With Precision Services: Social Enterprise Project

GOAL The aim of Autism Calgary’s With Precision Services: Social Enterprise Project is to address the plight of individuals with ASD in regards to their :

• Engagement and inclusion in employment, • Self-employment, • Contract and freelance opportunities.

WHY? Autism Calgary’s With Precision Services: Social Enterprise Project has identified the following factors in the Market that require support for Adults with ASD:

• High unemployment rate among individuals with ASD, • Gap in Service • Employer stigma towards adults with ASD

MISSION AND VISION The mission of Autism Calgary is to: Support: Bring hope and help meet the needs of families and individuals living with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Speak: Be the voice of families and individuals living with ASD. Educate: Increase Awareness and Understanding of ASD. Advocate: Secure and defend the best quality of life for those with ASD and their families throughout the lifespan. Promote: Encourage the advancement of meaningful research and the development of effective treatment options. Our Vision is, “To See Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) living meaning and purposeful lives in a community that values them.”

OBJECTIVES? Autism Calgary’s With Precision Services: Social Enterprise Project is being established to provide mentoring and support for our participants (adults with medium to high functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder) in preparing for their long and short term career objectives:

• Support in preparing for, obtaining and keeping employment or becoming self-employed,

• Enhance participant’s employability skills including personal, learning, independence and job related competencies,

OBJECTIVES?

• Identify barriers that hinder participants’ involvement in the labour market with the aim of increasing their economic participation,

• Provide individualized on going employment related and work place support to ensure participants are able to maintain employment.

OBJECTIVES?

• Build on existing knowledge base including developing best practices,

• Provide holistic supports and services through our program activities as well as collaboration with community partners.

KEYS TO SUCESS Establish trust and understanding with potential employers and

deliver results overcoming employer stigma.

Develop and share a management model that will enable companies and workplaces to hire and manage our participants.

KEYS TO SUCCESS

Bring together a community of diverse strategic partners from the private, corporate, public and community sectors.

Recognition in the business community as a comprehensive employment service for adults with ASD.

KEYS TO SUCCESS

Establish trust with potential participants as a non-profit devoted to creating win-win situations for employees with ASD and their employers.

Develop and share a management model that will enable companies and workplaces to hire and optimize the potential of our participants.

KEYS TO SUCCESS

Bring together a community of diverse strategic partners from the private, corporate, public and community sectors.

Expand our profile in the business community as an employment resource for adults with ASD.

LOCATION AND FACILITY

The initial office will be established in Calgary at The Ability Hub located in the Child Development Centre on the University of Calgary campus.

The program will support other organizations that might benefit from a similar program.

Replication of the program in at least one other site in Canada will occur during the initial five years of the program.

MILESTONES

SERVICES

Social Enterprise Readiness Programs

Network Knowledge Provider Program

SOCIAL ENTERPRISE READINESS

Initiate and develop an innovative and effective approach that meets the needs of people with ASD through the creation of a commercially viable business with employment opportunities for 44 persons with high functioning ASD. The program will also create linkages to other employment or post-secondary opportunities for adults with ASD who are not suitable for, or not interested in the social enterprise. Linkages to post-secondary opportunities will also be created.

NETWORK KNOWLEDGE PROVIDER

With Precision hopes to deploy initial pilot projects across Canada using developed program toolkits and best practices by selecting and training partner organizations (including other established associations, networks or organizations that serve individuals with ASD). With Precision will also collaborate with key partners to provide conferences to disseminate knowledge and best practice information and to build on existing networks.

INTENDED RESULTS 1. Autism Calgary is committed to furthering its partnerships and networks to encourage increased knowledge and social responsibility among various community stakeholders concerning the social and employment challenges facing Adults with ASD.

PROGRAM DELIVERABLES

• 1000 potential employers will have been reached (by the end of year five) with our outreach workshops to foster a greater understanding of the social and financial issues and challenges facing adults with ASD and encourage corporate responsibility in tackling these issues.

GOAL 1: Promote and facilitate hiring of people with autism by collaborating to create on-line resources to assist HR departments.

GOAL 2: To create on-line resources to assist job seekers with Autism.

