Intro

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome. This is the Post Secondary Transition Conversation. We focus on the ins and outs and everything in between of the transition process for families of students with disabilities. I'm one of the hosts. My name is Megan Smollett, and I am a public school transition coordinator. As always, I have a co-host.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

My name is Patrick Cadigan. I am also a public school transition coordinator.

About Sunflower Bakery

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Today, we are lucky enough to have Beth Brady with us, who is the director of admissions and student services with Sunflower Bakery. And we actually met just a couple months ago because we held our business fair in our county to try and bring families together with the businesses that offer a lot of inclusive opportunities for employment. And Beth came and I was aware of Sunflower Bakery because I believe they've been around since 2008. Am I correct with that, Beth? 2009. 2009. Okay, that's close. But I had been, you know, previously out to visit when I started working in the area of transition, and I was just amazed by the program. So I was so excited that you came to join us at the fair and we got to chatting. And I was like, you need to come and chat with me and Patrick. So here we are. And just a short snippet about the Sunflower Bakery. It's grown into a workforce development nonprofit serving hundreds of young adults with disabilities.

Beth Brady

SPEAKER_01 1:21

But I'm gonna let you tell us a little bit more about the program. But first, tell us a little about your background, because I know you're fairly new to the program, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:31

Sure. So I onboarded here at Sunflower in December. My background, so my last previous position, I was the sole behaviorist for six schools, K through 12. I had four elementaries, a middle, and a high school. And I served students that were the most at risk. So these would be students with significant, what they call tier three behaviors. So these are highly challenging behaviors. These are students that are at risk of being placed somewhere else because of their not being successful at the public school. And my job was to come in and hopefully do interventions, coach the teachers, facilitate behavior intervention plan process, and hopefully see behavioral change where the students could be successful. So, yeah, that was my and it was in a rural area up in Pennsylvania, up in Mercersburg. So I got to for to see students that were different from students I had worked with throughout Maryland. It was uh, like I said, very rural community. And it was great. It was a great position.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

And so how did you land at Sunflower Bakery?

SPEAKER_02 2:35

As you can imagine, or have probably read about or heard about through the grapevine, um, there's been a lot of cuts throughout in the United States, particularly in the disability space. So I was a contracted employee. So my position, unfortunately, was reduced to detriment of the school system, like lots of people in sort of my positions have shared. That right here in Montgomery County, we're facing the same thing. We're with longtime um professionals, but downside, you know, the downsides positions. So I I had through the great brind heard to a friend that about three positions that sounded really cool. One was with social emotional learning, and another one was to be a case manager, doing sort of working with people with learning differences, and then finally sunflower. So complete disclosure, I have a brother who is a professional chef who studied at the Scafier in Paris, who is who worked at New York's Rainbow Room. So I've always been a bit of a fangirl about you know this space. And I heard about this space that trains adults with learning differences. So that's sort of my area of expertise. And then to be in work with culinary arts and pastry arts, it sounded like the perfect job. So I applied for it and here I am. That's

Student Experience

SPEAKER_02 3:55

awesome.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

Okay, so we've heard about how you established yourself at Sunflower Bakery. I am relatively unfamiliar with the program. Megan has had a lot to talk about, but I am curious. Can you walk us through what a typical student experience looks like?

SPEAKER_02 4:14

Sure. So we have three programs, right? So we have a hospitality program, a culinary arts, and pastry arts program. So if we talk about, so right there, there's there's not a typical, right? These are different programs. So we talk, let's say, about a pastry arts student's day. Depends on what phase. We have a phase one and a phase two. The program is six months long. So the first phase is going to be three months. In that three months space, it is going to be soft skills as well as technical skills related to whatever program. So if you were in a pastry arts program, things like how to cream butter or how to, let's say, use the equipment in that space, the tools in that space, but also soft skills, communication skills, how to effectively communicate, whether that would be with your peers, how to advocate for yourself with a superior, like you're a boss, how to show up on time, those sort of organizational skills, time management, just that stamina of having to go to work every day, the ebbs and flows of motivation. So lots of students, particularly in this day and age where you have the technology that students are exposed to, that there's this expectation of every day should be a grand day, right? And working that through those kinks of saying that we all have bad days. So even staff will communicate that with our students that I had a really bad day yesterday. And these are skills that's sort of transferable that not every day is a good day because of so you're not losing that motivation. So you don't have that job burnout. So those are the sort of the soft skills that we work on. But again, we're doing them, we're working with them for students that have learning differences. So it's sort of simplified and it is digestible for those students.

