We were delighted to receive a grant from the BEARR Trust (www.bearr.org) for new work in the city of Dzerzhinsk, to help disabled young adults find a career.
The project “My Route to Occupation” has both short term and long term objectives:
- The short term aim is to assist a number of disabled young people to determine a choice of occupation, and prepare for placement in a job including necessary social integration.
- The longer term goal is to establish a system for disabled young people aged 18-30 to choose an occupation and prepare for a job, involving training, inter-departmental coordination and a bank of information and training materials.
No such system exists in the Dzerzhinsk region at present. The project would establish a coordinated system involving a number of local agencies to ensure the inclusion of disabled young people in finding a career.
The main service delivery will be through the Centre for Psychological, Pedagogical, Medical and Social Assistance (PPMC). Additional partners on this occasion will include Vera, the club for people with disabilities, the Department of Social Protection, Pokrov Social Centre, the Employment Centre and educational institutions in the city.
In recent years FHM has funded a project in Dzerzhinsk to develop skills and techniques of teachers working with children with special needs. This was part of PPMC’s mission to develop the potential of all children and young people to fully participate in education, and to promote human values. This work in preparing disabled young people for employment is a fitting sequel to this previous project, which has been implemented in schools throughout the region.
You can find an overview of all the 2018 BEARR Trust project grants here.