Nearly 200,000 people in Massachusetts live with some kind of cognitive disability, and without strong support services, most will never have a job and will struggle with tasks like transportation, shopping, and healthcare.
For a decade now, Northern Essex Community College’s next-door neighbor and close collaborator in Haverhill has been an organization with the admirable mission of enhancing the quality of life of people with disabilities, and ensuring they have the supports they need to overcome these challenges.
Founded in 1974, this year Opportunity Works is celebrating its 50th anniversary of serving adults with developmental disabilities and their families, so they can experience the freedom to live, work fully participate in their communities.
Last week, I had the privilege of providing the keynote speech at the Opportunity Works 50thAnniversary Celebration. This is what I shared about why NECC is so committed to our wonderful collaboration:
Good evening, and thank you for the invitation to join you tonight and celebrate the 50thanniversary of this amazing organization.
For as long as I can remember, I have been an optimist—someone who sees the glass half full, and who looks for the silver lining behind every cloud of gray.
Maybe it’s because I’m an optimist that I recognize that how we describe the world around us—our family, our coworkers, our community, our jobs, our schools, and everything else that matters to us—goes a long way toward actually creating the world around us.
When we believe it, we see it.
I lived for a few years in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, on a reservation, the capital of the Western Cherokee; and there’s a story told there about a Cherokee elder who was sitting with his grandchildren and told them that, “In every life there is a terrible fight—a fight between two wolves. One is bad: He is fear, anger, envy, greed, arrogance, self-pity, resentment and deceit. The other is good: He is joy, serenity, humility, confidence, generosity, truth, gentleness, and compassion.”
One of the grandchildren asked, “Grandfather, which wolf will win?”
And the elder looked him in the eye and said, “The one you feed.”
We’re here tonight to feed that good wolf. To recognize and to celebrate the possible, the amazing things we can accomplish when we believe it and collaborate with an amazing organization like Opportunity Works.
Here is what I mean:
The unemployment rate for people with developmental disabilities is more than double the rate for people without disabilities.
Less than half of working-age adults with developmental disabilities are in the labor force, and nearly a third have never held a job.
That’s the bad wolf, the one that spreads despair and, if we feed it, if we believe the stereotypes about people with disabilities, we will ensure that the people who we love in our families and in our communities will not get the support they need to thrive.
How about that good wolf?
85% of the participants in Project SEARCH, a close collaboration between Opportunity Works and Northern Essex Community College, are employed in the community after their internship.
They are earning a competitive wage in jobs they enjoy doing, and their success stories will blow your mind and melt your heart.
Northern Essex Community College and Opportunity Works have been partners for decades. Many of our students are studying Human Services and Education fields and have been interns at Opportunity Works and found meaningful jobs and careers working there.
Ten years ago, we deepened that relationship when we became neighbors in Haverhill. For a while, we shared space in Opportunity Works’ new building and as we got to know each other even better, we looked for ways to play to our strengths and one of the best we have found is Project SEARCH, an internship program on our campus that prepares people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and on the Autism spectrum with secure integrated, competitive employment.
Since launching Project SEARCH a decade ago, over 100 Opportunity Works participants have been interns in more than 30 departments all across the college.
For an entire academic year, from September to May, participants intern for three, 10-week periods with three different departments on campus, including our Health and Wellness Center, the library, café, childcare center, Public Safety office, buildings and grounds, academic division offices, and many more.
In addition to the work experience, they begin and end each day with work readiness classes covering topics like job interviews, resume writing, teamwork, professionalism, self-advocacy and technology in the workplace.
I know firsthand how effective Project SEARCH is: Holly is developmentally delayed, and she is the daughter of a very close family friend. She was a participant in Project SEARCH, and she loved working in the Nursing Program of our Health Careers Division. Now that she has completed her internship, she is participating in Opportunity Works’ Community Based Day Service called Community Works, where she spends time at the Great Danes Service Dog Project in Ipswich and delivering food for Meals on Wheels.
And Holly is just one success story among many:
After interning at the NECC Perfect Blend Café, several Project SEARCH graduates went to work in the food service industry, including David, who has been working at Chick-Fil-A for more than a year and was recently named Employee of the Month; Alex, who works at Golden Seal Apothecary Soda Fountain; and Brett, who is working in the kitchen at Governor’s Academy.
And then there is one of my favorite stories:
Claudia was an intern who ended up working as a paid cashier in NECC’s Café. She was there for two years when a college staff member learned that what she really wanted to do was work with children, so the NECC staff arranged for grant funds to support Claudia who is now attending NECC and studying early childhood development.
I could go on like this all night, because we have a LOT of success stories. More Project SEARCH graduates have gone to work for Market Basket, Aubuchon Hardware, Pet Supplies Plus, Kohl’s, Target, Marshalls, and plenty of other places all across the Merrimack Valley.
The chances are pretty good that sometime in the last week or so, an Opportunity Works Project SEARCH graduate prepared or served you a meal, rang up your order at the grocery store, or helped you find what you were looking for at the department store.
The people of Opportunity Works are all around—leading satisfying, fulfilling lives and contributing to their communities, like the rest of us.
And make no mistake: It is not only the Opportunity Works participants who are changed by experiences like Project SEARCH. It is everyone who works with them, too.
Mike McCarthy, NECC’s Chief Financial Officer, who has worked closely with Opportunity Works for years, describes how his heart swells with pride and a tear comes to his eye every time he attends a Project SEARCH graduation ceremony.
NECC Police Officer Peter Sheldon joined us after retiring from a career with the Portsmouth Police Department. Soon after his first shift at the college last fall, our Chief asked him if he would be willing to work with some Project SEARCH interns.
Officer Sheldon didn’t know quite what to expect, but ended up making friends with David, Michael, and several other interns. They patrolled the campus together, ate donuts and pizza, and became known as the “Bus Stop Bunch.”
At last year’s graduation, the interns named Officer Sheldon their “Mentor of the Year” and each one gave a speech.
Afterward, Officer Sheldon shared, “Something inside of me changed. They made an indelible mark on me as a person.”
Both the staff and the participants at Opportunity Works tend to have that effect on people.
I love and partner with Opportunity Works because it is personal to me and my family, because it is aligned with the mission of Northern Essex Community College, because our local workforce needs skilled, dedicated people like Project SEARCH graduates, and because it is the right thing to do.
You are here tonight, I suspect, because you feel the same way.
You recognize the power of partnership, of connections, and of inclusiveness.
Tonight is a wonderful occasion to celebrate 50 years of Opportunity Works and its tremendous impact in our community.
It is also a wonderful occasion for you to get even more involved in supporting this vital, magnificent work, and there are plenty of ways for you to do that.
Yes, you can begin by providing financial support to Opportunity Works, and I hope you will.
You can also volunteer your time. Opportunity Works needs responsible people to join their Explorers Club and take weekend field trips, and to help in many other ways.
If you are a non-profit organization looking for volunteers, the Community Based Day Services Program is always looking for new sites to meet the interests of Opportunity Works participants.
If you are a business, then you can consider hiring participants from Opportunity Works, including graduates of the Project SEARCH internship program.
And those are just a few ideas.
I guarantee you, the amazing staff at Opportunity Works can help you find a way to share your time and your talents that will be as rewarding for you as it is for the participants you will meet at this wonderful, life-changing, fifty-year-old organization we love so much: Opportunity Works!
NOTE: Wherever you live in Massachusetts, the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) provides supports for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities so they can become fully engaged members of their community. Services are available for both youth (up to 22 years old) and adults. Visit the DDS web site for additional information, and to contact the office closest to you.
