The Enrich Program
What is the Enrich Program?
The Enrich Program provides a systematic delivery of vocational support services for individuals with disabilities to prepare, access, and connect with work readiness opportunities with the goal of increased self-sufficiency.
The program is centered around the value that individuals with disabilities have the right and the opportunity to make informed decisions about their futures and career pathways. The enterprise is a learning laboratory that provides experiences in an entrepreneurial atmosphere. This opportunity allows students with significant disabilities a chance to share their preferences, strengths, and needs in a supportive environment.
We achieve our purpose through differentiated classroom instruction, experiential learning in different environments, and the production of curated gift boxes in partnership with local businesses. The Enrich Boxes are a culminating project of job skills training in the Enrich Program. The boxes, available for purchase by the public, are curated, marketed, and packaged by KDS students providing a unique opportunity for our students to practice real-life job skills! Students also participate in community service and volunteer efforts to demonstrate job skills. We love giving back to the community!
Enrich
FAQs
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The curriculum is centered around several prevocational and vocational skills, each of which are covered in classroom lessons through lecture and discussion. Students are encouraged to explore topics of interest with hands-on activities in different environments. The workshop and box production are centered around Enrich Jobs where classroom instruction meets real-world application.
• 7 job descriptions, with lessons built around learning and evaluating interest in different job categories;
• Applying and interviewing, where students will explore jobs best suited for them, and apply and get hired for a job;
• Pre-production lessons, where skills are practiced with mock challenges in different environments;
• Production time, when products are created, and students put their skills to work; and
• Evaluation time, where students are evaluated on both technical and soft skills related to their job.
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Students will rotate through the Enrich Class each day, where they will participate in a curriculum written specifically for KDS.
Each semester, the program will culminate in production of an Enrich Box or a series of community service and volunteer opportunities centered on giving back to the community while practicing job skills.
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Unfortunately, at this time, we are limited to serving only current KDS students. We hope to expand into the community in the future.
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Yes! There is no additional tuition owed to participate. Please note, non-participation does not result in a decreased tuition rate.
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Sustainability needs three things, and we believe we have those with the Enrich Program!
1. Student buy-in. Our students love hands-on activities with tangible results. The Enrich Program provides that. Our students want to feel good about a job well done, and to know that someone has relied on them because they provided a valuable skill. The creation of the Enrich Program crate boxes provides that. Finally, our students love a creative teacher who is willing to make learning fun, but also push them to do their best. The Enrich Program classroom coordinators are just the right people to do that! As a result, we think our students will enjoy not only the classroom activities, but also the sense of purpose and the very real fruits of their labor!
2. Community buy-in. KDS has carefully selected community partners known for community pride and quality products, which are truly unique to Maury County. Enrich Program Boxes will have different themes, full of these high-quality, locally procured goodies, available only in limited quantities. We have met with partners individually, and they are excited about partnering to create jobs for students with disabilities whether that’s through production or community service and volunteering! We think that the combination of brand recognition, pride in buying local, fairly short-term and limited-scope commitment, and restricted quantities—wrapped up in a phenomenal mission of creating jobs for students with special needs—makes this a program that Maury County will love for years to come!
3. Staff buy-in. Staff at KDS want to change the lives of students. However, every day brings with it new opportunities and challenges! Staff members are clamoring for a program that can “keep running” even if some students are engaging in behavioral challenges, become overwhelmed by social or sensory input, have medical needs, or if a fellow staff member has to be gone. Too often, KDS staff have seen the best of intentions fail to produce results because one of these things happened, and everything fell apart! The Enrich Program is an “all-in” initiative, where all staff members are committed to its success, and that will take place on campus, so that the impact of challenges is limited.
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The Enrich Program community partners were hand-selected from Maury County and local vendors/businesses as those who are interested in being part of the mission of KDS, have an excellent reputation, have the ability to deliver larger quantities of their merchandise, and can contribute to the “theme” of the holiday gift box.
Our goal is to invite new or different partners each semester. Some may remain the same, and others may opt to forego a semester or two, depending upon their inventory and the theme of each season’s box. The possibilities are open and are incredibly exciting!
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The easiest way to support Enrich is to order a box! Our students proudly showcase their contribution to the box with their own custom trading card inside the box.
If you are interested in becoming a community partner for a future box, please reach out!
Donations toward the Enrich Program can also be made through our Support Us page via a one-time gift.
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Right here on our website! Check out our online shop* that will feature the seasonal box for purchase. We have a limited quantity available each semester, so buy early!
*Shop is active only during periods where a box is for sale. Keep checking back!