Kendallville, IN – One more step in a series of steps to assist individuals served by The Arc Noble Foundations has been realized. The CLC Café opened at the Community Learning Center (CLC) in Kendallville last week.
The CLC Café marks a milestone for The Arc, a local nonprofit organization that has been steadily moving in a direction to better help individuals with disabilities maximize their abilities to succeed at work. The organization has been long committed to supporting individuals at home and in the community. A workforce shortage has put a spotlight on The Arc’s efforts to also help individuals with disabilities discover and pursue careers in Noble County.
The Arc provides employment services to individuals they serve, funded through the Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation, including benefit counseling, resume development, job discovery, help completing job applications, and more. Jim Kane, Employment Service Manager, works to connect with employers in the region to identify workplace needs and match job candidates at The Arc and help them explore opportunities to fill those needs. This work, however, came to a screeching halt when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020.
As opportunities to take individuals into workplaces to explore occupations waned, The Arc expedited their vision to capitalize on the growing population of people frequenting the CLC. First, The Arc successfully placed workers at the CLC to provide cleaning services – an especially important role during the pandemic. Following that success, The Arc and CLC came together again, this time to give individuals a chance to experience food service and retail jobs, sectors hit especially hard by COVID-19 and still struggling with staffing shortfalls.
The CLC Café served its first cup of coffee last week and introduced a simple menu that includes Country Roads Coffee (a Noble County-based roaster), hot tea, hot cocoa, muffins, fresh fruits, yogurt, and bagels. Sharon Montoya, Community Operations Director at The Arc, was pleased to have a good start at the CLC Café last week.
“It was so much fun seeing and serving everyone that showed up!” Montoya exclaimed. “Eventually, we want to expand both the hours and menu, adding salads and wraps. We want to encourage individuals at The Arc to try working at the café to find out if this type of jobs suits them.” If the shoe fits, so to speak, The Arc will help individuals begin to explore job opportunities in local brick and mortar establishments who need help.
Abigail Creigh, a Purdue (Noble County) Extension Educator, provided basic food handling training to the first four individuals working in the café. Another class is scheduled in January. The collaborations involved in making the café a reality extend even further.
“The AWS Foundation granted monies to the CLC to purchase equipment for the café,” explained Kay Craig, Executive Director at The Arc. “We are supplying the employees, some of the equipment, and covering other café expenses. This is just the beginning!”
Noble County has thousands of unfilled jobs in various sectors. Understanding this, The Arc is also working on a project that will produce a series of videos highlighting a variety of occupations in Noble County. Last May, Noble County agreed to be the applicant for a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) through Indiana’s Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA). As a result, funds have been granted to enable The Arc to hire a videographer and develop scripts to create videos introducing viewers to local, in-demand local occupations. The videos, when completed, will be made available online to those served by The Arc, as well as local students and other career-seekers, so they can see and learn about local jobs and careers remotely. The Noble County Economic Development Corporation (EDC) plans to help promote the videos to local educators, libraries, and other partners to help extend their reach.
“Anything we can do to help any individuals in Noble County who want to work to explore and find a career here, we need to do,” said Gary Gatman, Executive Director of the Noble County EDC. “We are fortunate to have such strong community partners like The Arc and CLC willing to collaborate to find ways to develop worker skills, enhance lives, and support the local economy. I am excited to see more individuals succeed and find meaningful work right here in Noble County as a result of these efforts.”
The CLC Café is currently open to the public on Thursday mornings from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. The CLC is located at 401 E Diamond Street in Kendallville and the public may enter the building using the Riley Street entrance. The Arc is now looking to hire several part-time mentors and expand the hours of operation at the café, according to Craig.
Those interested in mentoring workers at the café, and local employers who want to learn more about how to share job and career opportunities to individuals served by The Arc, may call Craig at 260-636-2155 or 260-249-9275, or email her at kcraig@thearcfoundations.com. For more information about The Arc Noble County Foundations, visit www.arcfoundations.com.
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