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Interim is a disability organization in Monterey County, California, that assists people with mental illness to obtain and maintain housing in the community. Interim manages and maintains several residential units where their customers live. When Interim staff became dissatisfied with the landscaping company hired to maintain their grounds, they came up with a way to keep their gardens in shape and open jobs up to residents.
An Opportunity Presents Itself
The Interim management staff is responsible for ensuring their residential units and buildings are well kept. Managers became dissatisfied with the work of an independent landscaping contractor employed by Interim to maintain the housing complexes. In an effort to solve the grounds maintenance situation and create an employment program, Interim managers decided they would offer to hire their tenants to maintain the landscaping themselves.
How They Made It Work
A supervisor worked with Interim's residents to develop the landscaping employment program. Those tenants who had the desire to participate in the landscaping program were given the opportunity to apply. A job coach was hired to assist consumers who didn't have landscaping experience. The coach taught them the skills needed to do the job.
Schedule adjustments were made to accommodate the consumers' desired workloads. Individuals are allowed to work up to 19 hours per week. They are encouraged to work only the number of hours they feel they are capable of, and are allowed to increase/decrease their work schedules as desired. The tenants who are participating in the program say they enjoy the work and the knowledge and experience they have gained in the process.
Other Opportunities
In addition to the landscaping program, Interim offers other jobs to their tenants including working as painters, peer counselors, janitors, office clerks or housekeepers.
According to Carolyn Hinds, Interim Program Director, individuals become more confident when they learn new skills and gain experience. It makes them more marketable as they search for employment.
Some consumers have been employed by private landscaping companies thanks to the skills and work experience they acquired in Interim's landscaping program.
Interim is considering offering its tenant-operated landscaping services to other organizations. This would allow a larger number of Interim tenants to work through the program, decreasing the unemployment rate of people with mental disabilities in Monterey County.
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