COMMUNITY PLACEMENT PROGRAM

The Community Placement unit (also referred to as 1:1 Placement) offers community job placement for people with developmental disabilities.  The ultimate goal of many people with disabilities is to work at a job “like everyone else”.

To achieve this, SPARC offers individualized recruitment, training, placement and oversight to many individuals who work in the community.  The jobs we have recruited for in the past include places of employment are as diverse as a grocery store, a communications business, a restaurant, a manufacturing company, a laundry room, and a social services office.

Each placement offers unique opportunities and unique challenges for people with developmental disabilities.  Sometimes the challenge is as simple as getting one’s foot in the door.  At other times it may mean individualized education of an employer and staff to make them sensitive to the potential of hiring a person with disabilities.

The unit offers supports to both employee and employers and tries to assure a good job match and desires to maximize the opportunity for success. In addition, the 1:1 unit continuously scouts the community for job opportunities for the people they serve.

One day the isolated sheltered workshops (the one-time exclusive vocational setting for people with developmental disabilities) will be thing of the past.  Until that day, 1:1 Placement offers gainful employment and productivity for people with disabilities.