Career, Activity, & Community
Dedicated to Powerful Life Stories
Offering one-on-one and small group adult day support, Career, Activity, & Community gives individuals with disabilities the opportunity to live their own powerful life story.
A Community-Based Program That Makes an Impact
Program Overview
Career, Activity, & Community is an innovative adult day program for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities designed to immerse and engage them in the community.
We offer a wide range of one-on-one and small group options based on the needs, wants, and goals of each person.
Examples include:
Career counseling and on-the-job support
Community Exploration
Volunteering
Community Gardening
Fitness
And more!
Ready to get started?
Cultivate Circles
When an individual joins our program, one of the first things they’ll experience is a “Cultivate Circle.”
During a Cultivate Circle, the individual, along with members of their team and anyone else they’d like to invite, will discuss the individual’s interests and passions to come up with a focused goal along with action steps to achieve it. These brainstorming sessions help ensure we are all working together to inspire each individual’s life journey!
These cultivate circles are held monthly, giving the individual and the team a chance to reflect on progress made, work out solutions if challenges are encountered, and set new goals as others are achieved.
Cultivate Circles
When an individual joins our program, one of the first things they’ll experience is a “Cultivate Circle.”
During a Cultivate Circle, the individual, along with members of their team and anyone else they’d like to invite, will discuss the individual’s interests and passions to come up with a focused goal along with action steps to achieve it. These brainstorming sessions help ensure we are all working together to inspire each individual’s life journey!
These cultivate circles are held monthly, giving the individual and the team a chance to reflect on progress made, work out solutions if challenges are encountered, and set new goals as others are achieved.
On-the-Go Model
At Career, Activity, & Community, we are proud to offer individuals a facility-free choice for their adult day program needs. Participants in our On-the-Go models spend 100% of their day entirely in the community!
Once an individual has chosen a focus area through their Cultivate Circle, our team of experienced Community Connectors will work to match them with an existing On-the-Go group with similar interests and goals, or, choose to establish a new group if none currently exists.
Together, they’ll work to find and explore opportunities in the community, make connections, and build lasting relationships that will help the individual progress towards their goal.
Some examples of current On-the-Go groups include:
History Hunters
This group is for history lovers of all types! Using our Ohio History Connection membership, participants can explore, discover, and learn about local, regional, national, and world history through visits to local museums, institutions, and historical sites statewide!
Examples of places our History Hunters have visited:
- Ohio History Center
- Ohio Village
- Slate Run Living Historical Farm
- Central Ohio Military Museum
- Wright-Patterson Air Force Museum
- Motts Military Museum
- Central Ohio Fire Museum
- Car Museum
- National Veterans Memorial & Museum
- Local Libraries
Service Sector
This group is all about giving back to their community! In doing so, they get the satisfaction that comes from helping others, build great relationships with other volunteers and community members, and learn valuable skills that will help them on their path to employment!
Examples of service opportunities available:
- LifeCare Alliance
- Meals on Wheels delivery
- Carrie’s Cafe
- AniMeals Program
- Humane Society of Madison County
- Cleaning, feeding, bathing, and keeping the shelter pets company
- Mid-Ohio Foodbank
- Greeting clients
- Processing food donations
- Working in their community garden
- Kiwanis Aktion Club
- This individual-led service group works to fundraise in support of causes they care about.
- Meetings are held monthly with special events occurring on a semi-regular basis.
Cooks in the Kitchen
This fun group focuses on, you guessed it, cooking! Whether it’s learning easy recipes to cook at home, or working together to craft a full 3-course meal, this group is sure to be a great fit for any foodie!
Examples of activities this hands-on group enjoys:
- Visiting local libraries to browse the stacks for great recipe books and other educational materials.
- Visiting local restaurants to get inspiration, meet and learn from kitchen staff, and of course enjoy the food!
- Learning new skills in the kitchen such as food safety, knife handling, measuring, and mixing.
- Cooking new recipes and sampling them together or sharing them with others.
Weekday Divas
Members of the Weekday Divas group all share a passion for fashion, makeup, pampering, and fun!
Examples of activities this social group enjoys:
- Visits to local nail salons for manicures, pedicures, and the like!