PROGRAM DELIVERABLES

• Facilitate and participate in conferences and workshops with at least 25 private partners each year where we will form networks and share knowledge best practices best practices with partners and stakeholders.

PROGRAM DELIVERABLES

• Autism Calgary Social Enterprise will ensure diverse representation of stakeholders :

• Customer Corporations • Public Sector • Employer Companies • Private Financial Partners • Autism and Disability Sector • Community

INTENDED RESULTS 2. Autism Calgary will initiate the development and utilization of social enterprise as a new vehicle for social change as regards the enhancement of employment opportunities for a adults with ASD. This will include the development of a new employment social enterprise that will compete in the market for technical service contracts and hire 44 adults with ASD to carry out the contract requirements.

PROGRAM DELIVERABLES

• The creation and dissemination of a toolkit, which outlines best practices, resources, methodologies, etc.

• Initiate pilot projects across Canada using developed program toolkit and best practices by selecting and training partner organizations that serve individuals with ASD)

• Collaborate with key partners to provide conferences to disseminate knowledge and best practice information and build on existing networks.

• Generate over 50% of project funding with earned revenue from the employment social enterprise by year five.

INTENDED RESULTS 3. We will disseminate, promote and share knowledge and best practices of With Precision Services: Social Enterprise Project to better serve individuals with ASD both in Calgary and in other centers across Canada.

PROGRAM DELIVERABLES

• Challenging other non-profits across Canada to embrace employment based social enterprising for individuals with ASD.

• Community engagement through networking with various private partners (as either potential employers or corporate customers for the social enterprise) so as to foster corporate responsibility.

• Working with the Faculty of Education on a quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the program.

• Working with the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary to evaluate the impact of the program from an economic perspective.

INTENDED RESULTS 4. We will enhance the well-being of the 44 employees in the Calgary Social enterprise including increased life skills, increased confidence, increased independence, workplace participation and economic involvement through: • Income Security (employment in the program)

• Access to opportunities (increased knowledge and exposure (e.g.

through social enterprise contracts, national conferences and employer workshops)

BENEFICIARIES

Adults with ASD: Targeted participants will be adults (18 and over) with high

functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (Asperger’s Syndrome) who are employable but have been unsuccessful in obtaining and/or maintaining employment despite the help of other employment assistance programs or because they have been ineligible for other employment assistance programs.

BENEFICIARIES

Employers: Because of the worker shortage for companies in Calgary, many

employers will benefit not only from a new outsourcing service but also from a new pool of employees to draw from. This is especially important in light of the recent research release by The Talent Pool Society of Calgary (created by the Calgary Chamber of Commerce) which reports that “Alberta can expect a shortage of workers approximately 114,000 workers by the year 2019”. In anticipation of huge shortfall of workers expected over the next decade, The Talent Pool strongly encourages businesses in Alberta to “expand your search and consider people with disabilities”. Autism Calgary’s with Precision Services: Social Enterprise Project opens up a resourceful pool of individuals (adults with ASD) who have appropriate skills, knowledge and education to fill this gap.

BENEFICIARIES

Government: According to The Canadian Social Enterprise Guide 2nd Edition

(2010), “as they become more successful and known in the marketplace, social enterprises can bring in anywhere from 5% to 100% of an organization’s revenue”. This is important in facilitating the stability and sustainability of non-profit organization programs. This in turn eases pressure on the already overly oversubscribed and overstretched government resources.

BENEFICIARIES

Other Centres: Many other non-profits in Canada will benefit from exploring this

new and innovative income generating approach to meeting social, cultural and economic needs of the target participants. Social enterprises will enhance these organization’s programs and services. This will help organizations achieve their missions more effectively and generate new revenue streams that enable them to stabilize and diversify their funding bases. The income generating aspects of this approach is particularly important in light of the changing nature of government funding. Government funding programs are becoming increasingly oversubscribed and overstretched and more difficult to access especially for newer or emerging non-profits.

MORE INFORMATION ?

Autism Calgary 174, 3359-27th Street NE

403-250-5033 403-250-2625

http://www.autismcalgary.com/

“It is no use saying ‘We are doing our best.' You have to succeed in doing what is

necessary.” - Sir Winston Churchill