![\"Cale](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/221024-Cale-Proj-SEARCH-7-1500x1000-1-300x200.jpg\")
Barlow was a Project SEARCH intern at UConn Health from August 2020 through June 2021.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe goal is competitive employment,\u201d says Sandra Finnimore, UConn Health\u2019s Project SEARCH manager. \u201cWe teach them how to be independently employed and all of the nuances that go along with being independently employed: lots of communication skills and interpersonal skills, soft skills that are all transferable to many different departments.\u201d<\/p>\n
The transferable skills from his Project SEARCH intern experiences in receiving, housekeeping, and linen put Barlow in the position to find work in food service. His responsibilities include washing pots, pans, and trays, trash and recycling removal, and keeping the work area clean.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been doing it for over a year now, so I\u2019ve definitely gotten the hang of it,\u201d Barlow says. \u201cI did learn what I\u2019m good at, what I can do, what I enjoy doing, so that did give me an idea of what I can do and what I was good at, like what I could see myself hopefully doing in the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was hired in the kitchen part-time in August 2021 and moved to full-time in March.<\/p>\n Willette\u2019s path to employment was accelerated. She already had two years of culinary school experience at the Bristol Technical Education Center when she joined Project SEARCH in August 2021. Fittingly, her first assignment was in the kitchen, which at the time was under the management of Sodexo, the previous food service vendor.<\/p>\n \u201cI learned how to do things like come on time to work, be punctual, and I\u2019ve learned how to work with my emotions because I have bad anxiety,\u201d Willette says.<\/p>\n She took to it quickly.<\/p>\n \u201cAli did an internship with Sodexo,\u201d Finnimore says. \u201cThey came to me and said, \u2018I want to hire her.\u2019 So she went through the process, applied, interviewed along with everyone else who would be applying, and she earned the job.\u201d<\/p>\n That was in November 2021, less than three months after she started. Willette\u2019s only other experience with competitive employment was part-time at Starbucks before joining Project SEARCH.<\/p>\n The program defines \u201ccompetitive employment\u201d as working a minimum 16 hours a week in a nonseasonal position, earning comparably to others in that position.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The skills that they learn here are transferable to any type of job. — Sandy Finnimore<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Project SEARCH was founded in 1996 at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. It is designed for students either in their last year of high school or graduates in their first year out of school. UConn Health has seven interns in the 2022-23 program. By June the program will have graduated more than 40 interns over eight cohorts.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re gaining real-life experience, hands-on learning, transferable skills, as well as exposure to a well-known name like UConn Health on their resume,\u201d says Finnimore, who\u2019s been overseeing Project SEARCH program at UConn Health since it started there in 2015 as the first host site in Connecticut. \u201cThey\u2019re getting the trainings that the employees here would go through. It\u2019s an opportunity they wouldn\u2019t typically have.\u201d<\/p>\n The program runs about 40 weeks, from August through May. The interns report every day at 8 a.m. for a morning meeting that focuses on skills needed to become and stay employable. Then they go to their assigned areas to work for next five hours. They reconvene around 2 p.m. for a wrap-up session.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re actually in the job every day and they\u2019re working on it,\u201d Finnimore says. \u201cWhen you\u2019re trying to hone those skills, you need repetitiveness. It\u2019s important to them. So doing it every single day really helps them get the ins and outs of each job, and it helps them learn whether they like that job or not. And the skills that they learn here are transferable to any type of job.\u201d<\/p>\n The typical Project SEARCH experience at UConn Health includes internships in three different areas, each for about 10 weeks. For Brett Hammond, his first assignment was the mail room.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a learning experience for me,\u201d Hammond says. \u201cWe\u2019ve been doing a lot of thank you cards, and they\u2019re teaching us job skills, like how to keep a job, and budgeting.