The Brandywine School District has is funding a year-round program that offers students with disabilities the opportunity to learn work skills for adulthood.
Opportunity Center Inc. and the district partnered to create FrameWORK for Success in 2008. Joyce Kaufman, a specialist with the district, said the program was created after the Brandywine recognized a need to help students who weren’t necessarily on a path to graduation. FrameWORK is the first of its kind in the state Delaware, serving students with disabilities between the ages of 18 and 21. Students attend OCI, instead of school, each day and are paid minimum wage to carry out work duties.
OCI, an adult agency for people with disabilities, is located on Bowers Street in Wilmington. The facility includes a warehouse where FrameWORK participants are trained to perform various jobs including assembly work (such as putting together soccer goal posts and automobile glove box handles), maintenance, operating heavy-duty machinery with buzz saws and forklifts and other tasks. Also, students intern and receive real work assignments from companies like Embassy Suites Hotel and AstraZeneca. Internships are unpaid.
Since the program was developed, six of seven FrameWORK graduates were offered local jobs at places like Wawa, Wal-Mart, Embassy Suites and others.
“I liked OCI better than school,” said Ruben, a student with the FrameWORK program. “They kept me busy. I had to work a lot harder, and did more than I thought I could. They push you to do more [and] they challenge you. It puts you in a position to learn more than you thought you could learn. I learned some things I couldn’t do that I thought I wanted to do and I learned a lot of things I could do that I never knew I was able to do.”
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For more info on FrameWORK for Success, visit: www.ourpeoplework.org |
Cindy Sterling, OCI program director, said the program recreates an environment that gives students hope.
“It's a more realistic environment for them.” Sterling added, “A lot of their peers have graduated.”
She said the program teaches students how to properly interact with peers in a work environment. Transitioning from school into the FrameWORK program requires students to become more responsible for their actions, she said.
“A big thing we deal with [regarding our students] is cell phones and texting.” She said. “People are used to texting-away whenever [they] want or having a cell phone on at all times and answering the phone.”
Deborah Talley, OCI assistant director of employment services, said students are held accountable for following basic work policies, such as calling out sick and putting in two weeks notice for days off.
Currently 13 students are enrolled into the FrameWORK program, including new and returning students. Graduation is self-paced and is based on the severity of a student's disability and whether they are ready to move on.
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The Community News was asked to not include last names for program participants.
