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Orange County Children's Therapeutic Arts Center
<br />Proposal Narrative for YSPN Membership—WIA Grant 2011-2013
<br />I. PROPOSAL NARRATIVE
<br />A. Executive Summary
<br />1. & 2. Which WIA population will the program recruit and serve? How many participants?
<br />The Orange County Children's Therapeutic Arts Center (OCCTAC) Arts & Learning Academy program will
<br />recruit and serve 25 out-of-school youth (ages 17-21) with and without disabilities of limited resources from the
<br />City of Santa Ana. OCCTAC will provide participants educational skills and job training, paid work experience,
<br />mentoring, tutoring, career counseling, leadership opportunities, and support services. 10% of the youth
<br />enrollments will be in the following categories: youth with disabilities or on probation or foster youth or
<br />emancipated youth.
<br />3. Describe how this program fits in with programs currently being offered by your agency. OCCTAC is
<br />recognized as one of Santa Ana's leading community builders for children, youth and families. The center is also
<br />recognized for successfully integrating youth with and without disabilities in a nurturing and supportive
<br />environment that teaches respect, disability awareness, and cultural diversity with an emphasis in the arts and
<br />academics in the City of Santa Ana. Currently, OCCTAC offers a wide variety of educational and therapeutic
<br />programs for youth with special needs, including: leaming disabilities, health impairments, developmental and
<br />emotional disabilities. The WIA program is an extension of our current services provided to a population that we
<br />have been serving for over 10 years! Our programs include: Early Intervention programs, After-school Arts,
<br />Tutoring, Homework Support, Parenting, Counseling, Support groups, Technology training, and others.
<br />More recently, we started 2 state certificate programs at OCCTAC in partnership with the Santa Ana College and
<br />Pacific Clinics. These certificate programs are: 1) Mental Health Paraprofessional Certificate Program in
<br />partnership with Pacific Clinics, and 2) an Administrative Assistant Certificate Program in partnership with the
<br />Santa Ana College. These 2 certificate programs are excellent opportunities for our WIA youth to train and earn a
<br />state certificate of their choice! Also, these programs will help youth attain an important performance goal, and
<br />comply with our YSPN member responsibilities to ensure that the YSPN's performance measures are met.
<br />4. Indicate which of the 10 WIA elements the program will offer. The OCCTAC program offers 9 of the 10
<br />WIA elements, with the exception of alternative secondary school services to participants. The program has a
<br />strong emphasis on educational skills and job training, mentoring, tutoring, leadership development, support
<br />services, counseling and paid work experience in the fields of education, arts, technology, office/clerical work,
<br />and mental health paraprofessional training.
<br />5. Indicate planned outcomes and how they will meet the WIA Performance Goals. The OCCTAC Arts and
<br />Learning Academy program will offer out-of-school youth, with and without disabilities the opportunity to
<br />acquire the necessary skills to successfully transition into the workforce, and further their education and training.
<br />The goals of the program are to build participants' self-esteem and confidence, academic improvement, leadership
<br />skills, workforce preparation and experience through structured educational and job training opportunities in the
<br />fields of arts, education, technology, office/clerical work, and mental health paraprofessional training.
<br />OCCTAC is committed to helping youth reach the WIA performance goals by providing youth with the support,
<br />guidance, training and work experience to find employment opportunities or enroll in higher higher education;
<br />attain a certificate, and increase their basic skills, particularly, literacy and numeracy gains. The following
<br />examples are ways in which our dedicated WIA staff will help support this process:
<br />a) Placements in Employment or Education – Our WIA case manager and career counselor will work together
<br />with our out-of-school youth to help place students in jobs, as well as enroll them in post -secondary education.
<br />b) Attainment of a Degree or Certificate – OCCTAC provides opportunities at our agency for WIA participants
<br />to engage in state certificate programs, such as the Administrative Assistant program in partnership with the Santa
<br />Exhibit A
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