Citrus Heights nonprofit says ‘YES’ to helping youths with disabilities soar in job search

Jennifer Camota-Luebke said she has a 24-year-old son with an intellectual disability. He attends Georgia Tech, one of what Luebke said is about 100 universities in the U.S. that have four-year programs oriented toward finding students with disabilities full-time employment after college.

Camota-Luebke is the chief workforce inclusion officer for PRIDE Industries, a nonprofit organization in Citrus Heights that provides people with developmental disabilities with access to training and jobs.

The organization launched its Youth Employment Services program on Jan. 12, which aims to assist people ages 16 to 24 who have disabilities or who have spent time in poverty or the child welfare, juvenile justice or criminal legal systems in finding full- or part-time employment, according to a news release from the organization.

There’s an estimated 2,000 such youths in Sacramento and Placer counties, the release said.

The organization gives disabled or disadvantaged community members independence and “the dignity of a paycheck,” according to the organization’s chief executive officer, Jeff Dern.

The YES program will connect young adults with peer specialists who have lived experiences in common with the youth they serve, according to Luebke.

“The reason that we (are serving) 16 to 24 is because that is a critical age where someone is thinking, ‘What am I going to do with the rest of my life?’” Luebke said. “If you are someone from a disadvantaged population, there may not be adult role models in your life to help make that choice. Or, if you’re a parent of a person with a disability, you might not know about all the services that are out there. You might not know where to go.”

Dern said unions also help PRIDE, founded in Placer County in 1966, achieve its mission.

“The job opportunities that we provide often are entry level and can lead to higher skilled positions, such as many union jobs offer,” Dern said. “When you think about entry level and gaining skill sets…we offer the support, the training (and) those wraparound services like to help somebody break into employment so they can get a good healthy start in a supportive culture.”