LIHU‘E — The Gallery is billed as a place for all ages and abilities. A collaborative effort spearheaded by Dr. Angela Correale, the concept is to develop financial independence opportunities for Kaua‘i’s adults and transition-age youth with special needs through
LIHU‘E — The Gallery is billed as a place for all ages and abilities.
A collaborative effort spearheaded by Dr. Angela Correale, the concept is to develop financial independence opportunities for Kaua‘i’s adults and transition-age youth with special needs through focused training and competitive employment in The Gallery.
This is done using a business model targeting a wide range of creative talents including arts, crafts, music and video.
Correale said there is a committee made up of representatives from the different participating agencies, and the public is invited to provide its input during a preview day scheduled for July 9 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the War Memorial Convention Hall.
Correale’s Gallery group was part of more than a dozen exhibitors dealing with mental health, Saturday, at the Mental Health Fair hosted by Friendship House.
“This is about employment,” Correale said. “There are other states where this kind of program works. We’d like to see something like this on Kaua‘i so we’re hoping we can get people to come and give us their thoughts on how to make this work.”
Friendship House, hosting the Mental Health Fair for the second straight year, has a transitional employment program which has proved successful with some employers on the island including the Big Save stores, the Kaua‘i Marriott Resort and Beach Club, Olympic Cafe, and the Kaua‘i Kookie Kompany.
This program is designed to bridge the gap between the pre-vocational work units of the Friendship House clubhouse and competitive employment.
In this program, a Friendship House staff member learns the job and determines its suitability for a club member at no cost to the employer. The staff member trains a club member on the job, adding to the productivity until the member can successfully handle the job alone.
Friendship House also offers a guarantee that if a member cannot work the job for any reason, a staff member or another suitably trained clubhouse member will work the job to ensure that daily productivity is met.
Similarly, The Gallery plans to provide a full range of training and employment opportunities with its clients working at The Gallery in fields such as sales, marketing, inventory, teaching, management, and maintenance.
The Gallery will be owned and operated by its participants with the goal of independent, long-term sustainability and will focus on sales of art and crafts by owners with consignment with local artists and specialty products with partner organizations.
Correale said the goals of The Gallery is to create a community which defeats the isolation and stigma of disability, create an environment where acceptance is a core value by using one’s abilities and combining with others for greater strength.
For more information, people can call Correale at 645-7066. For more information on Friendship House, a state of Hawai‘i Department of Health Program Operation through the Kaua‘i Community Mental Health Center, call 821-4480.
