St Andrew Bay Center Inc

Target demographics: Personal quality of life flourishes for most citizens in our community, however, for individuals with disabilities these opportunities do not often occur by themselves. St. Andrew Bay Center facilitates those opportunities for individuals with disabilities in Bay County. We offer a unique blend of training and services for 300+ individuals with disabilities in our community.

Direct beneficiaries per year: 300+ individuals with disabilities in our community.

Geographic areas served: Since 1957, The Arc of the Bay / St. Andrew Bay Center, a non-profit agency in Lynn Haven, Florida has provided support and opportunities for adults with disabilities. Designed around individual needs, all of our services assist individuals to become as self-sufficient and independent as possible.

Programs: Our Adult Day Training Program is our largest program area supporting adults in self-enrichment programs, pre-vocational training, life skills training, and in earning a paycheck. All of the programs are designed to assist individuals in meeting their personal goals and desires. Individuals who attend this program have the opportunity to choose from a variety of activities.

Supported Employment: Our Job Services Program offers clients an opportunity to broaden their employment skills and become tax-paying citizens by obtaining and maintaining jobs in our business community. Our employment specialists support this desire by assisting in all phases of training so that successful employment is achieved for all individuals. Supported Employment focuses on job acquisition, retention, and training. This program also develops individualized goals for each person relating to their desired employment outcome. Supports are available at an intensity and duration of the consumers choosing.

On-The-Job training: This service offers individuals an opportunity to learn a new skill or re-enter the workforce through an internship type of training program. Individuals are placed in jobs that match their interests and abilities. Wages are sponsored by Vocational Rehabilitation for up to 90 days of training. Employers have the advantage of an employee for 90 days with no cost to them at all.

Supported Employment: Supported Employment is a unique employment service for individuals with the most significant disabilities who require ongoing support services to succeed in competitive employment. This service offers job seekers a more individualized and specialized job program. Individuals are assisted with career planning, career exploration, work readiness training, job development, and on-site job training, and are provided support to maintain their job as long as they need it. Supported Employment offers continuing assistance from an employment specialist to maintain long-term employment for individuals who have previously been unable to succeed in traditional employment.

In 2019 The Arc of the Bay took a step forward and established the Culinary Institute, in order to assist individuals with a passion for the culinary arts in working in an integrated environment, having more agency over their lives, and achieving their dreams. With a large culinary and hospitality industry in Panama City, we are uniquely suited to providing a first-class culinary education to individuals with disabilities and helping them to become working members of the local area.