1050 Old Trenton Road Trenton, NJ 08690		Phone: 609-570-1167 Fax: 609-584-0915 Email: www@mcsssd.org

Project Adults

Coordinator: Carol Lerner

Project ADULTS provides a continuum of services for young adults aimed at bridging the gap between school and adult life. Funded by the Mercer County Department of Human Services, Project ADULTS works with students approaching graduation from Mercer Junior-Senior High School and students with disabilities referred from other Mercer County public high schools.Project ADULTS staff helps prepare a comprehensive transition service plan.

After graduation, Project ADULTS provides direct services such as counselling, information, referral services, job coaching, employment development and general service coordination to young adults and their families.

In the 1998-99 year, Project ADULTS served over 170 young adults who were graduates of the 1993 through 1998 classes as well as developed service plans for over 40 students who graduated in June 1999. In addition to direct service to young adults and their families, Project ADULTS provides leadership to a countywide organization, the Mercer Area Partnership (MAP), whose mission is improving the transition from school to adult life for young adults with disabilities. The MAP, which draws its membership from the staff of all high schools in Mercer County, representatives of community agencies, family members and consumers, has organized training sessions for high school special education staff around issues of self-determination, and developed educational materials for the business community. Project ADULTS has written a handbook and service directory on transition issues, and also publishes the newsletter, Transition Talk.

During the 1998-99 school year, Project ADULTS launched a new shared program providing employment-related services to Mercer County school districts on a fee-for-service basis. Project ADULTS provided vocational assessment, job development, job sampling and job coaching services to high school students from two school districts. In addition, Project ADULTS provided transition planning and goal-setting services to students from five school districts.