Southwest Community Services, Inc. provides vocational services to individuals with developmental and mental disabilities. CE offers vocational rehabilitation and clinical services to those individuals with Mental Illness. Our RTC is a prototype retail establishment specializing in gift baskets. The Center provides a fundraising component to the agency, and most important, it provides a vocational retail-training program to those consumers wishing the opportunity for such “on-the-job” training. Non-taxable goods comply with our not-for-profit, tax-exempt status. Proceeds are generated into our fundraising account.
Consumer referrals for our retail-training program are received through in-house agency programs and the Department of Human Services/Dept. of Rehabilitation Services (DHS/DRS), which provides payment for this specialized training. The DHS/DRS consumers referred to our Community Employment Services (CES) Department for this training is not limited to those individuals with Developmental Disabilities and/or Mental Illness. Our CES program accepts individuals with all types of disability.
By providing this retail training experience in our Homewood facility along with an encouraging, nurturing environment, individuals with disabilities can learn retail skills that can be assimilated in the regular work community, both locally and citywide. Our retail-training program focuses on the following:
Customer Service Skills
Cash Register Operations
Marketing Techniques
Selling and Promotion Techniques
Telephone Skills
Stock and Inventory Control Procedures
Specialty Gift Basket Assembly
As our consumers progress, their level of self-esteem, self-efficacy, and independence grow towards the successful completion of this training program. Their eventual long-term goal is for community employment. Our Community Employment Services Department provides job placement assistance to these individuals, assisting them with securing community retail positions in the Chicago Southland area.
