ORANGE COUNTY CHILDREN’S THERAPEUTIC ARTS CENTER 13

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b) Referrals from Community Partners — As stated previously. OCCTAC has established strong partnerships with key agencies in Santa Ana, such as the County of Orange, Regional Center, Santa Ana College c) New OCCTAC families - Every year OCCTAC serves new families that learned about our services from other OCCTAC parents. Last year we served close to 1,000 students. Five hundred of these students were served in the Santa Ana Unified School District sites through our Learning Academy Program, and approximately 500 students were served at our Main facility.! Arts Center on Broadway. Every year we enroll new families through "word of mouth"! 2. Intake/Assessment: The OCCTAC Case manager will work closely with the SAUSD Transition Partnership team to identify and determine the individual educational (IEP) and career - goals of participants referred to our program. Also, when appropriate, the WIA participants will be assessed and/or surveyed in the following areas: a) Basic Skills/Academic levels, b) Employability/Job skills, and c) Career- Training Skills. Assessments and surveys will takes place prior to the educational training and work experience at OCCTAC. The first assessment to be conducted is the TABE assessment. If the assessment reveals basic skills deficiency, then the student is provided with two other short literacy tests to measure his/her literacy levels. These tests are the STAR Reading and HOST Learner link assessments that are also used in the After -School Learning Academy program. These assessment tools will be conducted as pre and post tests to measure growth across time. The literacy assessment will help also determine the placement for those participants interested in being "mentors/tutors", and help guide each WIA participant in their educational/academic goals. 3. Case Management: OCCTAC's philosophy of the program is based on an interdisciplinary/holistic model that calls for a high interaction between the key staff of the program and WIA participants. Each student of the program will be linked with an adult staff mentor (Arts/Technology Instructor), a case manager, a carrier counselor and a Literacy instructor. The Case manager will meet bi-monthly with each WIA participant to monitor their progress, assist with job skills training (e.g., resume writing, etc.), and help youth with job development. 4. Program Services/ Parent and Employer Involvement: OCCTAC provides a great variety of programs that empower both youth and adults! Our nurturing, community -based center provides a wide range of classes and family involvement activities, such as parenting classes, support groups, family counseling, financial literacy and others. Our interdisciplinary and holistic model provides WIA participants with a wonderful opportunity to involve their parents, siblings and friends. Our Center believes in community involvement, education and leadership. Therefore all of the programs that we serve incorporate youth, and parent involvement and participation. Furthermore, OCCTAC provides support, advocacy and education to our community families through invited guests that provide in -kind services to our Center in the spirit of community leadership! 5. Placement in Jobs or Continuing Education: Youth who successfully complete their training program are recommended and hired as tutors or teacher assistants to work in our Learning Academy program that serves over 500 children in the Santa Ana Unified School District. In addition, OCCTAC will provide youth job preparation workshops, participation in job fairs, resume preparation, referrals and job coaching. 10