By Maggie Macintosh | Winnipeg Free Press
Oly Backstrom’s new bling has renewed his belief in the power of Project Search — a school-to-workplace transition program for youth with developmental disabilities, which the Winnipeg-based rights activist brought to Canada.
Earlier in the school year, Backstrom was awarded the Order of Canada in recognition of his devotion to better preparing students for life after graduation and combating ableism in the process.
He described the medal as “an affirmation of a gold standard,” and one that he hopes will bring more attention to local campuses facilitating inclusive internships for youth aging out of the kindergarten-to-Grade 12 system.
“The transition is at risk of being more of a trip-wire than a launch pad (without Project Search),” said the president of SCE LifeWorks, a non-profit organization devoted to helping Manitobans with cognitive disabilities become job-ready.
Project Search was born almost 30 years ago at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Erin Riehle, then-emergency department director at the teaching hospital, was brainstorming ways to increase workforce diversity and decided on holistic training for candidates with developmental disabilities to fill entry-level positions in her unit.
The Ohio hospital partnered with a nearby career and technical education district in 1996 to create a now-internationally renowned model.
Upon learning of the collaboration in 2008, Backstrom set out to replicate it; SCE LifeWorks has since joined forces to launch annual, 10-month programs with Manitoba Hydro, the Government of Manitoba and the Health Sciences Centre.
Ontario and Prince Edward Island have joined the program, owing to its success in Manitoba, for a total of 22 Canadian sites.
The Free Press was invited to a job site in downtown Winnipeg to see the initiative, now in its 14th year, in action during Manitoba Inclusive Education Month.
Nathan Allan, 19, clocked into a warehouse shift at Hydro headquarters — where he’s completing his second work placement of 2024-2025 — on Wednesday.
The teenager, who previously attended Shaftesbury High School, began inserting envelopes into a postage-metering machine to prepare outgoing mail for the Crown corporation until the device jammed around 10:30 a.m.
With seamless skill and speed, he solved the issue within seconds to resume his daily tasks, including dropping packages at cubicles inside the 22-storey building at 360 Portage Ave.
“It’s important to know the end game as you’re supporting students,” said Ashley Campbell, a teacher who recently left a traditional public school setting to join Project Search.
“All inclusive-education teachers in the province should be aware that this is where they can end up and these are the amazing things they can do. I think we lose sight of that in the school system sometimes.”
Allan is one of about two dozen final-year students participating in the school-to-workplace transition program this year in Manitoba.
The program is paid for with per-pupil funding that public school divisions receive from the provincial government and redirect to SCE LifeWorks.
Current and past participants include St. James-Assiniboia, Winnipeg, Sunrise, River East Transcona, Seven Oaks, Seine River, Pembina Trails and the francophone school divisions.
“If Project Search didn’t exist, we wouldn’t know how to get a job or how to make a resumé or practise interview questions,” said Elizabeth Dela Cruz, a 20-year-old from West Kildonan Collegiate who is currently doing archival work at Hydro.
Dela Cruz said she’s gained independence thanks to the program that equips students with in-class lessons on professional skills and matches them with internship placements.
Hydro — which has hired multiple graduates of Project Search after their respective stints — was the first workplace to welcome student participants in Canada. Roughly eight per cent of the utility’s workforce self-identifies as a person with a disability.
Diversity and inclusion adviser Jonathan Niemczak said his employer has long been keen to provide facilities, equipment and mentorship to support the initiative and fulfil its goal of being a “good community steward.”
“Not everyone has necessarily had experience working with someone who’s had a cognitive or intellectual disability, so it does provide (employees) an opportunity to interact with persons with disabilities and build that skill set — in terms of having to modify the way they communicate, the way they provide direction,” he said.
Hydro is also reaping the rewards of having new, young and energetic team members who bring their diverse perspectives to units, Niemczak said.
He noted that interns have pinpointed more effective ways to carry out tasks and made significant progress on projects that have been on the back-burner, such as digitizing corporate property records.
Employers often strive to foster an inclusive environment where people with disabilities can contribute, but there are few examples of how to do just that, said Backstrom, who matched SCE LifeWorks with Hydro to launch Project Search locally in 2011.
“If (employers) are only seeing people doing menial cleaning or shredding or recycling, if that’s all they see, that’s their only point of reference,” he said.
Backstrom said the program both exposes participants to job experiences they wouldn’t have found otherwise and allows them to show off their unique gifts.
Project Search has partnered with Feast Bistro, Super Lube, Liquor Marts, Holiday Inn and Manitoba’s Materials Distribution Agency, among other sites. The majority of the Class of 2024 is employed and many of its members found work immediately after graduation.
As an intern for Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries, Yhadz Puyat was tasked with restocking, checking personal identification and “providing excellent customer service.”
“I did everything and I was having so much fun,” recalled Puyat, a 20-year-old from St. John’s High School.
The better part of September always involves getting to know cohorts, member strengths and career exploration so teachers can help students find three internships that interest them.
“Skills trainers” provide hands-on, on-site support to get students up to speed with their duties at rotating placements.
While the majority of the school week is spent in an internship setting, every day is bookended with cohort meetings to cover employment-oriented curriculum and promote reflection.
Hydro and HSC Winnipeg have designated Project Search classrooms for convenience.
Visitors to the lab inside Manitoba Hydro Place are immediately greeted with a poster of workplace affirmations that Campbell recites with her students to build their confidence.
“I am always on time,” states one line.
Others include: “I know how to manage stress,” “I’m motivated,” “I’m good at giving advice,” I support my coworkers” and “I’m well spoken.”