Immersion

SPEAKER_01 6:08

So you said it's the first part would be three months.

SPEAKER_02 6:11

Yeah. And then the second part, so so now that we mean it's the second part of our program, that's phase two, is an immersive experience. So very different from your, you know, other like culinary or pastry arts or hospitality programs, where you're sort of doing, let's say you would bake a batch of cookies and then you're taking those cookies home with you, right? Very insulated environment, lots of supports in place as far as, you know, it doesn't look like an actual commercial space. That's what sets us apart. We're an actual commercial space. So students are having an immersive experience. They're feeling the ebbs and flows of production, whether that would be, you know, during the holiday seasons where we have lots of high, you know, high volume of production versus, let's say, a downsized downtime in like March or something, the same thing that anybody that would be working in this industry would experience. And as a byproduct of that, when students do go into the workplace, they're having that soft landing rather than this sort of cognitive overload that happens often with folks with executive function challenges. So in my experience, like working with people with learning differences, lots of them will experience if without that sort of sensory piece where they're getting conditioned for that cognitive piece of it, they end up this sort of job jumping if they don't have that immersive experience often. So I think what Sunflower provides is that immersive experience.

How do they know where to start?

SPEAKER_01 7:44

How would one know if they like I have so many students that are like, I'm interested in baking, I'm interested in culinary. Would they get like an intro to what the difference is between pastry arts, hospitality, and culinary? How is it determined which training they might start in?

SPEAKER_02 8:03

Great question. So the process goes like this the application process is they're gonna fill out that application along with their last psychological assessment and their last IEP. I take that information, I review it carefully. So I'm looking at things like pragmatic language, adaptive reasoning, all of these things to see which program they would fit best in, right? So if I have a student that let's say has hot really high anxiety, front-facing customer service might not be the space for them. But also, if I have a student, let's say, struggles with fine motor skills, putting a knife in that student's hand could be challenging, right? Also sensory. Let's say I have a student that lots of sensory issues, but really wants to work either baking or culinary. Different spaces, culinary, you have proteins you're working with, lots of different meats, right? You have a raw chicken, raw meats versus something that a lot of our most of our students, if not all of our students, are familiar with, something that feels like play-doh, something that's very reinforcing for them. So I'm looking at that immediately when I'm reviewing their IEPs and psychological assessments. There's a lot of tells in there. Then a student will come in for an interview with me, and I'll ask questions related to whatever they're interested in. We do a walkthrough to let them see the space and see how they respond in the spaces. So a culinary space is different from a pastry art space for a bunch of reasons. Uh things like culinary is there's a little bit more leeway as far as creativity, as you can imagine, the measurement piece of it, versus pastry, where it's very science and very disciplined as far as uh making sure those ingredients are right, temperatures in the oven, measurements, and then how they respond to that space. We come back in, we have another conversation. But in addition to that, we also will have, if a student is a good fit for the program, then after that, we'll have an assessment, which is a three-day assessment where they get to see if, you know, the the chef will uh instructor will give them assessment as far as that space and what's required in that phase. So the fundamentals of it. Nothing major, but there's some measuring involved, some scooping in the pastry, in the um culinary. They're going to be putting a chef knife in their hand and see if they can chop the different materials. And after that, a decision is made as far as you know, recommendations from the instructional staff, a recommendation from me. Then we sit together and we make the decision if the student would be a big good fit for the program.

