Building Independence: Inside the Project Life Program

In honor of Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, Doug Jenkins of the Findlay-Hancock County Chamber of Commerce sits down with Nicole Gunka from Project Life to discuss a program that is much more than a job training initiative, it's a bridge to independence.

Project Life is a comprehensive two-year program helping young adults with developmental disabilities master both the workplace and the home. From navigating public transit and cooking meals to painting soccer fields at the University of Findlay, these interns are learing valuable skills and making a positive impact at their places of emplolyment

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The vital role of job coaches in ensuring success for both the intern and the employer.
• A "full circle" success story that will change how you view inclusive hiring.
• How local businesses can get involved in providing new rotation opportunities.

Connect with Project Life: Visit BlanchardValley.org or call 419-422-6387 to learn more.

Music and sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com

Transcript

elcome And Why Project Life

Doug Jenkins 0:04

Hello everyone and welcome back to Chamber Amplified, brought to you by the Finlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. I'm your host, Doug Jenkins. Each week here out on the podcast, we're talking about the things that matter most to local businesses and organizations. Whether that's workforce and leadership development, it could be marketing, it could be IT issues, it's really anything that impacts the everyday realities of running something that serves our community. Today we're checking back in on project life in Finlay and Hancock County. Nicole Gunka was on a couple of years ago to talk about the program. Today we're getting an update. They provide services that help find internships at area businesses for people with developmental disabilities. It's a really, really unique program and something that's done quite well. You'll hear Nicole talk about how far the program has come since they launched it. It's not just about getting people into those internships. Now they've actually had an intern kind of come full circle. And as a trainer, you'll hear about that. You'll also learn how it's not just about developing job skills for people, uh, it's helping them learn independence, cooking, cleaning, navigating life. Those things all kind of go together. And you don't have to do this alone. We'll talk about how there's an on-site coach to help out and bridge that gap so that the person who's part of the internship has someone to work with on-site with you and to help your business out. And this is the perfect time to talk about it. March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. I'm really happy to have Nicole back on to talk about everything going on at Project Life. Now, if you enjoy the podcast, don't forget to leave us a rating and review. Make sure to share it with others. We're also on YouTube now, so if you want to share the link to the whole interview, you can just go on YouTube and find the chambers page and share it that way. It's a really easy way to go about that. Now, let's get into it. We talked about Project Life here on Chamber Amplified a couple of years ago, I think. Uh, and but I want to give the whole history of the program and then kind of an update on where everything is. Certainly uh ties into March being Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month and all of the great work that you're doing. So let's first talk about how Project Life got started, and more or more so, maybe it's appropriate to start with what it is exactly.

Nicole Gunka 2:15

Yeah, so Project Life is a two-year comprehensive program that teaches young adults, sometimes students, uh, work skills by going out to work rotations throughout the school year, or in our adult program, we do it throughout the actual calendar year, as well as teaching them independent living skills, how to cook, how to clean, how to navigate, taking medication on their own, um, navigating things in the community. So it's really supposed to be this comprehensive program that hopefully allows them to find a job, uh, keep a job, and then be as independent as possible as they want in their home, at work, and in the community.

hy Skills And Independence Matter

Doug Jenkins 2:54

So I'll I'll ask the obvious question, I think the obvious answer, uh, but but it's great to hear it in practice. Why are these principles important?

Nicole Gunka 3:04

I think they're important because it's setting our individuals who have disabilities up for success in the future, um, to be able to be independent, to live in a manner that's suitable for them, what they would like to see happen with their life, gives us extra members to our workforce that we may not have had previously without some of these folks being able to learn some job skills, determine what they actually like to do for work and what they could potentially do for work.

Doug Jenkins 3:32

I think what's been real interesting and really uplifting about the program is uh the businesses that you've now worked with really love having people from project life in there. It brings uh just a new element to what they do every day. And uh I I think it's not just the it's not just the the people taking part in project life benefiting, and it's not just the business benefiting from having extra employees, it's just a whole new perspective.

ull Circle Success Story

Nicole Gunka 3:59

Yes, for sure. I mean, we've seen a lot of growth with project life over the last few years getting into businesses that we hadn't been able to tap into previously, and this year we've actually come full circle where we do have a past intern who graduated from our program and found a job in the community, and we are currently back at that rotation site for our current rotation, and that uh previous intern is teaching our current interns how to do some of the task at the job. So it's super heartwarming to see, it's super exciting. Um, it just goes to show once we give someone an opportunity what they can actually do.

