MINNESOTA LIFE COLLEGE

Results: Our fundraising efforts provide annual tuition scholarships.

Programs: Minnesota life college (mlc) undergraduate program teaches the core skills that we believe are essential to being able to live independently within a community. We provide instruction and support on independent living skills, employment skills and social skills, using a holistic, strength-based model of education. We serve approximately 400 individuals who have either learning differences or autism spectrum disorder or who have family members with these disabilities. For the past 18 years, mlc has been perfecting an extremely effective model of transition into adulthood for the individuals that we serve. Our focus is teaching real skills for real life. The undergraduate students live in apartments on our campus, which allow instructors to teach independent living skills in the type of environment that our students will transition to upon graduation from the program. Additionally, we teach skills ranging from basic cooking, cleaning and organization to budgeting, medication management, transportation and roommate dynamics. Our goal is to ensure that our undergraduates are fully prepared to live independently upon graduation from our program. The ability to live and work independently is the heart of our program. Mlc accomplishes this by providing students with the skills that are necessary to complete the job search process, obtain employment and demonstrate the behaviors that will help them maintain their employment. Primary topics addressed are: job research, work behaviors, resumes, developing professional references, cover letters, completing applications, interviewing, disability & the workplace (ada), work skills/abilities and interests, job search process, employment paperwork and worksite safety. We utilize numerous vocational assessments in our work, including vocational interest inventory, the reading & math index 12 (rai-12) and the career ability placement survey (caps). Assessment results are combined with job exploration to help students find the best employment fit for their skills, abilities and interests. The training internship experience is an additional component of our vocational training that allows our students to learn to work in real-life settings. Local employers understand the positive impact the real world experience can provide and the on-site job coaches provided by mlc help our students interpret their real work experiences in real time. Students are assigned a position at one of our training internship sites, where they complete an application and are given an employment interview. In addition to the mlc classes they attend on campus, the students will each spend four days a week, several hours a day, developing various vocational and job-related interpersonal skills. We measure our success by the number of clients who are employed and who live independently in the community. Currently, 93% of our clients have paid employment and 95% are living on their own, outside of their parents' homes, here in the twin cities.

the community living program (clp) is for individuals with learning differences and autism spectrum disorders who have successfully completed the undergraduate program. Graduates who are living independently in their own apartment, using public transportation and are employed in competitive community employment, have the clp to provide them with a community of positive relationships, positive choices and healthy activities within the twin cities. Clp provides support to our employed graduates who need assistance at work or who are looking for the next step in their career. The clp assists our graduates to maintain their independence in an ever changing world. Operating since 2005, we have seen a more than 50% increase in individuals participating in the program. Our program is currently serving 48 adults and we anticipate that by 2016, enrollment will be approximately 70 adults.

the summer internship program (sip) provides mlc the opportunity to make a greater impact within the community by offering a residential 3 week summer session to high school and transition age individuals with learning differences and autism spectrum disorders. Sip lets these students work on skills similar to the undergraduate program, but in a limited time frame. We provide an apartment living experience that includes skill building in the areas of cooking, cleaning, budgeting and transportation. We also provide training internships to our participants via our corporate partnerships in the community. We feel that the sip program is an opportunity that will allow us to partner with other organizations and foundations to increase our footprint and touch more lives. We know that there is a crisis looming for individuals with learning differences and autism spectrum disorders that will need the appropriate transition support. Mlc would like to partner with local school districts to give more young adults access to the skills and support that they need to learn. Our 1-2 year goal would be to form at least 2 partnerships around sip that will allow more individuals to be positively impacted towards independence.