August 31, 2000
New
Year, New Career
NJCD
Offers Revolutionary Pre-Vocational Program for Those With Special Needs
With
educational mainstreaming becoming more accessible to young adults with
special needs, the next step on the continuum is to prepare these
individuals to enter the work force. While many school programs currently exist, there has never
been a school-based program that offered the social skills and life skills
training necessary to succeed in a work environment.
Until now. The
Orthodox Union’s National Jewish
Council for the Disabled (NJCD), in conjunction with Touro College, is
forming a post high school, pre-vocational program aimed at 16-21 year
olds who have special needs.
Maimonides
taught that the greatest form of charity is to provide a person with the
means to earn a living rather than have them be dependent on other
people’s willingness to give. The new NJCD program, in conjunction with the
already successful NJCD adult vocational program, aims to do just that.
The classes will teach the students how to interact socially in
professional settings as well as in life situations.
They will deal with issues such as learning how to react if the
boss’s door is closed, what to do with legitimate free time at work and
how to relate to co-workers. The
hope is that these life-training skills will later facilitate
mainstreaming and help them lead productive lives as part of today’s
workforce.
Dr.
Jeff Lichtman, National Director of NJCD, explained, “The goal of this
program is to create a unique educational outlet for young adults with
special needs and to assist them in learning
essential social and life skills. When it comes down to it, our students
ability to integrate into the workplace successfully is not based in their
academic skills but rather in their awareness of those around them, their
social interactions and their ability to assess situations correctly.”
The
program will take place at Touro College in Brooklyn and will begin in
September. There are still
places available in this revolutionary new program.
For more information, please contact Deborah Rockoff at
212.613.8376.
Touro
College is a quality school of higher education that is proud of its
national excellence in the allied health profession.
The school is an accredited institution located on Avenue J in
Brooklyn.
With
more than 35 chapters throughout the United States and Canada, the NJCD,
an agency of the Orthodox Union, is the
only national resource center providing specialized guidance and
information as well as direct services to those in the Jewish
community who have special needs. Yachad, a division of the NJCD,
provides a wide range of social, recreational and religious programs,
serving well over 1,500 children and adults with developmental
disabilities.
The Orthodox
Union, now in its
second century of service to the Jewish
community of America and beyond, is the world leader in youth
work, advocacy for the disabled,
synagogue services, adult
education and political action.
Its kosher supervision
label, the
 , is the world’s most
recognized kosher symbol and can be found on over 250,000 products in 68
countries around the globe.
###
www.ou.org
Comments?
Requests? Questions?
 Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations
of America
Department of Public Relations
Sharyn Perlman, Director
Main Office:
11 Broadway, New York, NY 10004
Phone: 212-613-8321 Fax: 212-564-9058
E-mail: media@ou.org |
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