SPEAKER_01 10:47

So it's a very thorough process to decide absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 10:52

Absolutely, because we as you can imagine, that we are working with people that have throughout their life lots of obstacles, right? And I know you, Megan, working with in special ed, know this constantly there's an this almost like a fight to make space for our students. So the last thing we want to do is set anybody up for disappointment. Right. So that vetting process and that, you know, ensuring that the student is a good fit for the program is paramount.

Foundational skills

SPEAKER_01 11:19

And so you kind of answer my question about what skills they might need coming in. I know there's a bunch of soft skills you said they work on that if a parent was to say, well, what should I do now to help prepare them? Those are a lot of things like the time management, the organizational. Is there anything else? I think you mentioned measuring, that's something they could be practicing.

SPEAKER_02 11:40

For sure. Um, but like foundationally, you want to be if you can stand on your feet for four hours, right? Yeah. There's a lot of standing involved with that. And fine motor skills, of course, but you know, showing up this the student had to have interest in it, you know, some m making sure that student is really interested and motivated, I think, is really important. Lifting up to 25 pounds because there's, you know, heavy bags of flour, there's, you know, your lots of materials and tools that are are not going to be light. The ability to be carry a big tray out of an oven with five or six loaves of bread on it, that's going to be heavy for some students. So making sure that their ability to pick up, I think up to 25 pounds, but also that dexterity, communication, like depending on the program, I don't want to leap hospitality out of it. That communication piece of it, to be able to be, I think the reading is at a third grade reading level and foundational math skills. Yeah. And all and all of them, well, you're going to need those foundational math skills. So basic math.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

You bring up a good point though, because I feel like we lose sight of a lot of those smaller skills that go into just having a job. I feel like I hear from a lot of families and students like, I want to work with this. And so we'll set them up to practice a skill that, you know, indirectly is going to benefit wherever they go, but then there's frustration because they're not in the kitchen baking. But as you mentioned, can you stand on your feet for four hours? Can you lift something? Can you clean up your space? I think that's something I hear. They love, you know, prepping and baking and everything, but they don't want to do the cleanup. So there's so many things that I think on our end in the school system, we can have them working to prepare for that and be ready.

SPEAKER_02 13:29

You mentioned cleaning, and that's also a big part of our program, right? So students are required to keep their space clean and they're they're changing they change out different recipes every day. They're doing multiple recipes. So cleaning that space is throughout the day, they're cleaning their space and they're wash, they'll be standing there washing dishes for a good chunk, cleaning the floors. I mean, on f every Friday we break everything down and the whole kitchen is cleaned. Everybody participates in that and having that sort of, you know, understanding that it's not somebody's going to clean up after you, that you that it's your job to clean. And it is, you know, it's a group effort. So for sure.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

Yeah, being part of a team. I've I heard a student say they wanted to do a certain job, but they didn't want to clean up. And I said, but that's part of the responsibilities of the job. And the student said, But I do that at home. I don't need to do that at work. I'm like, but you're missing the point. That is your job.

unknown 14:23

Right.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

No one's coming behind you. Soon, take care of it.

Funding Avenues

SPEAKER_00 14:29

So well, and then changing lanes just a bit, and Beth, you have actually touched on this a couple of times throughout the conversation that we've had up until this point. Megan and I have been doing this, these discussions now for a couple of years, and I feel like we find ourselves in a fairly unique time because of these funding cuts that everyone is talking about, and so many of the people in our communities are being impacted by. So I'm curious, do you guys receive any funding from state agencies, such as, and again, full disclosure, we're in the state of Maryland, so for us it's Doors and then also DDA. Do you do you receive funding from them?

SPEAKER_02 15:09

Sure. And yes, we do. So Doors is one of one of our partners that we work with. We get a fair amount of our students. So I think up to 50% of our students, 60% of our students, depending on the cohort. Because we have four cohorts: July, October, January, and April. So depending on the cohort, it varies, but around 50% is doors funded. We also have private pay as well as scholarships to our program. So our scholarships are through fundraising that we do.

