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Pittsburgh: Our Story
In 1998, sixteen students with
learning disabilities from Pittsburgh’s David B. Oliver High School
were selected to participate in a career training class linked to
paid internships at the University of Pittsburgh. Intern successes
led to new Start on Success partners like CIGNA Group Insurance,
Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Pittsburgh Medical
Center. In turn, this range of job sites allowed us to invite
students from
Perry Traditional Academy,
Taylor Allderdice, and
Langley high schools.
Pittsburgh Start on Success now
serves six different high schools. Each student completes a
two-year career-training program which includes an eight-week
mentorship in the business community and a service learning
project. The third year is a paid internship where students meet
daily for a career training Transition English class, followed by
independent travel to their worksites. Supervisors, mentors and SOS
staff provide onsite support and workplace training. Issues arising
at the job sites are brought back to the classroom for discussion,
enabling employers to directly impact curriculum development. In
addition to building resumes, interns compile career portfolios.
Following the interns’ high school graduation, SOS provides
year-long follow-up.
Our Accomplishments
 Pittsburgh
SOS’s performance has earned it widespread recognition, including
being honored by Pittsburgh City Council, awarded the Program of
Distinction Award by YouthWorks, named a model transition program by
the State Bureau of Special Education, and selected for “What Works
in Pennsylvania Schools.”
We're proud to share some of our
recent achievements:
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100% of our students graduated
and 96% of our graduates proceeded to employment, further training
or post-secondary education.
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We secured our largest grant ever--$200,000 to fund student
assessments.
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We developed transition programs
for freshmen and sophomores in all 12 Pittsburgh public high
schools.
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We created electronic student
portfolios with the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation and Carnegie
Mellon University.
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We cultivated a partnership with
Allegheny General Hospital.
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We presented at the state transition conference as a
model workforce investment program, and were published in College
Services Magazine.
 Our
Challenges
While we have received generous support for
many facets of our program, we struggle to find adequate funding to
pay student stipends. When our Workforce Investment Act funding was
cut in half, we created a quick fix by getting small amounts from
YouthWorks and Allegheny General Hospital, but we were still forced
to cut wages. We no longer pay minimum wage; seniors are paid
$5.50 per hour and juniors earn a “training wage” of $4.00 for one
semester before earning $5.50 for second semester.
Our
Future
Pittsburgh SOS is fortunate to have the vision
and support of our school district to expand the program to all 12
public high schools. The district will pay one full-time staff
salary at each school as well as transportation—a significant
financial
 commitment.
We continue to seek funding for student wages to allow us to serve a
larger population of students with disabilities. We will also focus
on a post-secondary training module to address the startling
statistic that only 6% of students with disabilities who enter
post-secondary education graduate!
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