New DACC program offers career, life pathways for developmentally disabled

One of Doña Ana Community College’s newest programs, the Career and Life Skills Academy (CLSA), is helping neurodiverse (developmentally disabled) students discover their life goals and how to achieve them.

The year-long program for young adults who are high school graduates or the equivalent, began as a pilot last year at the DACC Workforce Center in Las Cruces, with six students enrolled. This year’s program, which continues with internships this summer, has nine students enrolled, said DACC program specialist Kay Lilley, who teaches the course.

CLSA got its start in 2022 when Michelle Roybal, a young woman with Down Syndrome, wanted a college experience after graduating from high school but was unable to find a program to meet her needs.

Michelle and her mother, Sharon Roybal, met with Susan Wood, a member of DACC President Monica Torres’ cabinet, who “saw this as an opportunity to address a community need,” Lilley said.

A coalition that also included Mary Ulrich, director of DACC’s Workforce Development and Career Readiness Department, “took on the project to engage and support a sector of the community that is traditionally excluded from employment and post-secondary opportunities,” Lilley said.

CLSA is now one of three programs of its type in New Mexico. The others are in Roswell and Farmington.

Lilley is the founder of Beloved Community (BC), which she started in 2013 to build a local community for young, neurodiverse adults that included “shared experiences (like theater workshops and art exhibits) for people with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities.”

Lilley dissolved BC in 2022, as she became the CLSA instructor.

“CLSA recognizes that neurodiverse individuals are at risk of being misunderstood and often fulfill stereotypes and live up to low expectations that others have of and for them,” Lilley said.

“It’s called ‘graduating to the couch,’” she said.

“In the program’s first semester, students focus on “the identities that are true to themselves and become authors of their own narrative,” sharing their stories through drawing, collaging, theater and storytelling.

Students use graphic images, colors and text “to envision a future for themselves, (including) a blueprint for personal, academic and career development,” Lilley said. It spells out the knowledge and skills the student needs to develop and the resources available to help him or her be successful.

"Before I didn't know what I wanted to do,” said CLSA student Amelia Nelson. “This program has helped me find myself."

The document also suggests college and job opportunities, along with additional training available at places like Cruces Creatives makerspace and Mesilla Valley Timebank.

The final blueprint “is the basis for much of the classroom instruction, independent study, campus and community engagement activities and resource coordination” in CLSA’s second semester, Lilley said.

 “A constant loop of feedback” from CLSA students and their parents is also helping develop the curriculum as the program moves forward, she said.

This summer, CLSA students are completing internships at Thomas Branigan Memorial Library, the City of Las Cruces Parks and Recreation Department, Munson Center and Rio Grande Theatre, among other placements.

Lilley said outcomes could include paid employment and college enrollment.

CLSA student Nick Ontiveros is excelling in his internship with Parks and Rec this summer, Lilley said.

“He loves it, and they love him,” Lilley said.

"He fits in just right,” Parks and Rec Internship Supervisor Joey Dominguez – a member of CLSA’s original cohort, employed with the city for more than a year – said about Ontiveros. “He's very well liked and appreciated. Nick has been critical to our crew since we were short. He's very meticulous, detail-oriented."

“Not only is this a testament to Nick's character and abilities, it is an indication that he has developed the basic work skills that employers look for,” Lilley said.

Another student is a youth monitor for the city’s after-school programming, and that also could develop into permanent employment. One CLSA student is a watercolor artist getting help with a business model and marketing plan as he looks at starting his own business.

As they complete CLSA, students create resumes listing internship experience, training and other credentials that are uploaded to job search sites and presented to prospective employers. DACC also works with the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions and the New Mexico Public Education Department’s Division of Vocational Rehabilitation and other agencies to identify job prospects for CLSA students.

“Her confidence has been in the stratosphere since she's been in this program," a DVR counselor said about CLSA student Marisa Gonzales.

“In general, CLSA students (and parents) have indicated they have become empowered to take charge of their health and acquired the ability to develop informed opinions, speak up and take action on issues they care about,” Lilley said.

"This is a remarkable program. The academy provides an educational opportunity for those in our community who often have too few opportunities to continue their personal and professional development,” DACC President Monica Torres said. “We are happy to continue to be an all-inclusive, welcoming, and supportive college."

CLSA’s future could include a residential program, Lilley said, pairing a neurodiverse and a traditional student as roommates, with the traditional student providing support and mentoring in exchange for a break on his or her rent. That would be part of CLSA’s goal of engaging students in campus life and higher education.

Lilley said CLSA is now recruiting students for its 2023-24 program. Contact her at KLilley@dacc.nmsu.edu.