TE Development Updates

Transitional Employment (TE) is a unique Clubhouse way for members to return to the mainstream labor market. TEs are highly supported job placements with employers in the community. They are always part-time, time-limited (6-9 months), and offer hands-on training as well as absence coverage. TE Development is a Clubhouse-wide priority, which means that members and staff in every unit help to create these partnerships. Even though everyone helps with this work, it is still challenging. So when we cross a major milestone, it’s cause for serious celebration!

This month, we heard from a local employer that they would like to partner with us for a new TE placement! The job is at Copper Kitchen and the position is Junior Prep Cook. It took several months to reach this point, so we would like to share about our TE development process so the B’More community understands how we make this happen.

First, the development process starts with the Brainstorm Box. Located in the BizCom unit upstairs, colleagues are invited to add their ideas for good employment partners whenever “lightning strikes.” Each Thursday, the BizCom team goes through the ideas and organizes them. Then we have Business Breakfast on Friday mornings at 8:45 AM (sometimes we get donuts too!). Business Breakfast is the meeting where we decide by consensus which employers are worth pursuing for TE partnerships. Colleagues volunteer to follow-up with each new target. This can look like doing internet research about a company, offering to call or email them to invite them for a tour, or planning a visit to patronize their business. From there, TE development can go a number of different ways. Sometimes, employers are all in at the first meeting but then stop responding to our calls or emails. Sometimes, we spend months building relationships with the employer just to find out the job would make a better SE (Supported Employment) than a TE.

But with Copper Kitchen, we had a best case scenario! Copper Kitchen got to know B’More Clubhouse last Fall as we were preparing for our annual fundraising event. Copper Kitchen donated a high-value catered meal package for our silent auction and that’s where our relationship with them began. In December and January, we exchanged emails and shared ideas about mutually beneficial collaboration and they agreed to hear about TE opportunities. Two Copper Kitchen personnel came to B’More in February to take a tour and see the Clubhouse in action. Then in March, we met over at their commissary kitchen for another TE meeting (as well as a food tasting!). In April. we discussed some potential job descriptions for TE positions. Then in May, we received a final job description and started accepting members’ resumes!

TE Development can be a long and challenging process, but the pay-off is so satisfying! Ways to help include: adding ideas to the Brainstorm Box, coming to Business Breakfast, helping with employer tours, volunteering to go out to TE meetings around the city, and helping us find useful connections to employers in our network. Please lend your talents and skills, your creativity and imagination, to our TE development efforts!