Deaf Today: Pennsylvania School for the Deaf Receives Two-Year Grant From The Pew Charitable Trusts

January 30, 2003

Pennsylvania School for the Deaf Receives Two-Year Grant From The Pew Charitable Trusts

From: Yahoo News - 30 Jan 2003

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- The Center for Community and Professional Services (CCPS) at the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf (PSD) has received a two-year grant of $135,000 from The Pew Charitable Trusts. The grant will be used by CCPS' Deaf and Hard of Hearing Job Center to geographically expand and enhance its services, which include job readiness training, job development and placement, job coaching, and post-retention employment services for Deaf and hard of hearing adults.
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As part of the grant, two satellite CCPS Job Center offices will be established -- one in Chester County and the other in Montgomery County. The opening of these offices will extend the Job Center service area to the entire five-county Philadelphia region. CCPS' Job Center currently operates from the campus of The Pennsylvania School for the Deaf in the Germantown section of Philadelphia.

Two new job positions will be created as a result of the Pew grant: a Community Living Specialist as well as a Social Worker. These individuals will help Job Center consumers address barriers interfering with their successful job placement and retention. According to the grant, specific objectives are: 1) To increase vocational, educational, and personal skills that will lead vulnerable Deaf and hard of hearing adults towards employment and financial independence; 2) To increase stability and level of functioning of these vulnerable adults by improving their behavioral and mental health; and 3) To increase their ability to play an active role in: managing their own care, making informed decisions about the effective use of available resources; and/or advocating for themselves.

CCPS' Deaf and Hard of Hearing Job Center was initiated in 2000 and currently assists about 75 Deaf or hard of hearing individuals per year. The Pew grant will allow at least 40 more individuals from the suburban areas to receive job-related services and access to meaningful employment. For more information about the Job Center or the Pew grant, please contact CCPS Director Gail Bober at 215-754-4770 (V/TTY).

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Source: Pennsylvania School for the Deaf