WorkAbility Program < Via Center

WorkAbility Program

A WorkAbility Tour of the Firehouse

Via Center’s WorkAbility Program, founded in 2001 through a grant from the California Department of Education, is designed to help our students acquire the skills they will need to succeed in the adult lives that await them once they have finished their academic studies. The WorkAbility Program’s scope is broad and encompasses all aspects of transition. Although the program emphasizes the development of vocational skills, WorkAbility is also concerned with teaching the independent living skills required to do well at home as well as the social skills required to integrate smoothly with the community at large.

Most Via students have designated times during the school week when, with the aid of a one-on-one job trainer, they focus on mastering a particular vocational task. The tasks are real (in the sense that they actually need doing), and they are assigned with the student’s abilities and interests in mind. The tasks range from office work (such as paper-shredding) to kitchen work (such as dish-washing) to janitorial work (such as window-cleaning). Students actually clock in before and after WorkAbility sessions, and professionalism is stressed while students are “on the clock.” Students aged 16 years and up are often paid for their work.

With respect to Via’s older, more independent students, one of the WorkAbility Program’s goals is to provide an opportunity for authentic employment in off-campus positions throughout the Bay Area. Students travel with one-on-one job coaches to the worksite, where they learn to follow the instructions of the supervisors at the hosting business. Over the last several years, local businesses hiring Via students have included the East Bay Depot for Creative Re-Use, the West Coast Feminist Health Project, the Hayward Area Recreation Department, and the Magic Johnson Out-of-the-Closet Thrift Store. The WorkAbility Program also prepares students for possible transition to institutions of continuing education, and we have been instrumental in helping two students get accepted at the National Institute for Arts and Disabilities.

One of our major goals for the year 2007 is to get our ceramics cottage-industry project up and running. Via Center’s ceramics workshop (complete with a professional grade kiln) will operate much like a workers’ cooperative, with various students contributing their efforts toward the production, packaging, and/or marketing of clay artwork. If all goes according to plan, Via Center will have a stall at the weekly downtown Berkeley farmers’ market where we will offer the fruits of our labor to the public.

The extra resources provided to Via Center through the WorkAbility grant have proved invaluable in boosting our ability to achieve and expand our mission. The WorkAbility Program will, in the years to come, continue to play a major role in our efforts to give our students the experience of pride in a job well done.

POLICIES & PROCEDURES [updated 5/07]

The mission of Via Center’s WorkAbility Program, funded since 2001 by the California Department of Education, is to help students acquire the skills they will need to successfully transition to employment, continuing education, and/or quality adult life. Although the WorkAbility Program seeks to serve each and every student enrolled at Via Center, a particular emphasis is placed on delivering services to those students closest to transition. Available WorkAbility resources, whether in the form of staff or materials, can be spent on students in either or both of two ways: within the IEP/ITP process and outside of the IEP/ITP process.

Service within the IEP/ITP process: Upon agreement among a student’s key stakeholders and the WorkAbility Director, a student’s IEP/ITP may expressly designate the WorkAbility Program as the entity responsible for implementing any specific, transition-related goal or goals. The WorkAbility Program must then use best efforts, expending resources as necessary, to meet such goals.

Service outside of the IEP/ITP process: WorkAbility resources may be leveraged to provide a student with transition-related services that are above and beyond those services that that student’s Special Education Teacher would ordinarily provide in order to meet that student’s IEP/ITP goal(s).

The WorkAbility Program delivers transition-related services primarily through its three projects -- Job Club, Café Via, and Ceramics Club – and through the development of subsidized employment opportunities, including on-campus positions as well as positions at local businesses throughout the community.

Job Club: All Via Center students spend approximately one half hour per week participating in Job Club, a vocational awareness and readiness project with a curriculum based on the needs and abilities of individual students. Under the supervision of the Job Club Coordinator, students receive instruction in the areas of: career and interest exploration, self-advocacy, vocational and prevocational skills, hygiene and grooming, work-based learning, internet access, and independent living skills. In addition to this weekly half hour of class, all Via Center students may choose to spend some or all of their freetime (i.e., time during which a student, having completed her scheduled activity, is free to choose her preferred activity) honing vocational and prevocational skills with the help of their instructor and, if eligible, may be paid to do so (please see below under Employment). Most Via Center students ages 16 and up also participate in Social Skills Group, a component of Job Club in which students learn the interpersonal skills they will need to navigate the unfamiliar terrain of workplace relationships. Examples of Social Skills Group subjects include: how to recognize the need to ask for help with ones work, how to recognize the need to ask for a break, the importance of timely and regular attendance, and the need to treat colleagues with professionalism and respect.

Café Via: Many Via Center students spend approximately an hour per week participating in Café Via, a “cottage industry” project designed to provide students with the experience of working in a restaurant environment. Under the supervision of the Café Via Manager, students help choose a menu, shop for groceries, prepare meals, market their meals to potential patron donors, take orders, serve meals, collect and count donations, provide receipts, and clean up. Eligible students may be paid for their efforts (please see below under Employment).

Ceramics Club: Most Via Center students spend approximately one half hour per week participating in Ceramics Club, a “cottage industry” project designed to provide students with the experience of working at a pottery business. Under the supervision of the Ceramics Club Manager, students help measure, shape, paint, and glaze clay in the production of ceramic arts and crafts. Students also help package and market their wares to potential patron donors, collect and count donations, provide receipts, and keep the kiln area clean and orderly. Eligible students may be paid for their efforts (please see below under Employment).

Employment: All Via Center students who are over 18 or who are over 16 with a current work permit are eligible to work for wages. The WorkAbility Director will facilitate the issuance of necessary work permits. The WorkAbility subsidized wage is minimum wage. Student work must be directly supervised by Via Center and/or WorkAbility staff unless Via Center has provided the WorkAbility Program with an express, written waiver to its Constant Supervision Policy. Wage-eligible students must be paid for their unsupervised work, whether performed on-campus or off-campus. Wage-eligible students must be paid for their work, whether performed on-campus or off-campus, if that work would allow the management of the hosting worksite to lay off an existing employee without suffering a consequent loss of productivity. If neither of these criteria for determining mandatory compensation is met, wage-eligible students will earn wages at the discretion of the WorkAbility Director. Student earnings may be distributed by semi-monthly paychecks or may be saved, according to the students’ and their legal guardians’ preference. Withdrawals from student savings accounts can only be made with the appropriate, written authorization of the student, the student’s legal guardian, or the student’s Special Education Teacher.

Off-campus employment: At the request of students and their key stakeholders, the WorkAbility Program attempts to develop positions for students with host businesses in the local community. Community placements are made with the individual student’s interests, abilities, and safety in mind. Students who go out into the community to work are accompanied by Via Center and/or WorkAbility staff who serve as one-on-one job coaches. Job coaches help students travel to and from their host business’ worksites, perform assigned duties, keep track of hours worked, and calculate pay earned.

On-campus employment: The Via Center campus itself serves as a hosting worksite. Wage-eligible students may be paid for their efforts that fall under the rubric of Job Club, Café Via, or Ceramics Club.

In addition to providing the transition-related services outlined in the above program-delivery model, Via Center’s WorkAbility Program arranges and sponsors enrichment activities such as worksite tours and other field trips, job shadowing opportunities, and guest presentations. Questions, comments, and suggestions concerning WorkAbility Program services may be submitted by contacting Thomas Gregory at (510) 848-1616.