Achieve, Inc.

Achieve: Empowering Neurodivergent Individuals

Achieve serves individuals with neurodivergencies, including those on the autism spectrum and individuals with mental health challenges. These participants often face significant barriers to employment and social inclusion due to challenges such as deficits in social skills, executive function disorders, and the stigma associated with neurodiversity. Many are excluded from activities that build critical social and executive function skills—such as team sports, extracurricular activities, and social events—leading to a lack of confidence that can persist into adulthood. This, combined with difficulties navigating traditional employment settings, often results in unemployment or underemployment, and in some cases, spiraling into depression and diminished self-worth. Learn more about why we do what we do!

Addressing Barriers and Unique Needs

Achieve’s programming is specifically designed to meet the unique needs of neurodivergent individuals by addressing the challenges they face in traditional employment and social settings. Our participants often lack basic social skills, struggle to form and maintain friendships, and experience difficulties with executive function tasks such as problem-solving, punctuality, and handling money. Many also face anxiety in customer interactions, team environments, and fast-paced work settings.

To overcome these barriers, Achieve implements tailored solutions developed with input from mentors, parents, therapists, and our board—which includes neurodivergent individuals. Our approach includes:

1. Customized Training and Accommodations
   • Specific instruction in social and executive function skills.
   • Tools like color-coded point-of-sale systems, visual recipes with pictures and printed words, and patient, step-by-step guidance in a supportive environment.
2. Inclusive Learning Environment
   • A culture of acceptance and understanding of neurodiversity.
   • Mentors and peers trained to be empathetic and supportive, ensuring participants feel valued and understood.
3. Individualized Support
   • Collaboration with parents, care providers, and teachers to tailor programming to each participant's needs.
   • Mock interviews to identify areas of focus, and participant input on helpful accommodations.
4. Transportation Assistance
   • Coordination with Mountain Valley Transit for cross-county access.
   • Paid and volunteer drivers and carpools to ensure participants can attend, regardless of location or financial barriers.

Through these targeted strategies, Achieve helps neurodivergent individuals build confidence, develop essential skills, and pursue meaningful opportunities in both employment and life.

Job Skills Program Goals

Achieve’s Job Skills Program has three primary goals:

1. Supporting Neurodivergent Community Members: Achieve provides valuable work experience and job training to individuals with neurodivergencies and mental health challenges, challenges to help them secure and keep long-term jobs. Our goal is to increase their independence, involvement in the community, and reduce their need for government support.

2. Fostering Community Workforce Development: Achieve focuses on training a group often overlooked, helping them gain important job skills and contribute to the local workforce. 

3. Raising Awareness of Neurodiversity: Through their work at a social enterprise and directly serving the public, Achieve breaks down stereotypes and promotes understanding of neurodiversity by showcasing their engagement with the wider community.

2024 Outcomes

• Skill Development: All program participants demonstrated improvement in at least one key skill area, including money-handling, communication, problem-solving, self-advocacy, and social skills, as observed by mentors or reported by participants and caregivers.
• Job Skills: 86% of program participants reported improvement in at least three out of six specific job-related skills.
• Personal Growth: 100% of participants or their caregivers reported an enhanced sense of belonging, and 92% reported improved confidence.

Example of Impact: One participant, a high school graduate with extreme anxiety, joined the program after struggling to find a supportive environment to develop workplace skills. Over the course of the program, he gained confidence, improved his social and job-related skills, and applied for his first job. By the end of the summer, he was hired as a customer service representative at an auto parts store. This success story highlights the transformative impact of Achieve’s programming on participants' lives and futures.

See Us in Action

Our summer food program was featured on the PBS show Daytripper.  Check out the episode!