Doug Jenkins 4:36

I I feel like since I've been back in in Finlay and Hancock County, that I've always noticed employers uh are very willing to work with people with developmental disabilities in their workplace. How did project life amplify that?

ob Coaches Support Employers

inding Strong Rotation Partners

Nicole Gunka 4:50

I think it just gives a platform for businesses to see that they're able to have folks come and work. It's nice because we have job coaches that attend with our interns. So there is a person there that is able to help intervene in times when maybe the intern doesn't understand what's being asked of them, or some maybe it's appropriateness at work. And so having that job coach on hand has been helpful for businesses to see that um we can work with these um folks and get them to just integrate just like anybody else would in the workplace.

Doug Jenkins 5:23

You mentioned that uh you're you're coming back around uh on a cycle and everything. Let's talk just a little bit about uh the ins and outs of how the program works. You have uh a few different businesses that are a part of the program, but they kind of rotate in and out. Is that uh is that how that goes?

Nicole Gunka 5:38

Yes. So we're constantly looking for new rotations, and the only reason for that is so that we can give a wide variety of jobs to try. We have a lot in the food industry, we have a lot of janitorial, so we're often looking for other locations. Um, like sorry about that. We have a page in our building this morning. Um, and so um we have looked for light manufacturing and just some other opportunities. So we linked with the University of Finley, GSW most recently. We're still in some of those food industry employers and working. We're just hoping to give a wide variety of opportunities for our interns.

Doug Jenkins 6:16

Are there any businesses or industries where maybe you've been approached and you thought, I don't know, let's give it a shot and see how it works. And we're surprised at how well it came together.

Nicole Gunka 6:26

Yes, I would say being back at the University of Finley. So Project Search is an extension of Project Life. We had Project Search many years ago in our county. Uh, reaching back out to the University of Finley about Project Life coming to them again. Um, nobody there had really heard of us, um, knew what the program was previously under Project Search, but they jumped right in. We were out at the horse barn, we had students on campus at the Buford Center, and we actually had students, or not students, I should say, interns, um, working with um the maintenance crew, chopping up uh trees, um painting lines on the soccer field. So I would say that was kind of our biggest challenge this year was having three different locations and only two job coaches. But we're like, what's the worst that can happen? Uh we had a lot of buy-in from the University of Finley, so we were able to make things work there, and it was super successful.

Doug Jenkins 7:18

And that's probably the secret sauce right there is you have businesses who are interested, they support what you're doing. So they're gonna have the patience in in that ramp up time and getting someone familiar with what they're they're doing. Uh, you've had a wide range, like you said, a wide range of businesses. Uh, who are some of the the newer ones that have come on board? Obviously, the University of Finley uh being one of them.

Nicole Gunka 7:40

GSW, a light manufacturing company in Hancock County, is one of our newer ones. Um, and we've actually placed a past intern there for employment. So that was super exciting to see. Stevie B's is another location. We started last year and we're back there again this year. Um, we've also worked with the uh Hancock, or not Hancock County Park District, the City of Finley Park District. So we've been out at the Cubes, uh, the diamonds out there, and actually working inside at the ICE Arena doing some janitorial work. So those are some of our newer ones.

Doug Jenkins 8:11

Let's walk through the process. Maybe uh a family has a kid who might be interested in the program, or or maybe a young adult who might be interested in the program. What does the enrollment into it look like? How does placement work? How does how do all the steps align?

ig Wins And Employment Outcomes

Nicole Gunka 8:27

So the first step is for the uh person who is wanting to participate, needs to be connected with the county board, the Hancock County Board of Developmental Disabilities. So they have to be eligible for services with us. They complete an application, we go through an interview process where we interview them asking just questions about how they do things in their daily life. Do they need help with certain things? What are they independent in? Um, and then from there, we are starting something new this go-round where we're having the interns come out in shadow for a couple days to really see what the program is like. I think it's a really hard turn for some of our students that graduate and are looking for something in between deciding if they're going right to the workforce. So it's a huge adjustment for them. It's not a school setting, it really is an adult setting. So we do want them to come and see what it looks like. We also want to know how well they're going to interact with our current interns that we have. And if they're good through the shadowing portion, they enjoy it, we think that they'll be a good fit. Then we do um allow them to continue in the program.

