Project Search Founder Comes to Missouri

The national director and founder of Project Search made a recent visit to , the first and only Project Search program in Missouri. Project Search is a nine-month high school transition program targeting young adults, ages 18 – 20, with developmental disabilities.

The primary purpose of Project Search is to help prepare participants for employment. Interns gain job skills and experience by spending seven hours each day in a high-status sponsoring business. Barnes-Jewish St. Peters’ program was launched in August 2010 with an inaugural class from four local school districts.

Project Search was founded in Ohio in 1996 thanks to the efforts of Erin Reihle, emergency department director at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital at the time. After seeing young adults come and go from the hospital with varying degrees and types of developmental disabilities, Reihle began to think about what their future had in store for them. She also began to question why there were no employees with disabilities working at her hospital knowing there were department openings they could not keep filled.

Since then, Project Search, which started as a small project to help the hospital and provide an opportunity to a few individuals, has grown to 40 states and five countries.

Collaboration is the key to the success of Project Search. Barnes-Jewish St. Peters works with several local organizations and school districts committed to helping people with disabilities in order to implement the program.

Project Search partners include:

• Developmental Disabilities Resource Board; 
• Life Skills; 
• Vocational Rehabilitation; 
• Francis Howell School District, 
•  School District, 
• Orchard Farm School District and 
•  R-IV School District. 

As a sponsoring business, Barnes-Jewish St. Peters provides meeting space for classroom instruction and supports career exploration and on-the-job training for up to 12 interns through job shadowing and mentorship. In turn, Project Search partners provide a classroom instructor, 2-3 employment analysts, also known as job coaches, and ongoing support to interns after completing the program.

During Reihle’s site visit, she shared her experience about Project Search successes and best practices with partners, teachers and hospital staff. 

Reihle was also impressed with the hospital’s classroom complete with a Smart Board. Interns spend part of the day learning valuable and marketable job skills and the remainder of the day in the work area. Part of the classroom training is provided by a human resource expert.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen this practice," Reihle said. "We don’t dictate how a program is run and we understand people have great ideas. This is an excellent example of great ideas in practice.”

Reihle noted that while the new program may face challenges, she thought the determination and dedication of the community partners and hospital employees provided the solid foundation to ensure the success of Project Search.

Regina Wade-Johnson is a certified special education teacher for the Orchard Farm School District with more than 23 years experience. She serves as the Project Search instructor and sees it as one of the highlights of her professional career. 

“I’ve seen the positive impact this program has had in the lives of our interns. These young adults have found skills they didn’t even know they had and others didn’t know either," she said. "Every time we raise the bar of our expectations for them, they grab hold and pull themselves up higher."