentally Disabled Individuals for FREE Job Placement and Training
Jan 2012
We want to identify developmentally disabled clients who would like the opportunity to work in the community and who would benefit from the enhanced supports provided by a newly funded project. Please call us to see if your family member is eligible for this rare opportunity to be integrated in real jobs within your community and receive the long-term training and support needed for him/her to be successfully employed.
We have received a grant through the NYS Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD – formerly OMRDD) and have the opportunity to provide “Enhanced Supported Employment Services” to clients inWestchesterCounty. Through this project, we can provide job placement, on-the-job training, on-site job coaching, and long-term support services to clients enrolled under Medicaid who want to work in the community.
The purpose of the grant is to promote employment for individuals with developmental disabilities who have not been able to obtain and/or maintain employment through the provision of traditional supported employment services.
Clients who participate will receive more job coaching for a longer length of time than the norm for someone in a supported work program. The goal is that, eventually, each client will be able to graduate to regular supported work extended services with funding through OPWDD or ACCES-VR (formerly VESID).
We have several training opportunities available and our goal is to work with local families by meeting as soon as possible so we can get the family member enrolled in the project right away. All clients must be eligible for the Medicaid Home & Community Based Services waiver (HCBS) and denied services from ACCES-VR (formerly VESID) because they are not yet ready for traditional supported employment.
We have a 24+ year track record of providing supported work services and our expertise ensures that this project will be a great success. We are also thrilled that developmentally disabled clients who want the opportunity to work in the community will now get the chance to learn skills to become successfully employed – an opportunity that has not been available until now.
If interested, please call us for more information.
Sincerely,
Tina Cornish-Lauria
Tina Cornish-Lauria, Executive Director
Our Workforce Readiness Program Works – read about how we helped Shauna find a job . . . .
Dec 2011
CAREERS Workforce Readiness Placement and Training Program is just a few years old, but we’ve helped hundreds of people learn how develop the skills necessary to get a job. Shauna K. is a good example. Shauna joined our Workforce Readiness Job Club through her high school BOCES program and we soon helped her get a job that matched her skills.
When she first joined the program, Shauna was interested in working in retail even though she had no experience and her cognitive disabilities would make operating a cash register difficult. Aware that Shauna had successfully completed the BOCES culinary program, her CAREERS’ Employment Specialist suggested that a food service position might be a better and more natural fit for her. With our help, she completed an online application, interviewed and was hired as a kitchen worker at Phelps Memorial Hospital in Sleepy Hollow, NY.
“I really felt at ease during the interview and was able to answer questions appropriately by remembering what I learned in CAREERS’ Job Club,” Shauna said. She is thrilled with her new job, which allows her the flexibility to attend classes at Westchester Community College in her pursuit of long-term career success.