Doug Jenkins 9:29

What I can only imagine how fulfilling it is to see people thrive in some of these positions and really start to take on some of these roles. What are some of the biggest wins that you've seen so far?

Nicole Gunka 9:45

I think the biggest wins are the success rate and employment for our past interns. We've had interns who are here. Um, we're typically up to a two-year program for rotations a year. Um, we have some that leave our program early because they've been offered employment somewhere. The goal is not to have employment in any of those rotations, but it's certainly something we're excited about when it does happen. Um, so I think the interns leaving early because they found employment, something they're passionate about doing and it's working for them. I think the other successes are we had um our current person who's at GSW working there now, um, left our program after two years. He wanted GSW so bad, and he waited and waited and waited until they had employment open for him. Um, and he is a rock star there. And so I just love hearing about him being included with all the folks that work there, going out to lunch with them, increasing his hours there. I think those are the biggest successes, but I also think it's the little glimmers of someone who comes in is super shy, doesn't know how to communicate well with others, and by the time they exit our program, you wouldn't have recognized them two years ago.

ow Businesses Can Join

Doug Jenkins 10:53

Those are always the best stories, and we see it sometimes in Hancock youth leadership as well, where the maybe maybe it's the most quiet kid by the time they're done, is is one of the ones that's the most interactive and everything. And that's the ones where you step back and be like, all right, I love watching the light bulb go off like that and getting them involved is great. Uh, I think you hit on uh a really strong point of this. And I don't know if you would call it the main point of doing this or not, but there's that integration where they're not just working there, they're part of that work family, that work group where they're going and doing the team building activities and and really uh you know just a part of everyday life out there. Uh it enriches their lives, it enriches the lives of everybody working out there. Uh that moment I think is I don't know if that's the icing on the cake or that's the cake itself, but that's that's outstanding. For sure. So uh again, if people would like more information on how to get involved with project life, what's the best way to get started?

Nicole Gunka 11:54

They can reach out to me at Blanchard Valley Center. Our phone number is 419-422-6387. They can go to our website to learn a little bit more about the program, Blanchard Valley.org. But the best way is to contact me so that we can get connected and see um what will be best for us moving forward in the future.

Doug Jenkins 12:12

And the last thing is uh I know we had you on a couple of years ago to talk about the project. We also had a couple of students come and speak at Fresh Brood Business, uh, I think roughly around the same time. And I think it's one of the presentations that we've done that's that stuck with the most people. It was so well done. Uh, I would encourage any business. Are you recruiting businesses to get involved in this, or is that kind of a more regimented process? Because I I think a lot of the businesses that were there at Fresh Brood that day really took a lot away from that presentation.

Nicole Gunka 12:43

Yeah, we would love any business opportunity. We're always looking to grow. We recently changed our program in January to add another staff person who's solely focusing on the content portion for learning independent living skills. And then we still have our two job coaches who are going out. So we're looking to grow. With growth, we need more businesses, we need more opportunities. So anyone who's interested, we would love to meet to see how this could work for their business.

Doug Jenkins 13:09

Absolutely. And I would be happy to pass along the information of any business that would be interested. So, Nicole, we appreciate your time today. Thanks for hopping back on the podcast with us.

inal Takeaways And Chamber Invite

Nicole Gunka 13:18

Yeah, thank you for having me.

Doug Jenkins 13:20

A few points as we wrap up today's episode. Again, Project Life is really looking for some new rotations to add in, especially in light manufacturing or other unique fields. So if you have a business in that area, maybe it's worth reaching out. I think one of my favorite points of that conversation was Nicole talking about it's not just extra help for your business, it really does help your entire workplace culture. Uh, and it's something really to look into. I think you would really enjoy that. And again, a reminder: the first step of connecting with Project Life is through the Hancock County Board of Developmental Disabilities. Nicole would be happy to work with you. Come out, take a look at your business, see if it's a good fit for everybody involved, and go on from there. I think you again would really, really like what it can do for your company culture. That'll do it for another edition of Chamber Amplified. This is a free podcast available to the community, made possible by the investment of our members in the Finlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. If you're looking at ways to get your business involved with the community, oftentimes the chamber is the best place to start that conversation. If you'd like to learn more, just send me an email, Djenkins at Finley Hancock Chamber.com. We can talk about how an investment in the chamber not only helps your business, but the business community as a whole. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time on Chamber Amplified from the Finlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce.