Community Skill Building

The Community Skill-Building Program at UCP/CLASS' Community Service Centre provides classes on a variety of topics in order to support individuals with disabilities as they accomplish their goals. Services are offered to individuals between the ages of 18-59, but the age requirement may be negotiated for young adults beginning to transition out of high school. When individuals enter the program, they complete a profile of their interests with Centre staff to identify their goals and create a plan of action that is tailored to their individual needs.

Classes are offered five days per week and are limited to no more than six people, which makes it possible to reflect an individual's specific needs; at times can be as small as a one-on-one session. With a team of instructors working together to design classes, it is assured that classes are as unique as the participants who take part in them. Classes are structured in three 17-week terms per year. Individuals are encouraged to choose their classes from over 80 course selections so that they are empowered to make their own decisions about their learning and goals. The number and frequency of the classes taken is the choice of the individual.

The Centre will work with the individual through classes such as:

• Meal Preparation
• Financial Management
• Transition to Independent Living
• Reading
• Computers
• Creative Arts

Adaptive equipment and the latest technology are consistently used to give the participant access to what they need in order to be successful.

Individuals who take part in the program are individuals who:

• Are transitioning from high school into the adult world and need more experience before that transition can be truly comfortable.
• Are rebuilding skills lost after acquiring a disability such as a traumatic brain injury.
• Are working to grow skills for the first time that did not have the chance to develop while formerly living in an institutional setting.

Following their graduation from the program, these individuals continue to accomplish new goals outside the Centre as they gain paid employments, take college classes, donate their volunteer services, or take part in any meaningful activity they choose.

For more information about the Skill-Building Team or to make a referral, please contact the Director of Centre Services at (412) 683-7100, 1-888-954-2424, or info@ucpclass.org.