\u201d<\/p>\n Like many in Project SEARCH, Hammond will be looking for his first independent employment experience.<\/p>\n \u201cIt teaches me how to be a better employee, and teaches me to be more diligent when I\u2019m doing the mail, more focused on my work,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Interns are paired with mentors in each department. Hammond\u2019s is Lindsay Reeves, a mail courier employed by UConn Health contractor Courier Express Inc.<\/p>\n \u201cBrett\u2019s been on the route with me, so he\u2019s learning to do the route,\u201d Reeves says. \u201cI also showed him how to do lookups, which he does really well. He can put the mail away also.\u201d<\/p>\n Check in at the UConn Health Psoriasis Center and there\u2019s a good chance you\u2019ll get a friendly greeting from Jazmine Barber. She has been learning the responsibilities of a clinic office assistant under the mentorship of Laurie Forbes, who\u2019s been a COA for nearly a decade.<\/p>\n \u201cI like it, because she\u2019s learning and then she\u2019s accepting whatever I explain to her and she\u2019s keeping track of everything,\u201d Forbes says. \u201cShe\u2019s very good. She\u2019s very outgoing and she\u2019s very smart.\u201d<\/p>\n Barber says, \u201cIf there\u2019s anything that I\u2019m stuck on, she\u2019s there to help me.\u201d<\/p>\n Barber already knows she wants to work as a certified nursing assistant.<\/p>\n \u201cI have to build some medical field experiences, whether it\u2019s doing housekeeping at a nursing home, checking in patients and checking out patients in dermatology, or doing receptionist work at a doctor\u2019s office,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Back in the kitchen, Jordan MacFadden also helps with food prep, under the guidance of one of several mentors, including Willette on occasion.<\/p>\n \u201cI do like it, but it\u2019s a bit of a struggle,\u201d MacFadden says. \u201cBut I\u2019m good with repetition, so it\u2019s better if I do things over and over again to get it right. I\u2019m hoping to get different skills in different areas. I\u2019d like to do more things in the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n She says when it\u2019s time to join the workforce independently, she\u2019d like to help teach classes at an arts and crafts retailer.<\/p>\n \u201cI like that the job coaches are pushy because I wouldn\u2019t have become the person I am compared when I first started, and I\u2019m happy about that,\u201d MacFadden says.<\/p>\n \u201cWorking with Project SEARCH gives us the opportunity to help individuals achieve their personal best daily,\u201d says Kevin Geraghty, food and nutrition director for Morrison Healthcare at UConn Health. \u201cWe believe that the structure and discipline of a commercial kitchen environment afford them ability to develop the life skills needed for candidates to be successful in their personal lives, their family lives and in their communities.\u201d<\/p>\n Project SEARCH is always looking for departments that might be a good fit as intern hosts. Areas like food and nutrition, materials management, linens, housekeeping, courier service, the dermatology clinic, and dental finance historically have the most interns.<\/p>\n The Project SEARCH program at UConn Health was the most influential program that my daughter Cate, who has Down syndrome, had the good fortune to be a part of. — Noelle Alix<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe work very closely with the department when developing internships to find that mutually beneficial area that would help them and help us,\u201d Finnimore says, understanding the impact mentoring an intern can have. \u201cThe mentor\u2019s routine is thrown off and slowed down a little bit, and then the amazingness happens, and the intern starts to do better in their job. Their go-to person helps them with their struggles, and they celebrate with them their successes.\u201d<\/p>\n When they\u2019re not in their work areas, the interns are learning about job development, at a moderate pace for the first four months, then more intensively.<\/p>\n \u201cJanuary is when we really start hardcore job developing,\u201d Finnimore says. \u201cOur lesson plans are all focused around job developing and job searching, interview skills, and the ins and outs of that process. And then, if they find a job before Project SEARCH ends, they graduate early, they start. If they don’t, then we do job developing after. We’ll start a week after the program ends with having them come in and do more intense job searching.\u201d<\/p>\n That post-graduation counseling helped Barlow get his food service job.<\/p>\n \u201cI definitely knew at the start I had a ways to go before I could actually get a job, but through when I first started I did learn a lot and I learned a lot of skills, to get along with people, and also to just find solutions,\u201d Barlow says. \u201cAnd I do know that I have to always be on my best behavior, always come in positive.