After 18 months in planning and development, program organizers have announced the launch of the new Ready to Work Academy (RTW) at College of the Canyons.

The academy aims to change the face of postsecondary education for young adults with special needs in the Santa Clarita Valley, offering certificate-based courses in a variety of subjects, such as “Workplace Skills in Customer Service for Retail, Food Service and Hospitality,” officials said.

This pilot class, along with two more in the fall, was funded through a grant from Supervisor Kathryn Barger, according to officials.

The seven enrolled students, their parents, College of the Canyons, Carousel Ranch staff and representatives from Starbucks were in attendance for the orientation/kick-off event launching the new RTW Academy.

Seven graduates from Carousel Ranch’s Ready to Work program are set to take part in the initial pilot course, encompassing both classroom training at COC along with practicum/work experience (teaching customer service, food service and retail) at Starbucks as well as a local hotel to teach the hospitality portion of the program.

Starbucks Regional Director and Carousel Ranch Board Member Alfredo Mendoza and District Manager Jenny Lane attended the launch of the pilot program, welcoming students and sharing their own passions that led them to become involved.

“I’m a dad first,” Mendoza said. “About seven years ago, my wife and I noticed that our son wasn’t speaking, and we then learned he was on the spectrum. He had autism.”

Mendoza said a boss of his once told him that his job as a parent was to get his son the resources that he needs in order to have the best possible life, a goal that Mendoza felt that Carousel Ranch understood perfectly.

As both Mendoza and Lane have helped raise and care for family members on the spectrum, they feel that the core mission at Starbucks reflects the values that they themselves hold dear.

“At Starbucks, we are so committed to the community, and we are so committed being an opportunity for others,” Mendoza said. “This seems like such a natural transition for us, so we are so excited to welcome you to our stores.”

At age 22, young adults with special needs “age out” of the educational system. This can be a disorienting and disempowering event that alters their routine, isolates them from friends and mentors and leaves them without a daily purpose, according to officials.

Finding and securing employment can be difficult, a situation that the new Ready to Work Academy at College of the Canyons hopes to change.

College of the Canyons officials are very excited to be involved in the pilot program and to collaborate with Starbucks, according to John Milburn, executive director of the Employee Training Institute (ETI) at COC.

“It covers retail, food service and hospitality,” Milburn said. “We’re trying to cover all three of those ares so that these people can get a job in any one of those, do what they want to do and learn where their strengths are.”

In order to build upon the success of Carousel Ranch’s RTW program, College of the Canyons plans to develop these partnerships to offer short-term training suited for students with special needs, providing vocational training in specific job categories with the goal of job placement for candidates who enroll in the program, according to organization officials.

“It’s exposure, confidence building, what is a workplace going to expect, and what does customer service really mean,” Milburn said. “Because customer service can mean a lot of things… and Starbucks is the redefiner of customer service.”

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