Historically, ASPIRO has offered two types of employment opportunities for people with disabilities. The first type is what we call “prevocational employment”. The goal of the program is to teach general work skills. Typically people will work at one of our buildings completing work we do for another company. The second type is what we call “competitive integrated employment” or “supported employment”. In this program, we help someone find work outside of ASPIRO; supporting them as much or as little as they need. Since we started our competitive integrated employment program in 1988 we have found nearly 1000 people jobs all across this region.
One of our goals for 2020 was to expand our employment service offerings to include something new called “Group Supported Employment” or GSE. In GSE, we find a host company that needs employees and we bring a work crew to the company along with a full time job coach. This kind of employment does not preclude someone from working simultaneously in a prevocational setting nor does it inhibit someone from seeking a job in competitive integrated employment. GSE is often an effective bridge as people move from one kind of employment to another. I’m very excited to announce that over the past few months we have opened two new GSE locations and we plan to add another today! Each of the sites we add will be unique. The goal is to allow people to try different work experiences so they can discover their passion. To learn more about group supported employment click below.