(October 17, 2022, ROCHESTER, NY)—Heritage Christian Services honored Jewish Senior Life with its Community Partner Award during a virtual celebration titled Many Hands, Many Hearts held on Oct. 13.
The award is in recognition of Project SEARCH®, a pre-employment program at Jewish Senior Life in partnership with Heritage Christian Services, a local agency specializing in employment programs for young adults with disabilities. Project SEARCH® provides a combination of curriculum-based instruction, career exploration, skill assessm
ent, and hands-on training through a series of 10-week internship rotations over 10 months that provide participants with a non-paid work experience. The B. Thomas Golisano Foundation brought Project SEARCH to the Rochester area and provided the essential funding to develop local partnerships.
Mark Zawacki, Executive Director, Heritage Christian Services Foundation said, “This is a unique program for the community that helps people with disabilities further their careers, and Jewish Senior Life has had unwavering support for us throughout our partnership.”
“We love our relationship with Heritage Christian Services,” said Michael S. King, President and CEO, Jewish Senior Life. Project SEARCH® is a very important part of our organization. This is a wonderful award and I’m really excited about continuing our partnership.”
Nationally, over 65% of people with disabilities are unemployed and Jewish Senior Life is one of only 500 Project SEARCH® employers in the country. Since 2018, Jewish Senior Life has enrolled 32 individuals in the program and has hired many of the program participants into a variety of positions within the organization.
For more information about Project SEARCH® at Jewish Senior Life, call 585-784-6494.
