Internships

• The Best Places to Work in the Federal Government for People with Disabilities
• Getting Your Foot in the Door at a Federal Agency
• Where Do I Apply?
• Resumes and Cover Letters
• Federal General Schedule and Pay Grades
• Schedule A
• Hiring America’s Heroes
• Job Accommodations
• Other resources
• Disability as Part of Diversity

BroadFutures provides holistic training and meaningful transitional work experiences for young adults with learning disabilities to empower their potential for positive and successful futures. BroadFutures’ holistic approach incorporates a unique focus on stress tolerance, flexibility and social supports.

Develops and supports mutually beneficial job placements to meet the workforce needs of local employers and the vocational goal of young people. The Foundation was established to enhance employment opportunities for young people with disabilities. Support to distribute goods and services to transitioning youth through the LEAP Awards program.

The Accessibility Program supports the Smithsonian in making all visitors feel welcome by providing consistent, effortless access to the Institution’s programs, collections and facilities.

Responsibilities include:

• Advising on and implementing policy, practices, and procedures related to access for people with disabilities;
• Reviewing facility and exhibition designs;
• Providing technical assistance;
• Conducting outreach to the disability community and other cultural arts organizations;
• Providing staff education on disability topics; and
• Working with Smithsonian museums and offices to provide direct visitor services, including sign language interpretation, real time captioning, and alternate formats of publications.

Programs include:

The Sunflower Bakery Pastry Arts Training Program provides some 400 hours of bakery training and employee development, as well as a supervised internship, to adults with developmental or other cognitive disabilities, preparing them for employment.

The training includes the following:

• 250 pastry instruction hours learning an extensive, customized curriculum in an inclusive commercial kitchen
• 65+ employee development training hours, including ServSafe Certification training
• 90-100 in-house, on-the-job training hours ( 2 days/week for 5 hours each day)
• an internship in a local business, acquired and monitored with the assistance of Sunflower’s Employment Specialist and/or an already-committed service provider, for three to six months

Sunflower offers an extensive, in-depth skilled pastry training program. Pace and curriculum are customized to the individual under the tutelage of professional pastry chefs. In area businesses, students as interns hone their skills en route to employment while receiving a work stipend. Sunflower’s Employer Partners provide job readiness assistance, including mock interviews, internships or job trials.

The What can YOU do? Campaign for Disability Employment encourages employers to recognize the workplace potential of people with disabilities. The outreach initiative connects people with disabilities, employers, family and educators with resources such as:

• Downloadable discussion guides
• Links to job accommodation information
• Links to job/career training opportunities
• Links to work experience/leadership programs
• And much more!