Mobile cafe helps JCPS students gain work experience

For every cup of coffee sold, Jefferson County Public School students learn the value of hard work.

In February, teachers at Churchill Park School opened a mobile cafe called Churchill Perk. Every Friday, students sell coffee at Marion C. Moore School to help high school and post-secondary students with moderate to severe disabilities learn life skills and gain work experience.

“Many of our children with moderate and severe disabilities, if they want to enter the labor market, they will have someone with them to help them do a job. The needs of our children are so high and complex that often they are not given the opportunity to have a job, and sometimes also parents simply prefer that their children go to a day program where it is more structured, and they don’t necessarily work,” said Kaitlin Mason, Churchill Park School.

This program will prepare them for life beyond the classroom.

All money raised goes to support the program and provide incentives for students to experience what it’s like to work and earn on their own.

“When they graduate, they can leave our school with job skills to pursue in the future, whatever they can pursue, whether it’s supported employment or even volunteering,” said Gina Bedford, Churchill Park School.

“They might also engage with typical peers, which they don’t get the opportunity to do at our school because we’re all students with moderate and severe disabilities at our school,” Mason said. “Our kids are capable of doing jobs. They have strength. They just need those supports in place to be successful, and we can show them how it can be done.”