NORFOLK – A vocational training program for developmentally disabled young adults graduated seven people this week at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.
The program, part of an international effort called Project SEARCH, offers skills training and a work-study opportunity to developmentally disabled young adults with the aim of helping them find employment.
Sentara hospitals in Hampton and Williamsburg held graduations this week as well. Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center in Portsmouth also graduated a class. There are 14 Project SEARCH programs in Virginia, according to Sentara.
The Norfolk class is a partnership between the city’s public schools, Sentara and the Virginia Department of Aging and Rehabilitation Services. Participants are between the ages of 18 and 21 and have been identified with an intellectual disability or Autism. The program involves three 10-week, unpaid internships in various departments in the hospital from September through June. Students receive on-site classroom instruction in employability skills and support from a Norfolk Public Schools special education teacher and job coach.
Of the seven students in Sentara’s latest Norfolk class, three were already employed by graduation, and one was applying to Sentara, according to a release from the hospital.
