When I recently walked around the USC campus as a guest lecturer for a policy class in the School of Social Work, I looked around at all the students sunning themselves and gulping down their Starbucks, and then it dawned on me that many of the students were the same age as our adult son, Danny, 20, who has developmental disabilities.
I am not given much to thinking about this “parallel” universe, and usually keep my focus on what Danny can do today that he couldn’t do yesterday, such as swimming without water wings or learning how to whistle. But it was a bad, sad moment on campus, and I had to talk myself into walking into the classroom to give my presentation about how to mobilize community members for political advocacy.
There’s a universal concern about what will happen with our young adults with special needs after they finish their special education programs at high school. Even though federal law permits our children to stay in the public school system until 22, there aren’t many options out there after that, especially if we want our children to have a “real” job that pays minimum wage. Of the few jobs available for individuals with disabilities, many are in sheltered workshops where the pay is less than one dollar an hour. A severe lack of post-secondary options leaves us and many other families grappling with how to create meaningful day-to-day lives and futures.
One very bright, hopeful option is the new Culver City-based ROSIES Foundation, which creates sustainable, purpose-driven employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities. Launched in January, 2015 by Lee Chernotsky, the Foundation is named after his own grandmother, Bubba Rose, who encouraged him when his own learning disability made life difficult. Lee said, “She helped me recognize that my challenges were really strengths, if I would just take the time to understand them.”
Today, Lee is an enthusiastic social entrepreneur who has worked extensively with individuals with disabilities and their families for over 15 years including many years with the Tikvah program at Camp Ramah California. Lee was also a PresentTense Fellow, a program designed to incubate new social enterprises at the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles.
At ROSIES, adults over the age of 18 with a range of developmental disabilities and other special needs participate in an intensive eight-month training program called CREW College (Collaborative, Respected, Empowered Workers) in which students learn transferable job skills in problem-solving, self-awareness, and emotional regulation. These are skills that young adults need in order to succeed in any work setting. During the last two months of the program, CREWmates work in a supported apprenticeship where they apply classroom learning to real-world situations, the final step towards getting ready for paid employment.
After that training phase, CREW members will be connected to employment at accessible, market-wage jobs created by ROSIES or at one of their community partners. The first entrepreneurial business will be the ROSIES Pop Bus—a popsicle food truck—and a fleet of smaller carts that will sell locally-sourced popsicles at special events and farmers’ markets.
The first CREW members will be finishing their training program in May, and a new group will start in June, with classes on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Friday mornings. Tuition is $6,500 and some financial aid and payment plans are available. If you are interested, email Rachel Hamburg at Rachel@RosiesFoundation.org or call (424) 248-5355.
ROSIES may very well be the answer to “What’s Next?” for your family.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.