This is the kind of news story I like to read: Program helps the jobless and people with autism.
This came out of some sadness: Connecticut’s last rose farm had to shut down do to competition from overseas. But, now they are reopening:
The renewed effort at the rose farm is the initial project of a new program called Growing Possibilities. The plan is to create a model that will show just how valuable those with developmental disabilities can be in the workforce.
The plan seems ambitious on multiple levels. Here’s another quote from the story:
“It’s kind of a marriage of people that want to work with an industry that has been facing challenges here,” said Thomas Fanning, president and chief executive of Ability Beyond Disability, a Bethel-based non-profit support agency Ability Beyond Disability is providing the funds to reopen the farm, and plans to raise $1.6 million to run it over the next two years, employing 15 people on the autism spectrum. The goal is to achieve profitability after two years and sustain it, Fanning said.
The organizations involved, the Connecticut Autism Spectrum Resource Center and Ability Beyond Disability appear pretty reasonable on a quick scan through their websites.
I really like to see more programs like this: programs involving adolescents and adults. We need more (much more) of this in our world.
Left Brain Right Brain 
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