including those with disabilities . The effort to end subminimum wages has successfully made its way through the California legislature , and now awaits signature by the governor .
Options For All exists to serve I / DD individuals and advocate for them becoming full participating members of their communities . Competitive integrated employment with fair wages is a key component to having the same rights as all others in the community .
Randy Smith , a participant at Options For All , has experienced the transition to competitive integrated employment when he joined the Supported Employment program in 2019 . Randy was previously employed at a group employment site for a device manufacturer where he was compensated based off of his productivity and made as little as $ 3.20 an hour . When asking Randy ’ s Case Manager about his transition , she stated : “ Randy
Randy and his Case Manager started at Options For All around the time I did and is doing well at his employment site . It is mindblowing knowing he was getting paid only $ 3.20 and living in San Diego . Now he makes a little over the minimum wage and he loves his job !”
Options For All ’ s Supported Employment service works with more than 200 local businesses to identify jobs or volunteer opportunities that are a good fit and can offer their participants between 6 to 20 hours of employment per week . Randy now works at Home Depot in their gardening department where he interacts with customers , tends to the plants and inventory , contributes to a team , and more importantly , is compensated a living wage in doing so .
“ My favorite part about working at Home Depot is helping customers ! And watering the plants . If there ’ s no watering to be done , there ’ s always more to do ,” Randy gleamed as he proudly tended his section .
www . optionsforall . org
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