SPEAKER_01 15:44

So currently not a DDA provider.

SPEAKER_02 15:47

So that they'll reimburse. So it's not direct, but DDA will um reimburse. So they apply, yeah. So so the family or the student will go through DDA and then DDA will they'll pay and then DDA will reimburse. And pretty upfront about having the conversation that makes sure that all those those threads are needled, right? Yeah. Because we don't want to be in a situation where someone says no.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

And you said about the fundraising. Was that where you guys were selling a lot of items? Because I saw on the website you had some delicious products.

SPEAKER_02 16:24

So, yeah, so everything relates because we're nonprofit, everything is about this person-centered, right? So the selling the products is part of what funds our program, right? So no one's getting rich. Everybody that works in this space knows no one's getting rich. Everything goes back to what we're doing and working with the students. So yeah, all that the monies that you'll by buying our cookies, by buying our breads and pastries, coffees, that goes directly to funding these programs. Because we it's important to note that we have a two to one ratio in our kitchen of student to instructor. Um, there's always two instructors to the three to four students that are the students. Oh, wow. Right. So so when people say, like, oh, this moves really fast, part of the acceleration is the fact that we have that direct um instruction. Phase two looks a little different. Instructors there, but the students are working independently. The goal has always been, and you know this, Megan, working with students with disability, that you are the the goal is always toward independent, fading out those accommodations. If if a accommodation can be faded, it should be faded. And so that's sort of what we do here, trying to move toward independence. So the the instructor will be there. Unless the instructor sees a student struggling, the student that that instructor is not intervening. And intervention could be anything from proximity all the way up to um hand over hand assistance, which is a task.

SPEAKER_00 17:58

So this is a good place for us to pause our conversation with Beth. But make sure to come back here in two weeks' time as we finish out this discussion because there is a lot more to hear.

Struggles in the program

SPEAKER_01 18:09

Is there a possibility that let's say a student doesn't make it through phase one? Would they repeat it? Or is there a conversation about if they're what happens next?

SPEAKER_02 18:20

Sure. So when a student comes into our program, so I think I shared with you that I review that IEP, I review that psych assessment. I take all of that information and I put it into a snapshot. All of our instructors are professional culinary chefs. So they've gone to schools like CIA or Johnson and Wales. They are not teachers working with special ed. So my job is to create a snapshot that's bite-sized, right? And digestible for them. So I create that snapshot of how to work with that specific student, very, you know, individualized. And then if a student is struggling, the students then will say fled. And at that point, the team will have a meeting along with the parent, and we'll, just like you would do in an IEP, and we're add some interventions, some strategies to better help that student. And then so things like a check-in and checkout, sound familiar? Check-in and checkout, or let's say even a daily chart, progress chart, focusing on a goal. And then we'll we'll meet every few weeks after that. If a student is not successful in the program, it depends. So if a student is having a lot of struggles, whether they be behavioral struggles, or they just are not being successful, like I showed before, we're not in the business of disappointing people. And we certainly don't want to set anybody up for disappointments. So there there are have been times where students have not been successful in our program, but we give it that sort of old college try, and we do a lot of interventions in the meantime. So there's not a lot of students that do leave our program. That's the sort of long answer to your question. There's not a whole lot of students, but we do interventions, meeting with families, doing a lot of the simulation, very sort of mirroring a lot of the stuff that you have with an IEP.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

I see where your behavioral background comes in handy, though.

SPEAKER_02 20:10

Exactly. So yeah, doing I have a couple of check-ins and checkouts that I do, and we do have a student, a couple of students that have daily charts. Different from the behavioral charts. Like sometimes it's just a goal, like as far as like specific tasks that they're not being successful at or they're lagging compared to their peers.

