Easter Seals West Alabama

WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

ESWA’s Workforce Development Program provides a wide range of activities and programs designed to get individuals to work. Through the three prongs of this program: Vocational Services, Supported Employment Services, and Transportation Services, ESWA averages putting over 100 individuals in the workforce each year.

Services provides are:

• Job Development
• Vocational Evaluations
• Supported Employment
• Transportation
• Job Coaching for Tuscaloosa City Schools
• Job coaching services to individuals who cannot work without intensive support on the job
Vocational Services

The Vocational Services Program closes the unemployment gap between disabled and non-disabled individuals and creates, sustains, and retains a viable workforce that can support current and future business and industry. This program matches people with disabilities who want to be productive members of the workforce with employment suited for their skill. Weather the individual is seeking first-time employment and has no knowledge of what it takes to enter the workforce, the person is seeking re-employment at a new job, or the individual has recently become disabled due to a life-changing occurrence and is needing to refocus his or her career path, ESWA’s employment specialists provide training, resources, and advocacy for the clients, matching them with jobs needed to be filled. Our clients are working, productive community members, and employers are confident that they have competent, skilled, employees who are recommended and overseen by ESWA.
Supported Employment

The Supported Employment Program is much like the Vocational Services Program with the addition that this program provides a job coach to the individual who needs additional assistance. Job coaches provide one-on-one, supervised, on-site training to the individual, teaching them the skills needed to complete their job. Job coaches oversee daily the individual at their place of employment until the individual can work independently.

The Vocational Services Program and the Supported Services Programs serve an eight county area of West Alabama.
Transportation

The ESWA Transportation Department provides work related transportation to low-income individuals throughout Tuscaloosa County. ESWA drivers pick individuals up at their homes, transport them to their job or work related activity, and transport them home. This service is available for a six-month period, eliminating an enormous barrier to an individual’s employment. As public transportation is only available within Tuscaloosa City limits, there is no other public option for those living or working outside Tuscaloosa City limits.

ESWA has four vans that run from 4:00 am until 6:00 pm, Monday-Friday. The program serves around 125 businesses per year. In 2014, 112 individuals were employed through this program assistance, and ESWA made 14,409 trips transporting people to work.


SOCIAL SECURITY REPRESENTATIVE PAYEE PROGRAM

The ESWA Social Security Representative Payment Program provides assistance to over 300 of the most vulnerable members of our community-the young, the elderly, and the disabled who are unable to manage their Social Security or Supplemental Security Income benefits. ESWA representative payees receive and handle all aspects of the beneficiary’s Social Security funds and advocate on behalf of them.

Payees supervise payment for:

• housing and utilities
• food
• medical and dental expenses
• personal care items
• clothing
• rehabilitation expenses (if disabled)
• past-due expenses
• dependents
FUTURE PROMISE YOUTH PROGRAM

ESWA’s Future Promise Program provides educational and occupational services to eligible youth ages 16 to 21 in Tuscaloosa County who have dropped out of school. We seek to guide these students on a path towards a bright future when they are at a critical crossroad in their lives.

Participants are referred to the program from city and county schools, Shelton State Community College, churches, the juvenile court system, and through word-of-mouth. The program is in its ninth year, preparing youth to successfully enter the workforce and become self-sufficient productive members of society. Graduates of our program earn their GED and become gainfully employed or are enrolled for further education in specific fields at Shelton State Community College. In 2014, fifty-seven individuals were served.

Services provided include:

• Identification of educational training opportunities
• Mentoring and specialized training classes
• GED Preparation and payment for the first GED testing attempt
• Gift Card Incentives
• Career Planning
• Educational Testing
• Referral to Shelton State Community College for out-of-school youth
• Junior Achievement
• Job Placement and Follow Up
• Supportive Services and Counseling
• Case Management
• Transportation
• Tutoring and Study Skills
• Need based transportation to and from GED classes
• Referrals to Community Agencies
SPEECH THERAPY PROGRAM

ESWA provides speech and language therapy services to over 200 children and adults in Tuscaloosa County, improving their communication skills, academic achievement, self-esteem, and quality of life. Our program focuses on enhancing or restoring limited or lost communicative skills or swallowing capabilities due to injury, disease, aging or congenital abnormality.

Services are provided in our Easter Seals outpatient clinic as well as at home, in school, and in a variety of other care settings. ESWA is a vendor for speech and language testing and a provider for cleft palate services.

Treatment focuses on:

• Addressing disabilities in children, including articulation disorders, language delay and stuttering, and feeding problems
• Providing care to adults who may experience communication disorders, stuttering and cognitive impairment
• Improving oral-motor, swallowing and respiratory skills
• Providing augmentative and alternative communication systems to individuals who cannot rely on speech (hearing) as a means of communication
IN HOME VISITING PROGRAMS
Nurse Family Partnership Program

Our Nurse-Family Partnership Program is a maternal and early childhood health program, fostering long-term success for first-time moms, their babies, and society. This program introduces vulnerable first-time parents to caring professionals, allowing nurses to deliver the support moms need to have a healthy pregnancy, become knowledgeable and responsible parents, and provide their babies with the best possible start in life. A specially trained nurse visits the mother throughout her pregnancy and until the baby turns two years old. The relationship between mother and nurse provides the foundation for strong families, and lives are forever changed – for the better. Our program empowers the mothers to become confident parents and strong women. In 2014, we served seventy-four moms and fifty babies.

Consistent program effects include:

• Better pregnancy outcomes and improved prenatal health
• Prevent child abuse and neglect: Fewer childhood injuries
• Improved school readiness
• Changes in mother's life course: Increased maternal academic achievement and employment leading to self-sufficiency
• Fewer subsequent pregnancies and increased intervals between births

Parents as Teachers Program

The Parents as Teachers Program (PAT) provides information, support, and encouragement to parents in need. PAT teaches parents the skills needed to their children develop optimally during the critical, formative years of life. PAT is a champion for early intervention and parental involvement and serves as a unified voice for early childhood education and healthy child development. The program supports a parent’s role in promoting school readiness and healthy development of children.

PAT serves families with children from birth to age five by:

• increasing the parents’ knowledge of early childhood development
• improving parenting practices
• preventing child abuse
• preparing children for school success
In 2014, one-hundred and eight-eight children and one-hundred and sixty-four adults were served.