Campus For All
After graduation from high school, students with intellectual disabilities have very few opportunities to further their education. As a result, these young adults often find themselves ill-equipped for the workplace and lacking the skills that might otherwise provide important opportunities in life – such as employment. The reality is that 80% of people who have an intellectual disability are jobless and heavily reliant on government support services.
The good news is that together we can turn this number around! University is a viable and beneficial means to improve employment outcomes, job quality and income for individuals with intellectual disabilities. In fact, graduates of inclusive post-secondary initiatives have an employment rate of nearly 80% — but they need support to get there. Without support to find and maintain employment, the lives of inclusive post-secondary alumni are – upon completion of their studies — in danger of stagnation personally, educationally and workwise. They are very much at risk of ending up segregated in our community.
As it foundational mandate, Campus For All: Inclusive Post-Secondary Education encompasses three pillars: academics, social networking and employment. To address the employment pillar, Campus For All partnered with Creative Options Regina to create an employment project entitled 4to40.
4to40 Project
4to40 delivers employment services to students and individuals who experience both an intellectual disability and related barriers to entering the workforce. These individuals want to work and contribute to our community. 4to40 receives no government funding and relies heavily on donations and fundraising.
4to40 is a unique grassroots project connecting people experiencing disability with employers who embrace a flexible 4 to 40 hour work week. The overall purpose of 4to40 is to achieve social and economic inclusion. 4to40 works with one person at a time by developing customized employment opportunities that enable individuals experiencing disability and other related barriers to make a contribution to the community. Behind every job created there is a story like this one written by a mother about her daughter, an alum of the University of Regina who was supported by Campus For All:
On Nicole’s full resume from Grade 10, she has 5 years of employability training,
2-1/2 years of volunteering and 15 job experience placements. Nicole has been doing something every year since grade 10 to somehow get a job – except November
2010 to September 2011 when after doing another employability training program
with big promises and no follow through, I hit a wall and gave up. She enrolled in Campus For All and the partnership with COR in 4to40 led to a job offer from Farm Credit Canada (her first long-term paying job at the age of 29). So, needless to say,
to everyone involved (it takes a village). How could I ever express how thankful
I am other than . . . THANK YOU VERY MUCH (with tears of joy).
Not only does 4to40 make a difference in individual lives, it generates macro level impacts for the betterment of our community. 4to40 is changing the culture around employment. For example, many organizations in Regina are developing and implementing diversity strategies, but they don’t know where to start, how to implement, or find a pool of available employees.
4to40 provides information and support to employers – essentially creating inclusion within diversity. When individuals experiencing intellectual disabilities are hired typical understandings of disability are disrupted and new possibilities for belonging and contributing are uncovered.
We invite you to join us on September 14, 2019 at India Night:
