Job & Community Placement Program -Employment Program
We are in the business of supporting people to have a meaningful and satisfying life in our community.
The Goal of the Job and Community Placement Program
Employment is to assist adults with intellectual disabilities develop and maintain skills required to explore, secure and maintain competitive and or meaningful employment. Competitive Employment refers to any type of job or activity that results in a consumer being paid at a rate of minimum wage or above for at least 1 hour per week (as per MCSS direction, 2004). Meaningful Employment refers to any type of job activity where: a) the consumer is not paid (generally involves consumers being involved in volunteer placements where they the find the activity personally meaningful/gratifying, or, they have the opportunity to develop important job skills); b) the consumer is paid “in kind” (in these cases the consumer receives some other benefit from the employer for the work they do – eg lunch provided); or c) the consumer is paid for piece work (for example payment for each bag of shredded paper produced by the consumer on the shift).
Services are governed by the Kenora Association for Community Living, whose mission is:
...to ensure that all people with special needs have the opportunity to live a meaningful and satisfying lifestyle and interact as an equal in their community by providing continuous opportunities for personal growth through education, training, support, advocacy and an informed public.
The following service delivery principles guide all services of the Association in the delivery of support to the people of Kenora:
1. Respect of an individual requires recognition of his or her humanity before his or her handicap
2. Everyone is deserving of respect as individuals.
3. All persons have the right to participate in all aspects of living, learning, working and playing in the community.
4. The manner and context within which support is offered should affirm
normal patterns of living, learning, working and playing in the
community including normal needs, processes, relationships and rhythms
of life.
The Job & Community Placement Program situates its work into the context of the so called “helping profession”. That is our historic mission – to help people with intellectual disabilities. Therefore the JCP team understands helping in the employment context to consist of the following primary functions:
1. To help people decide what jobs they really want.
2. To help people get those jobs – through training, education, job search and job development.
3. To help people keep these jobs.
4. To help people learn on these jobs so they can advance their career options.
5. To help people appear competent in the eyes of non-disabled members of the community.
6. To help people fulfill valued social roles meaningfully.