We are excited and honoured to announce that Reena has received a Trillium Grow grant, amounting to $484,300 over 3 years, for the expansion of our SET Program.
Reena will be building on the success of our Summer Employment Transitions (SET) Program for developmentally disabled youth in York Region, which is modeled after the Community Living Sarnia Lambton Program and has been operated successfully for four summers.
We wish to grow the program by providing additional supports to the graduating students who are now working and their employers, to ensure that there are more job placements and that those placed will stay employed, as employers will feel supported at every step with the necessary tools to ensure success when job coaching supports are withdrawn.
It is evident that many employers would like to employ individuals with developmental disabilities as they are aware of the many benefits, such as lower rates of absenteeism, less staff turnover, and an improved corporate image, but it had become clear that most employers are unaware of where to start.
With the support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation, we will be able to:
- Grow the number of employers from our current 9 (summer only) to 60 year-round over 3 years
- Place more students into employment – the students we support are 20/21 years old and graduating from York Region District School Board (YRDSB). This past summer we had 10 students; we anticipate 48 over 3 years.
- Support our students and employers using the model created by Community Living Sarnia-Lambton and implemented as a summer program by Reena for the past four summers with exceptional results
We extend our sincere gratitude to the Ontario Trillium Foundation for making it possible for us to provide expanded employment support for young people with developmental disabilities and their employers in York Region!
If you are interested in learning more about Reena’s Summer Employment Transitions program, please contact Rob Scott at rscott@reena.org.
