Позитивные изменения. Том 2, № 2 (2022). Positive changes. Volume 2, Issue 2 (2022)

The Special Assembly Project provides a full range of hand-packing services for small and medium-sized businesses and assembling corporate gifts. The social enterprise employs more than 100 employees with special needs. They perform commercial orders and get paid regularly. The most successful participants are employed in various enterprises of the city, if they wish.

PROBLEM ADDRESSED

There are more than 3,000 people with mental disabilities in Moscow that would like to get a job but remain unemployed. The "Special Assembly" social enterprise was created specifically for the employment of people with intellectual disabilities. Most of them are very responsible people who want to do good for the society. They are ready to perform simple labor tasks following a given pattern for a long time.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND AWARDS

Repeated winner of the Presidential Grants Fund, the Absolute-Help Foundation, the SAP UP Grand Prix, winner of the Russian Public Chamber’s competition "My Project for My Country".

FUNDS RAISED IN 2021

RUB 13.5 million

WHAT WAS DONE LAST YEAR

The social enterprise has reached the break-even point; the School of Employment, which trains and employs people with mental disabilities and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in the open labor market, was established; an original "inclusive employment" technology has been developed and implemented. The School of Employment operates all year round, training people with special needs on the basics of various professions (picker, courier, baker’s assistant, call center operator, cloakroom attendant). The school is open to the most successful employees of the "Special Assembly" social enterprise who have mastered the necessary work competencies and are socialized in the work team to the greatest extent.

DIRECT RESULTS FOR THE YEAR

30 people have been employed in the open labor market; 123 people worked at the "Special Assembly" social enterprise.

SOCIAL EFFECTS ACHIEVED OVER THE YEAR

All the project beneficiaries improved their financial situation. 87 % of parents had extra free time to spend on leisure and work. 75 % of project participants have developed strong social ties, and 95 % feel more successful. The result is an improved quality of life for all project beneficiaries.

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACT

The company provides services including manual packaging, labeling, assembly, picking, quality control of commercial products for small and medium-sized businesses. The services are provided by people with disabilities, and in doing so they acquire work skills that allow them to find employment in the open labor market.

The New Friendly Town

An Innovative Program for Children with Special Needs and Abilities

https://clck.ru/pWr37

The Friendly Town is an inclusive camp project that socializes children and young adults with disabilities. Here children learn things beyond the school curriculum, things they cannot always learn at home, such as accepting themselves and others as bright individuals, being ready for challenges and changes in life, being able to listen and negotiate, accepting failures positively and striving for development. The project also features the Inclusive Gathering — an experience-sharing and training event for representatives of NGOs and educational institutions of the Perm Territory. The event brings together those eager to contribute to the development of an inclusive environment for children and youth.

PROBLEM ADDRESSED

Socialization of children with disabilities and the formation of an inclusive space for children and youth.

METHODS USED TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEM

The New Friendly Town program is implemented in an overnight camp format for unaccompanied children. Inclusive volunteers work to develop the communication between children with different abilities within integrated units, rather than helping program participants with developmental disabilities.

Children with disabilities help their non-disabled peers fundamentally change the way they view themselves and the world around them. One week in the Friendly Town «recuperates» ordinary teenagers, changing their values — they no longer treat special friends with pity and sympathy, but see them as competitors, someone to learn from and compete against.

The program develops approaches for systematic immersion into basic applied and educational modules for additional education specialists, volunteers, NGO representatives. Technologies like this can become the foundation for the successful development of inclusion in Russian schools.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND AWARDS