RAISE Continues to Rise
by Susan Shalhoub
RAISE stands for Recognizing Abilities and Inclusion of Special Employees. It’s a Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando program that coordinates real-world job opportunities for adults with special needs, and the initiative has come a long way since its 2014 launch. More importantly, RAISE’s participants – who also benefit from the organization’s social-skills training – have come a long way, as well.
The organization earned a GuideStar Platinum Transparency badge last year and was named a 2021 Top-Rated Nonprofit by the group Great Nonprofits, but RAISE’s real success is in the form of smiles, pride, and optimism seen in the RAISE participants and their families.
Loren London, RAISE founder and director, says these immeasurable metrics caused the organization to recently make an important change.
“We slightly changed our mission statement, adding the word ‘confidence,’” Loren says. “It’s something so important that it’s now a part of our standard of delivery. Every family says that we have built confidence in their loved ones in ways they couldn’t believe.”
Strides in Self-Esteem
Rachel Slavkin, RAISE’s director of employment and education, says that confidence is expressed by participants on the job, but it’s often built during the organization’s social-skills training. The skills RAISE teaches may seem small to some of us, but they are critically important for participants and their families.
Rachel tells of a father who would bring his 30-year-old son to RAISE and hold his hand while they walked through the parking lot. A staff member observed this and asked the father if he might be comfortable not holding his son’s hand. He had never considered it. Rachel says that letting his son walk independently delivered a confidence boost to both of them.
“Sometimes families don’t realize how capable their adult children with disabilities are,” she says. “His son had challenges and he still saw him as a little kid.”
Twenty-one-year-old Leslie Anne Fisher of Apopka was nervous about speaking to others when she came to RAISE. But after RAISE helped her join a local Toastmasters club, she spoke publicly at RAISE’s holiday party and left everyone in tears.
“She now speaks to everyone, encouraging them to push themselves out of their comfort zones,” says Rachel.
Leslie Anne now has her own Etsy site where she sells her artwork, and she works as a teacher’s assistant.
Orlando resident Regina Marchionda loves children, so RAISE helped her get a job at the Orlando Day Nursery and connected her with The Roth Family JCC’s Early Childhood Learning Center.
“She loved the JCC and has come back year after year to volunteer to help anytime there are kids who need supervision,” Loren says. “She had confidence, but not a lot of happiness. There has been a blossoming. This gave her purpose. Her parents are so grateful. She feels so comfortable at the J. Everyone there knows her.”
Jason Pollaci, 39, had social anxiety, what Loren and Rachel call a hidden disability. He went through the RAISE program and landed a job at Universal Orlando.
“You could watch him become a new person who was both self-advocating and participating,” says Loren.
“In addition, he has made some friends that will continue with him beyond his time at RAISE,” says Jason’s brother, Scott. “I have never seen a more caring organization of volunteers.”
Since its inception, RAISE has served more than 70 participants, about an equal balance of men and women mainly in their 20s. But the impact of RAISE far exceeds the individuals. It touches families, job coaches, collaborators, staff members, and more – bringing the number of people impacted by RAISE into the thousands.
None of it gets done without RAISE’s eight partner agencies, the job coaches, and community donors. RAISE’s entire budget comes from community contributions.
And, Loren says, special thanks are due to the amazing staff who rose to the occasion to deliver services in alternate ways during the pandemic.
“We need every single one of them,” Loren says, “to do the important work we do.”