RAMP Disability Resources & Services received a grant of $10,000 from US Bank Foundation in support of Youth Education and Career Readiness (Fast Track, TNT and Project SEARCH). The US Bank Foundation is dedicated to its communities, believing that all people deserve the opportunity to dream, believe, and achieve. The building blocks of vibrant communities – a stable job, a home to call your own, and a community connected through culture, recreation, and play – continue to be at the heart of possibility for all of us. Through U.S. Bank’s Community Possible Platform, they have been dedicated to supporting communities through responsive and humbled actions focused on addressing racial and economic inequities and creating positive and transformative change in communities.

Programs this Grant will Support

RAMP provides a continuum of services for youth to prepare for employment. For more information about RAMP’s Youth Education and Career Readiness, visit Youth Education and -Workforce Readiness – RAMP CIL or contact RAMP Disability Resources & Services, 815-968-7467.

Fast Track

The Fast Track Program is for high school students to explore their options for post-secondary education or employment by gaining job-seeking skills, finding job shadows and internships, learning self-advocacy skills, and receiving assistance in seeking community employment. These services lay a foundation for youth to reach their full potential by encouraging college enrollment, working on employment goals, and preparing for independent living.

T’NT

Teens in Transition (T’NT) helps students prepare for post-secondary education through a 14-week curriculum that takes place in the classroom. T’NT is a curriculum designed to prepare young adults (ages 16-22) with high-incidence disabilities (learning disabilities, emotional/behavioral disabilities, Autism Spectrum, etc) to become employed, independent members of their communities. The curriculum actively engages students in a variety of topics including post-secondary education, job training, soft skill development, mock interviews, housing, insurance, financial literacy, mental health, and conflict resolution.

Project SEARCH

Project SEARCH is a job skills training and internship program that takes place at Northwestern Kishwaukee Hospital in DeKalb and Embassy Suites and Mercyhealth in Rockford. Students with disabilities spend the first part of their day in a classroom at the host site being taught employment and independent living skills such as effective communication, goal setting, problem-solving, nutrition, hygiene and independent travel. The students participate in three internships, lasting 10 weeks each. Each of the internships involves real-world employment and teaches competitive, marketable, and transferable skills. The goal at the conclusion of the program is for each participating student to gain competitive employment in an integrated community setting of their choosing with fringe benefits and opportunities to advance.

About RAMP Disability Resources & Services

The mission of RAMP Disability Resources & Services mission is to build an inclusive community that encourages individuals with disabilities to reach their full potential. RAMP takes a creative approach to find resources and opportunities available to team up with individuals with disabilities to access the community where we live, work and play. We have this knowledge because the majority of our staff and board of directors have disabilities. RAMP staff meets individuals with disabilities where they are at and together as a team we take them where they want to go. We advocate for the implementation of current laws, promotion of needed legislation and improvement of existing systems for people with disabilities while working to diminish negative attitudes that threaten to impede equal access. To learn more about RAMP, visit our website www.rampcil.org. RAMP is a United Way Member Agency.