Priority Teachers University provides Supported Adult Education programming for community members living with psychiatric disabilities in Shelby County, TN. This program is designed to prepare students to obtain their High School Equivalency Diploma as well as providing them will the basic skills they need to succeed in the 21st-century workplace. This goal of this program is to assist those with disabilities to obtain long term and living wage employment.
In the United States the average high school dropout rate for community members living with mental health and learning disorders is 21 percent. According to the National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), an estimated 9.8 million adults aged 18 or older in the U.S. had serious mental illness and 2.5 million adults living below the poverty rate.
The Supported Education program allows us to partner with mental health professionals, family members, and employers to provide specifically designed training so that students may obtain their High School Diploma, develop their basic reading and math skills, and obtain living wage employment opportunities. The training environment is modify for the needs of students with psychiatric disabilities and a safe place to learn among their peers.
This program is set up as a transitional classroom setting in addition to students getting the academic and hands on workforce development training. Community members will understand what accommodations are available to them, how to disclose their mental illness on the job, and conduct a long term learning plan that will allow them to choose is secondary education, work promotional track or entrepreneurship idea for them. Providing the tools and knowledge for success is key.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
