Community Training


General Definition of Community Training

The Community Training (CT) phase of the vocational training program at Reddix focuses on training students for employment. Students train alongside employees at businesses in our surrounding community. Students have an opportunity to train in a variety of settings. Not only do the students work on vocational skills, there is a major emphasis on behavioral skills, such as, following directions, asking for help, staying on task, and social skills needed to be successfully employed.

 
CT 1

Community Training 1 provides a hands-on vocational training to students as part of their ALE program at the Nellie Reddix Center. Our goal for Community Training is to identify student interest and abilities. The primary focus of CT 1 is to increase vocational exploration, opportunities and interests. Students will be able to practice and explore various vocational skills in areas such as: simple office skills, household chores and food service skills. The students will have an opportunity to train at different job sites within our community. At this time, our community partners are Woodbridge Estates, VA Hospital, Peter Pipers Pizza and Cha-Cha's Mexican Restaurant on Babcock. Vocational training in the community will usually consist of four days a week with a stay back day to prepare and practice job readiness activities in the classroom.
CT 2

CT 2 spends 2/3 of the time focusing on the students' vocational training goals by working at Kingsley Place, Mc Donald's, Spectrum Health Club and Marshall's. Not only do they go into the community to train, but they also do community based instruction by shopping and recreating at various businesses and parks in the area. This is the other 1/3 of the class. Students are challenged to improve their self-advocacy skills by planning menus for classroom luncheons. Their personal management skills are enhanced by shopping for the menu items and then preparing the lunch. Life is good in CT-2!!!

   
CT 3

Community Training 3 is a vocational training program in which students have an opportunity to go out into the community and train half days at the following job sites: Jason's Deli, ChaCha's Mexican Restaurant, and St. Matthew Church. McDonald's is another job site in which the students work on stamina and endurance because it is an all day training site. The classroom is also utilized as a vocational training setting with an emphasis on sheltered workshop skills such as preparing and shredding documents, rolling the silverware for our school cafeteria, and collating and stuffing a newsletter in a plastic bag. The staff in CT3 consists of one teacher and 4 instructional assistants. Small groups of one staff per six students go to each job site. The students are rotated every 2 weeks to the different sites so they may experience learning a variety of job skills. The goal for CT3 is to prepare the students for the next level of training and increase independence as they reach their maximum potential.

CT 4

The focus of CT 4 is food service training. Sometimes called a Culinary Arts Class, CT 4 focuses on much more than cooking. The full-time students learn and practice food service skills and behaviors on campus in their kitchen and dining room as well as out in the community at two food service jobs sites. Some of the skills include basic meal planning and preparation, meal set up and serving, cleaning tables, rolling silverware, stocking drink coolers and paper goods, and washing dishes. In the classroom students participate in an extended day of vocational training and developing competencies and behaviors needed to secure paid employment. Many activities are geared towards job securing skills including grooming, application writing, and interviewing for a job.
CT 4 offers an extensive menu for the dining room or take-out.

CT 5

The goal of CT-5 is Job Readiness. Several of the students are currently employed. The remaining students train at HEB Marketplace and World Savings some train directly with the job site employees and some under the direction of CT-5 staff. The staff hopes that students enrolled in CT-5 will leave the program with independent work skills and endurance necessary for a full time employment.