Pathways to Employment

Desert Arc has been assisting people with disabilities for over 56 years, and now as economic times become harder for all Americans, this vulnerable population needs Desert Arc to offer programs to help find employment, find homes, have a safe place to come every day and interact with others, and most important reach their highest potentials to live, work and play in the communities where they reside. As unemployment soars, Desert Arc has stepped up to the plate to challenge the odds and create employment opportunities for the developmentally disabled. With an un-precedent new method to assist adults with developmental disabilities become more employable Desert Arc has introduced a program called Pathways to Employment. Desert Arc is continuing forward and championing the rights of the people with developmental disabilities to participate in innovative employment training programs that help them obtain and retain community jobs. The academy concept is a new and innovative approach to provide employment training that assists the clients in becoming as self-sufficient as possible at a relatively low cost that impacts the lives of the client for their entire life time. Clients in the employment programs are low-income residents with disabilities who need the opportunity to participate in training that will increase their employment opportunities in an integrated community setting. The State of California provides no client service fees to cover the cost of training equipment or materials for employment training programs offered at Desert Arc. The impact on clients if training programs are not available is that they will not have a place to earn a salary while learning a trade, or in many cases, will not have the opportunity to secure employment in the desert communities where they live.