\u201d<\/p>\n Kayla Cunningham graduated from Project SEARCH in June 2020. She was able to get a job in housekeeping at UConn Health starting that December. She primarily has been working third shift keeping the operating rooms clean.<\/p>\n \u201cI always had a passion working in the hospital and I love keeping patients safe and alive,\u201d Cunningham says. \u201cI love cleaning the hospital nice and neat, especially during this pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n Finnimore says Cunningham went in with the goal of getting an office job, but ended up really taking to housekeeping.<\/p>\n \u201cFeedback from supervisors was always that they can\u2019t find something wrong with her room,\u201d Finnimore says. \u201cShe applied, went through all the right channels, and, because of her internship, they knew she could do the job. And she got it.\u201d<\/p>\n George Moses oversees custodial services at UConn Health.<\/p>\n “Kayla is amazing,” Moses says. “She is a very important part of our team. She is treated just like everyone else. This young lady has literally grown up in front of our eyes.”<\/p>\n A Project SEARCH graduate who went on to competitive employment outside of UConn Health is Cate Alix, who for three years now has been an office assistant at Mintz + Hoke, an advertising agency in Avon.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Project SEARCH program at UConn Health was the most influential program that my daughter Cate, who has Down syndrome, had the good fortune to be a part of,\u201d says her mother, Noelle Alix. \u201cShe was taught not only job skills in each internship rotation she did, but more importantly, she learned professionalism \u2013 an almost hidden agenda that provided Cate with the necessary and critical skills that enabled her to be employed upon graduation from the Project SEARCH program.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are so grateful that Cate got to be a part of this amazing program. Thank you to UConn Health for being the host site for a program that changed our daughter\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve gone in and far exceeded every department\u2019s expectations of our individuals,\u201d Finnimore says. \u201cIt helps change the culture a little bit. You have an individual who truly loves coming to work every single day, and that helps build the morale and the desire for their staff to want to be there for them.\u201d<\/p>\n Housekeeping’s relationship with Project SEARCH goes back to the program’s second year at UConn Health.<\/p>\n “We have learned more from the interns then they have actually learned from us,” Moses says. “These individuals are very passionate, attentive and willing to learn.”<\/p>\n Geraghty, from the food and nutrition contractor Morrison Healthcare, adds, \u201cAll of the interns and staff who\u2019ve come to us through Project SEARCH are a pleasure to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n Marisol Cruz, education and development specialist, is UConn Health\u2019s human resources liaison for Project SEARCH.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it is such a benefit to have Project SEARCH interns working within UConn Health because it not only conveys and promotes an inclusive work environment, but it also encourages empathy, which is such a vital trait when working with patients and customers,\u201d Cruz says.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Project SEARCH is a program through Favarh, which is based in Canton and is a chapter of the Arc, a worldwide organization that supports people with disabilities. Favarh has partnered with the Connecticut Departments of Developmental Services and Rehabilitative Services, and UConn Health Human Resources, to bring the Project SEARCH to UConn Health. <\/em><\/p>\n![\"Ali](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/221024-Ali-Proj-SEARCH-6-1000x1025-1-240x300.jpg\")
How It Works<\/h3>\n
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Meet the Interns<\/h3>\n
![\"Brett](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/221102-Brett-Lindsay-Proj-SEARCH-TE-edit-1000x1025-1-240x300.jpg\")
![\"Jazmine](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/221024-Jazmine-Proj-SEARCH-3-1000x1250-1-240x300.jpg\")
![\"Jordan](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/221102-Jordan-Eliverta-Cela-Proj-SEARCH-19-1500x1000-1-300x200.jpg\")
Building on Success<\/h3>\n
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Life After the Internship<\/h3>\n
![\"Kayla](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/KC-8-projectSEARCH-1000x1250-1-240x300.jpg\")
The Employer Wins Too<\/h3>\n