Services

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

*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 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, grounds maintenance, screen-printing, 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, folding, and screen-printing.

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.

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