N.J. establishes transition center for young disabled adults

From The Gloucester County Times in NJ:

After high school, students with disabilities in Gloucester County have been left to carve out a path on their own. But the county freeholders are trying to change that with the Gloucester County Adult Transition Center, a new college-like program that officially opened on April 2.

Dozens of students from the Bankbridge High School stood outside the Gloucester County Office of Educational and Disability Services on April 2 as the freeholders held a ceremonial ribbon cutting for the new program. The building is located behind the Gloucester County Institute of Technology on Tanyard Road in Deptford Township.

Freeholder Director Stephen Sweeney, whose own daughter, Lauren, was born with Down Syndrome, said the program will be able to help students at the most critical time of their adulthood.

Sweeney recalled a conversation with his daughter when she said to him "Dad, I want to go to college" one day. But he noted that once students with disabilities leave high school, their entitlement to continued education and related services ends there.

The Adult Center for Transition, or ACT, will bridge that gap.

"This is the most critical time to help our young people be productive citizens," Sweeney said, calling the program an "unofficial college for the disabled."

The program aims to provide post secondary education, skill training and life skills to up to 200 young disabled adults ages 16 to 24 every year. The program will help the students develop personal and career goals, provide educational, vocational and job training programs, as well as mentoring programs, support groups and legal guidance.

It's something that Ashlee Farr, 20, of Williamstown has been needing since she graduated from Bankbridge two years ago. Farr, who addressed the crowd at Thursday's event, said she aspires to become a teacher at Bankbridge and earn a college education at Gloucester County College. The ACT program will help her and students like her achieve that goal, she said.

Fred Keating, who serves as the head of the department of educational and disability services for the county, applauded the freeholders' support for such a program.

"There was a vacuum in society for young persons with special needs," Keating said. "The concept of adult transition ... I think was greatly needed."