Project SEARCH and Montefiore Einstein Prepare Young Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities for Rewarding Work in Healthcare

New Rochelle High School’s Project SEARCH proudly celebrated its 2022–2023 graduation at Montefiore New Rochelle’s HETI Conference Center on June 8. The one-year high school transition program provides employment training and education for young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Montefiore New Rochelle has been the host organization for New Rochelle High School’s Project SEARCH Program, the only high school program of its kind in Westchester County, since 2011.

The 18- to 21-year-old Project SEARCH interns learn marketable job skills by completing up to three 10-week internships through various Montefiore New Rochelle departments—including Food Services, Emergency Services, Patient Transport, Schaffer Extended Care Center and Health Information Management. They also receive lessons on interview skills, résumé writing, workplace behavior and budgeting in classes that are taught by Kathy Barbara, MEd, New Rochelle High School Special Education Teacher, and Lisa Mancuso, Teaching Assistant and Job Coach. The program has maintained an average employment rate of 90% each year.

“It is amazing to see the incredible transformation of the students who attend Project SEARCH,” Barbara said.

Project SEARCH is one of Montefiore Einstein’s many community-based workforce programs. We partner with high schools and colleges, community-based organizations and workforce providers to offer customized programming that prepares future healthcare workers and breaks down barriers that historically have kept some people from achieving success in the workplace. Partners in the Project SEARCH program include the New York State Education Department’s Adult Career and Continuing Education Services-Vocational Rehabilitation (ACCES-VR) and the Connecticut-based Ability Beyond, which helps find employment opportunities and offers former interns support after graduation.