Please Consider Support

SPEAKER_00 20:28

We hope that you find value in our conversations, and we'd love your support. You can visit our Buy Me a Coffee page to help support the show. A link is in the show notes. Contributions help offset the real costs of producing our discussions, things like online hosting, equipment, and ongoing content development. So we can keep bringing you helpful, accessible transition information. Now, no pressure at all, but if you're able, every bit truly helps. Thanks for listening and giving our community a voice.

Transition into employment

SPEAKER_00 21:03

Hearing you talking about all of this, how do you help graduates transition into employment?

SPEAKER_02 21:10

Great question. So we also have a job placement program. So throughout the program, I told you about those snapshots and those reviews, we do have also progress reviews in addition to the snapshot where we have with the family meeting on a monthly basis. And though during those times, our a job placement team will sit in on those meetings because they want to get to know the student and what the student's areas of strength and any deficits that student may have so they can successfully prepare them. For we have employer partners, but also the students, when they get to job placements, they learn to how to fill out an application, how to write a resume, we'll do mock interviews, and then our coach. We'll take them out and go on with interviews with them as well. And until they have it, we find a position for them.

SPEAKER_01 22:07

And you mentioned you had employer partners. Where are some of the places that your graduates have gone on to tour?

SPEAKER_02 22:13

Wegmans has, you know, they have their bakery there. They have that colin, lots of culinary spaces within Wegmans. Students have worked at Wegman's. Wegmans is an incredible employee partner. Paris Baguette, Bunts Cake, and then Tate and smaller restaurants throughout the DC metro area. Lots of employees. Awesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:36

Yeah. I know that we've had with our work program some students who have shown interest work in the bakery of the grocery stores. And there are some great people out there who see like the skills within them and just work with them alongside closely to give them more and more. And it's great to see the inclusivity on that end.

SPEAKER_02 22:57

We're seeing a lot of that now. Hilton came out recently. I think I might have shared it with you when I had met with you, but Hilton came out with a study rec in it was in the fall.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

Oh, yes, you shared that with me. That was very interesting.

SPEAKER_02 23:11

And what it says is that 60% of people with disabilities that are employed end up working in the hospitality space. In addition to that, people with dis learning differences are 3.5 times more likely to stay at a job than their counterparts. So when people had seen this, with particularly in the hospitality industry, and there is a bit of a they're scrambling for employers because a lot of stuff that's going on, and this is globally happening, they're looking to see better ways to sort of accommodate. This is a used swath of our population, and this is a group that to make space for them is lucrative and advantageous for the employer. So particularly in the hospitality space. So like I said, places like Hilton and other big companies are expanding to better be more accommodating for our

What's popular?

SPEAKER_02 24:06

students.

SPEAKER_00 24:07

One of the things that I think is so cool is A, like I had said before, I walked into this discussion and I really didn't have a firm understanding of what Sunflower is and what it does. But then on top of that, you also come with an education background. So wearing those two hats at one time or another, what advice would you give businesses that want to become more inclusive employers?

SPEAKER_02 24:34

I think the first step is that sort of gatekeeper space. I think the way in which they recruit is really important. So when I see things in when I see these advertisements, whether on Deed or other spaces, excellent communication skills becomes a deterrent automatically, right? So you're looking at that and thinking, that's not me. So maybe I I don't want to say lowering the expectation, but more of simplifying the expectation so it becomes accessible just to the audience that's reading that, right? It sounds like, oh, this place is going to make space for me. But having that in and of itself, I think would be attractive to people in the learning differences space. But also like simplifying language, being accessible in terms of how they train people with learning differences. I think there's this huge gap from what we do in education, or what I did in education, where we're chunking materials, simplifying language, allowing wait time for processing information. That sort of a thing, and that's again, that goes to the gatekeeper who are doing the interviews, that you're allowing for that wait time, not simplifying the language, that sort of a thing. And then when if and when the you hire somebody with a learning difference, that within that space, simple things like color coding some of the equipment is helpful. Maybe just all around I thought that this sort of making space for people. If that makes sense, I'm trying to to think more about as far as specifics as it was it would be color coding materials, simplifying directions. Like that, that the training in and of itself, I think, needs to be simplified as far as that language goes and allow that processing time.