- Browsing local boutiques and beauty supply stores to learn about the latest new trends in fashion and makeup.
- Sampling food from various local restaurants and sharing a meal together.
Wilderness Explorers
Whether they like to enjoy the quiet solitude of nature, or are looking for new ways to stay healthy and active, participants in our Wilderness Explorers program have plenty of options to choose from!
Examples of activities group members enjoy:
- Visits to local, regional, and state parks.
- Outdoor activities such as fishing, picnicking, hiking, exploring, geocaching, frisbee golf, and more!
- Outdoor education courtesy of our local park rangers.
- Obstacle courses and other fitness trails.
Dirt Devils Gardening Group
Members of the Dirt Devils Gardening Group plan for, maintain, and oversee our AccessABLE Community Garden.
In addition, group members:
- Operate a weekly farm stand, open to the public, where they share the fruits of their labor with the community and learn valuable skills such as inventory, record-keeping, stocking, customer service, and money handling.
- Volunteer at other local community gardens.
- Make frequent visits to places like Franklin Park Conservatory, the Gahanna Plant Library, and other local gardens and nurseries.
Career Crew
For those interested in pursuing or advancing their careers:
- A combination of small group career counseling and individualized on-the-job support options are available.
This group is overseen by our experienced and certified Career Connector.
Growth
Since we began to make the transition to community-based services in 2018, we have seen exponential growth for so many of the folks we support!
Having the opportunity to be in, and a part of, the community makes a huge difference!
Here’s are just a few of the outcomes we’ve seen:
Increased communication and engagement
Our Cultivate Circles give every individual a voice and a choice for what they want to focus on, who they want on their team to help, and how they want to spend their days.
This has led to increased communication, even among folks who some considered non-verbal, along with increased engagement. Individuals are excited to participate in each day’s activities – because they chose them themselves!
Reduction in the number of behavior-related issues
For some individuals, negative behaviors are often the only way they know how to express themselves when they’re feeling unhappy, stressed, or frustrated.
Since we’ve launched our On-the-Go models, we’ve seen a significant reduction in the number of behavior-related incidents, and some individuals who were previously on behavior plans no longer need them!
We attribute these results mostly to ensuring that the support we provide is entirely driven by the wants, needs, and goals of the individual themselves! Couple that with spending the day active and engaged in community-based experiences instead of in a day program building, and the outcomes speak for themselves!
Progressive goal achievement
We focus on helping individuals set realistic, attainable goals that can be achieved within a reasonable amount of time. This allows the individual to build on their success, instilling confidence to tackle the next goal on their life journey. We keep repeating this process, and before they know it, when they look back, they can see just how far they’ve come!
Growth
Since we began to make the transition to community-based services in 2018, we have seen exponential growth for so many of the folks we support!
Having the opportunity to be in, and a part of, the community makes a huge difference!
Here’s are just a few of the outcomes we’ve seen:
Increased communication and engagement
Our Cultivate Circles give every individual a voice and a choice for what they want to focus on, who they want on their team to help, and how they want to spend their days.
This has led to increased communication, even among folks who some considered non-verbal, along with increased engagement. Individuals are excited to participate in each day’s activities – because they chose them themselves!
Reduction in the number of behavior-related issues
For some individuals, negative behaviors are often the only way they know how to express themselves when they’re feeling unhappy, stressed, or frustrated.
Since we’ve launched our On-the-Go models, we’ve seen a significant reduction in the number of behavior-related incidents, and some individuals who were previously on behavior plans no longer need them!
We attribute these results mostly to ensuring that the support we provide is entirely driven by the wants, needs, and goals of the individual themselves! Couple that with spending the day active and engaged in community-based experiences instead of in a day program building, and the outcomes speak for themselves!
Progressive goal achievement
We focus on helping individuals set realistic, attainable goals that can be achieved within a reasonable amount of time. This allows the individual to build on their success, instilling confidence to tackle the next goal on their life journey. We keep repeating this process, and before they know it, when they look back, they can see just how far they’ve come!
Ready to get started?
Service Eligibility & Admission Process
On-the-Go’s In Action
See what being on-the-go is all about!
