Goodwill of Delaware & Delaware County is awarded a contract for a program training students with disabilities to obtain necessary job skills.
Goodwill was chosen by the Delaware Division of Vocational Rehabilitation to serve as the Project SEARCH program’s Community Rehabilitation Provider in Kent County.
This nationally recognized program helps students gain skills and employment, and will be a collaborative effort.
Collaborators include the Department of Education, DelDOT, Bayhealth Hospital, the Capital School District, Caesar Rodney School District and Division of Vocational Rehabilitation.
"Their participation is at our business host sites. We are partnered with Delaware Department of Transportation and Bayhealth. We will be serving 8 to 10 students at each site, and they will participate in three internship rotations at either Bayhealth or DelDOT," said Eileen Kemske, Vice President of Workforce Development at Goodwill.
The students will also build communication, teamwork and problem solving skills important to overall development as young workers.
"They'll spend their time in that real work environment,” said Kemske. “They'll have skill development with our skills trainer, learning specific skills that are needed in any job, but in particular if they were going into specific fields related to that internship."
The students are referred to the program by the partner school districts, then go through a selection process based on a number of factors including behaviors and base skill level.
