On Monday, February 25, 2019, a group of students enrolled in a Vocational Transition Program at Yucaipa High School visited a restaurant Woody's Classic Grill in Grand Terrace. The Vocational Transition Program is a program for students with developmental disabilities that emphasizes the students’ work and social skills. Teacher Scott Salinas describes the program as getting his students ready for work in the community.
“Let our foot get in and give us a chance; let us show you how good we can do,” Salinas said.
The Yucaipa class currently has a relationship with about nine businesses that allow the students to enter a work environment and gain the experience needed for future employment.
“It’s a great opportunity to see these guys get a chance to work and show the community that they can work and that they’re able to work and they can do anything anybody else can do,” Salinas said.
Restaurant owner, Mike Miller said with all the businesses he’s managed, he has reached out to this program and similar programs like the WorkAbility program to help provide work experience for their students.
The city of Grand Terrace currently does not have a program like this for our students. It is the hope that this type of program being brought into the local community will set an example and spark some inspiration for the school's here in Grand Terrace.
“It gives them a chance to get out of the school environment and into the workforce and learn a skill that hopefully when they graduate out of high school, they’ll be able to partially be self-sufficient,” Miller said.
Although the Vocational Transition Program is new, one of the Yucaipa students, Derrek Freitas, had an interview with Miller for possible job training at the restaurant. This is one step toward the program’s end goal, being, that a student can enter a business and receive training, at no expense to the business, with the hope that the student is successful and the business hires them, according to Salinas.
The majority of students in the Vocational Transition program at Yucaipa High School get services through the Inland Regional Center (IRC), a non-profit agency that will pay students up to $10,000 a year to job train while they’re in high school through a Paid Internship Program (PIP).
“The neatest experience I’ve had with these guys is we go to the businesses and if somebody’s having a bad day, these guys can turn your frown into a smile because they’re happy and they’re excited to be at work,” Salinas said.
For more information about job training programs for students with developmental disabilities and more services offered please visit the IRC website, and any businesses looking to get involved may email Andrew Burdick, aburdick@inlandrc.org.