The Pilot Project is intended to test the Travel Training Program curriculum with 150 individuals. For the project to be a good fit for the applicant, they must:
- be 18 years of age or older
- have a diagnosis of Intellectual or Developmental Disability
- want to learn how to travel alone in the community
- commit to attending one 2.5 hour class a week for 8 weeks or two 2.5 hours class a week for 4 weeks
- commit to learning a new transit route with an instructor
- there will be up to 35 hours of route training to learn one round trip
- towards the end of the training, the instructor will follow the participant from a distance once they are confident that the participant can travel the route on their own
Participation in the program is FREE and includes complimentary transit fare. The first part of the program features 8 classes which will include street safety, instruction on how to use the bus, subway and streetcar, route planning, personal safety and what to do in an emergency. The second part of the program will teach the participant how to travel a route of their choice with one on one instruction in the community from a Travel Training Coordinator.
The Travel Training Pilot Project will run from September 2017 to February 2019. Interested applicants will need to attend a 2.5 hour intake interview to see if they are a good match for the project. The first half of the interview will be an assessment of the participant’s transit skills. The second half of the interview will also involve the participant’s caregiver and include discussion about the participant’s support needs, goals and class availability. Classes will be created and filled when there are enough applicants available for a particular time slot. The rest of the students will be put on a wait list and offered enrollment in future classes once they are scheduled.
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