A Guided Tour of YAWD Week 6

Today was an exciting day at the Blackstone Valley Hub for Workforce Development (BV Hub) as we welcomed five visitors to a guided tour of our onsite spaces along with an opportunity to observe of our training program for Young Adults with Disabilities (YAWD).

YAWD is an inclusive training and employment initiative preparing 24 young adults with cognitive or physical disabilities for sustainable careers in the health and social services sector, funded by the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development and administered by Commonwealth Corporation. Employer and community partners working with BV Hub on this program include but are not limited to Optum Health Reliant Healthcare, Applied Behavior Institute (ABI), Hear Joy, Johnson & Johnson, Sutton Public Schools, Northbridge Public Schools, MassHire Central Region Workforce Board, MassAbility, Center of Hope, and transition programs at Nipmuc Public Schools and Uxbridge Public Schools.

Our visitors included representatives from the CommonwealthCorporation, Anna Civitarese, Kayla Johnson, Natalie Mullen, and Aadil Z. Sulaiman, along with the District Director of Senator Ryan Fattman's Office, Amanda Galonek Hellyar. Their tour was guided by BV Hub President, Joscelyn Young and BV Hub Executive Director, Ashley Bregman who introduced them to a variety of machines and equipment including the Miller Augmented Welding Training System, CNCs, Lathes, VR Headsets, Dobots, Universal Robots, and one of our newest editions, the Cadaviz, a virtual dissection table that gives anatomy programs life sized, 3D cadavers with clinical detail and U.S. based support.

Guest Anna Civitarese reflected, "The leveraging of resources here is fantastic. You have this really interactive equipment and actual tools that students can get important hands-on experience with. That experience is so crucial for folks nowadays."

Following the tour, guests observed students split into two groups working on either a healthcare training session or a virtual reality training sessions, which then led to a fireside chat where students had the opportunity to share some of their own thoughts on the YAWD program. Some highlights included enthusiasm about social community within the program (and food!) along with pride over the ability to "save lives" (due to their acquired CPR training in week 3) and the opportunity flesh out a more attractive resume for prospective employers.

As he was exiting, Aadil Sulaiman, Vice President of Youth & Social Justice at Commonwealth Corporation shared,

"The formation of community mixed with the vocational, hands-on training that's possible, is really impressive. Often we see community is a big focus or training is a big focus, but to see both of them come together seems like a real win, a real positive attribute to the [YAWD] program."