Services

Columbia Gorge Center provides client, commercial, and residential services.

*Client Services

Gorge Activity Program (GAP)

In 2001, Columbia Gorge Center developed a program to help people become more integrated into the community in a non-employment setting. The Gorge Activity Program or GAP has been designed and developed to assist individuals in the community with integration and participation skills. In many cases, one-on-one assistance is required.

*GAP Mission

To help people in the Mid-Columbia area with disabilities achieve control of their lives, move into and maintain integrated lifestyles within their community, increase independence, and provide leisure and social skills in order to participate in satisfying lifestyles based upon the same aspirations as all citizens.

Client Services Provided

Sheltered Employment: Services that enable people with disabilities to work in CGC-sponsored work sites, ensuring that the employee receives the assistance and support to maintain employment (see commercial services). Sheltered services are designed to increase individual independence, productivity, and integration.

Alternatives to Employment: Services that are not work related but that are designed to enrich an individual’s life. Alternative to employment services increase independence, productivity, and community integration. Depending upon the funding source, this service may be called individual community access services.

Supported Employment and Job Placement Services: Services that enable people with disabilities to work in regular community work sites, ensuring that the employer and the employee receive the assistance and support to maintain employment.

Job Development: Services designed to assist an individual to secure and maintain competitive employment. Services may include direct employer contact, cold calling techniques, resume preparation, on-site job analysis, consultation, and recommendations for work-site and job modification, or other related and negotiated focus.

Comprehensive Evaluation: Systematic, formalized assessment in a simulated or actual work setting, utilizing standardized tests, work samples, and a range of work activities in order to determine an individual’s vocational objective(s), assets, limitations, and behaviors.

Work Adjustment Training: Services to assist individuals with barriers to successful employment to develop general values, attitudes, personal characteristics, and behaviors appropriate for a work environment.

Situational Assessment: Short term on-the-job evaluation of an individual’s job skills. Situational assessment may be community-based or in a sheltered setting. Issues addressed may include work skills and work tolerance, work habits, communication skills, hygiene, ability to do competitive work, assessment of learning style, need for job site modification and/or adaptive equipment, and potential to benefit from further services.

Job Club: Classroom setting where individuals have the opportunity to learn how to obtain and sustain employment. Issues addressed may include resume making, interview techniques, communication in the workplace, appropriate answers for application questions, and consciousness of presentation. Employment coordinators work with other agencies including Vocational Rehabilitation Division, Mid-Columbia Council of Governments, and Mid-Columbia Center for Living to prepare for and lead Job Club.

*Commercial Services

Commercial services provide opportunities for employment in a wide variety of settings, including mechanical assembly, lettershop, commercial sewing, janitorial services, retail sales, and community work sites.

Persons working for commercial services are encouraged to participate in more than one area to assess their interests and aptitude for both current placement and future possibilities.

Individuals with disabilities are paid for all work produced based on individual productivity ratings. Productivity is assessed and wages are adjusted quarterly to assure fair compensation for completed work, according to U. S. Department of Labor guidelines.

Individuals who are regularly scheduled in commercial services receive fringe benefits which include paid vacation based on 2.5 percent of hours worked and eight paid holidays per year. Clients also receive all required state and federal benefits.

Benchwork: This program provides employment for persons interested in working at a wide variety of assembly and small machine tasks. These include mechanical assembly, shrink-wrapping, packaging, and lettershop.

Sewing: The sewing program provides employment for individuals interested in cutting, sewing, pressing, and folding.

Packaging and Distribution: This program includes receiving customer product, warehousing, bagging, packaging, sorting by size, bundling, labeling, and repackaging for shipment.

Mobile Crew Model: The mobile crew model provides the opportunity for continuous support while offering integrated employment. A small crew or set of crews having one supervisor performs work in a regular industry. Typically, the workers in a mobile crew perform service operations for organizations, businesses, and individuals.

Janitorial Crew: The janitorial crew provides a wide variety of contract cleaning services to customers in the Mid-Columbia area. These services include, but are not limited to, general office and restroom cleaning, window washing, carpet shampooing, and floor stripping and waxing. For customer protection, this service is fully insured.

Community Work Site Model: The community work site model takes advantage of local commercial opportunities to establish businesses employing a small number of persons with and without disabilities.

*Residential Services

The Residential Services Program provides training and support to promote development of living skills, relationships, and social networks.

Group Home Setting: Formal and informal training programs are individually designed to support and teach independent living skills. Twenty-four-hour staff support is provided.

Semi-Independent Living and Supported Living Program: This program is available for training and assisting persons to live in their own homes or apartments in the Mid-Columbia area.

Values

We believe in the value and worth of all people, and that all people, with or without disabilities, have the same inherent value and fundamental human rights.

We believe that community services should be individualized, flexible, and responsive to the changing needs and desires of persons with disabilities and their families.

We believe that community services should be designed to assist all persons with disabilities to live, work, socialize, and participate in leisure activities in typical neighborhood and community environments.

We believe that services should actively promote development of relationships and social networks between persons with disabilities and members of the community, including family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors.

We believe that employment support services should help people with disabilities access multiple career choices and job options that provide meaningful wages, benefits, and experiences.

We believe that community training and habilitation should assist persons with disabilities to acquire and use practical skills in a manner that promotes their independence, productivity, and integration into the community.

We believe that all community services should be consumer-driven and committed to the principle of individual empowerment.

We Value Teamwork: Teamwork provides an environment where people develop new skills, improving communication and cooperation resulting in quality products and services to customers.

We Value Continuous Quality Improvement: The Columbia Gorge Center aims to institutionalize quality principles in everything employees do for both external and internal customers. We strive to sustain gains accomplished through teamwork, attain consistency in daily operations, clarify individual contributions toward achieving customer satisfaction, and incrementally and continuously improve the daily work of each employee.

We Value Mutual Respect: Each individual's trust, loyalty, and capabilities must be fully recognized, developed, and utilized.

We Value Customer Focus: Columbia Gorge Center prioritizes every customer’s needs and expectations.

We Value Management by Fact: All of us manage the work we do by collecting objective data and making decisions based on this information.

We Value Structured Problem-Solving: Columbia Gorge Center applies a disciplined approach to problem-solving using both creative and rational approaches. Structured problem-solving uses the Plan-Do-Study-Act methodology to display progress in a consistent fashion. This methodology provides the team and others with a clear picture of the logical improvement process.

Last modified Thursday, February 1, 2007 6:19 PM
© 2007 DMS Graphics