Services Provided to People with Disabilities

Individual Employment Services
For individual job seekers we offer career-counseling, assessment, job development, job placement, on the job training and ongoing customer service. Currently there are over 80 people linked with jobs in the community through Employment Link. Our Individual Marketing Profile and Career Planning Procedures assure that job seekers are more accurately matched to job opportunities. The current state budget crisis has limited funding for these services.

Group Employment Services
We offer group paid and volunteer employment services to small groups of customers in community integrated work settings. This provides individuals with the support of an Employment Link staff person while they develop work skills. Jobs may be short or long term and are developed based on each individual’s preferences and abilities. Group employment sites include Boulder County Housing and Human Services, Community Food Share, Boulder and Longmont Meals on Wheels, Boulder County Open Spaces, Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center, University of Colorado, Boulder County AIDS Project, Colorado Therapeutic Riding Center, Longmont Humane Society and WOW! Children's Museum. These services are currently offered only in Boulder County.

Retirement Service - Senior Opportunity Source
Employment Link offers a community based day program for people with disabilities who are of retirement age. The seniors participate in a variety of recreational and volunteer activities in their community. The program is designed to link seniors with non-disabled peers who share common interests. The type and degree of support provided is responsive to each person’s needs. Regular Senior Opportunity Source activities include delivering Meals on Wheels, Elder Share, writing to pen pals, activities at the Senior Center, bingo, shopping, and bowling. These services are currently offered only in Boulder County.

Residential Services - Home Link
Beginning in 2009 Employment Link began offering residential services and supports. The support model is developed on the basis of stated preference and individual need. Both “host homes,” when a person / family provides a home for an individual and “companions” when a person shares an apartment/home with an individual are presently used. Because Employment Link is committed to community integration, no group homes or congregate living arrangements will be provided.

Family Services - Family Link
Family Link is Community Link’s newest service which has been created to assure people with disabilities can “live a good life.” By “a good life” we mean having a home we are comfortable in, and having rewarding relationships and friendships. It means making choices about what we want to do and when we do it. A good life in our view is also characterized by giving back to our community, by making a contribution through work, sharing, and/or assisting others. Family Link services are guided by four values: family leadership and control, safety and security through relationships, self-sufficiency of funding, and personal contribution equals citizenship.

Family Link services include person-centered planning, social network development, financial planning and being secure that our family members with disabilities will experience quality of life even when parents are no longer living. This service is being developed and guided by a local group of families who have been meeting and planning for more than a decade.

Project SEARCH
Beginning in 2008 Employment Link became the statewide coordinating agency for Project SEARCH, an innovative school to work transition program. Students are immersed in the work culture of a “host company” that provides 3 ten-week internships in those areas of the company that interest the student. The purpose of this project is to have each student gain a job with the host company or other cooperating companies. Present programs include the Poudre School District / Columbine Health Systems project in Fort Collins and the Aurora Public Schools / Children’s Hospital project in Aurora. This effort is supported through a grant from the Colorado Developmental Disabilities Council, approved through 2011.

Because Employment Link is a private, non-profit agency, you can be assured that all revenues generated are utilized to provide service to our customers. We work with a variety of third party funding sources including Imagine!, Denver Options, Developmental Disabilities Resource Center, Inc., Developmental Pathways, North Metro Community Services, the State Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, and local school districts. If you would like to become an Employment Link customer we may be able to help you locate funding for services. We also work with individuals on a private-pay basis.