February 26, 2015

by: Emily Hastings

Volunteers Needed For Summer Internship Programs!

UCP of Greater Cleveland is currently looking for volunteers to help teach transition-age high school students various vocational skills and appropriate work behaviors. Through the summer internship programs, students with a variety of disabilities are exposed to different work settings and are able to begin exploring career options. These programs help students with disabilities focus on their goal of employment after they complete high school. With opportunities ranging from data entry, food service, maintenance and customer service, the students will be able to gain experience in a variety of work settings depending on the business they choose to partner with. The programs are employment-focused with some classroom instruction based on the “Skills to Pay the Bills” curriculum.

Program One: Summer Youth Work Experience

During the Summer Youth Work Experience, students participate in internship-style work experiences at one of the businesses UCP has partnered with to host the program. This is a five-week program (one week of classroom instruction, four weeks of work experience) located in different places in the community, such as Great Lakes Science Center and Aramark at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. Volunteers can expect to assist the students with job coaching and assimilate into the work environment.

Program Two: Career Exploration

This program will be offered at the UCP of Greater Cleveland main campus and will focus on job shadowing, tours of businesses and classroom instruction. This is a three-week program, for 15 hours a week. During this program, volunteers might assist with driving clients to outings and tours of businesses, as well as working with the students while they are job-shadowing individuals at UCP.

If you are interested in learning more about this volunteer opportunity, please contact Sharon Meixner, Transition Services Manager, at smeixner@ucpcleveland.org or (216) 791-8363 ext. 1261.

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