Grand Island, Neb. — The launch of Project SEARCH in Grand Island will be celebrated at an open house from 2-5 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Conference Room 6.
Project SEARCH is a partnership among business, education and vocational rehabilitation organizations to provide on-site internship experiences for high school students ages 18 to 21 with disabilities, leading to competitive employment.
“Project SEARCH is a great opportunity for not only high school students with disabilities, but also for Saint Francis,” said Amy Phelps, Saint Francis Human Resources employment assistant. “Saint Francis is able to provide a variety of internships under one roof that will enable each student to learn competitive, transferable work skills. The students learn great skills that will help them gain employment in our community after graduation. We hope that some of the students will consider applying for positions at Saint Francis after their graduation from the program.”
Saint Francis Medical Center, the Grand Island Public Schools, Nebraska Department of Education Vocational Rehabilitation Program, Commission for the Blind or Visually Impaired, Assistive Technology Partnership and the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services’ Developmental Disabilities division have committed to working together in the program to assist individuals with disabilities to be competitively employed.
Project SEARCH is a one-year worksite-based school-to-work program that occurs in a business setting. Ten to 12 students will participate in the program annually and all components of the program will occur at Saint Francis Medical Center, according to Maggie Mintken, Central Nebraska Support Services Program Supervisor at Grand Island Senior High School.
CNSSP students with developmental disabilities are eligible to participate in Project SEARCH and there is an application process. Eligible students must have completed their core requirements for graduation from high school. Participating students began attending classes at Saint Francis Medical Center on Sept. 14 and started their jobs on Oct. 12.
Internship sites at Saint Francis Medical Center are chosen based on marketable, competitive skills that a student can transfer to available jobs in the community. The Vocational Rehabilitation Program will provide external job development in the community for Project SEARCH graduates, utilizing the skills they developed through the internship sites.
The Vocational Rehabilitation Program received $30,000 in federal stimulus funding for the project for one year, which was given directly to Saint Francis Medical Center after a Project SEARCH contract was signed. The majority of the funding pays for a job coach, and no additional expenditures for the school district occurred, Mintken said.
Grand Island residents who would like to learn more about Project SEARCH are welcome to attend the Nov. 3 open house. People planning to attend the open house are asked to make reservations by contacting Phelps at Saint Francis Medical Center via e-mail at aphelps@sfmc-gi.org or by calling (308) 398-6539.
Project SEARCH was created in 1998 and was first located at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Project SEARCH was then replicated at other hospitals and has expanded into new industry sectors, such as retail, insurance, small manufacturing, and government. The program currently has more than 140 sites in 42 states with both private and public employers.