unknown 26:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

And I think like that's something that could work for anybody, right? Like color coding or simplifying or putting a visual up, like everyone benefits from that. Thank you for the visual aids. That's simple. Thank you. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 26:49

I mean I can use visual aids. Yes. And we all use it, right? So like when we're driving along the highway, the red stop sign is a red stop sign for a reason. If you look at your stop lights, it's red, green, and yellow. But there's a reason why it's not one, because that people have colorblindness. So if it's one, if it's just flashing red and it goes yellow and green, somebody's not distinguishing between those colors. So you have it stacked on top of each other. Throughout life, we have that. We have signs and we have indications for all of us. And it accelerates, if it accelerates learning for somebody with a learning difference, it accelerates learning for all of us. Um, I do a training with our staff here, because again, I'm working with culinary professionals to better understand executive functioning and processing, particularly related to working memory. So I do an exercise where I shut the lights down and I read seven complex words related to things like boating or let's say automotive, but they're complex, multi-syllable words. And I say close your eyes and I give them seven. And I said, and I'll ask, can somebody repeat the seven words that I just shared with you? Zero hands are raised because the average human being is not retaining seven complex words that they never heard before. And I flip the lights back on, I take those same words and I apply them to a boat and a car, and I give them five words, and then I say, How many of you can tell me with everybody's hands up? And I said, Okay. So I just gave you a demonstration of the same information, but I made it accessible for all of you. And the difference is, and working with a person with a learning difference, is that you got to have the lights out, and so I preserved your dignity, right? And I didn't put you on the spot. So just imagine the person with a learning difference giving them multiple words, multiple syllables coming at them with an audience watching them. And you just see heads like your face right now, nodding. The same thing happens over and over again when I do this presentation. And the turnaround, we I see, and again, I'm working with people that are professional culinary chefs. The turnaround in the way in which which we communicate with our students, you see these improvements. And over time, you see the adjustments. So when you talk about making space, there's an example of making space.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

That's a great example, and one that I think a lot of businesses would benefit from hearing. And I think like the data speaks for itself. Like you just you shared how the longevity of their employment is just so much greater than someone who might not have a disability. They want to work, they're motivated to be there. I mean, we've met many individuals that graduated from our school system that are at the same job 15 years later because they're so proud of what they do. So I think it's just a matter of continuing to break through to the businesses and to show them what they have to offer. So we appreciate all the work you're doing on and your organization to do that. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02 30:11

And absolutely. And there's another fun fact or statistic. 85% of the public want to see people with learning differences and people with disabilities in the professional spaces. 85%. That's staggering. Um, I was just recently talking to a gentleman who has a nonprofit in London, and he works trying to make an alliance for making space for people with disabilities. And he works with big organizations and big corporations. And he shared with me about one of his, the people that he worked with, one of the employers. And they had this some big hotel in London, and they have a person with Down syndrome that works at the front desk. And when they got feedback, it was that 90% of customer feedback was their favorite person in the hotel was this young man. So just to give you perspective, this person is making a difference for the customers. So that's your bottom line. So I think conveying that and communicate that and the the awareness of that is going to be paramount because the public wants it and it's beneficial for the both the employer and the employee.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

So just out of curiosity, what's the most popular item that they make from Flyer Bakery?

SPEAKER_02 31:29

Sure. So it's the hollow bread is one of our sort of premier items, and that is signature items here. Everybody loves that. We have lines coming in on Thursdays for people lining up for the hollow bread, and we do a bunch of different flavors, and it's really amazing. We also have tons of gluten-free items, um, dairy-free. Yeah. So we have dairy free as what you are you are you a gluten-free guy?

SPEAKER_00 31:53

My wife is.

SPEAKER_02 31:54

So I'm gonna I'm gonna hook it up right now. We have this. I say this because I I never really delve into that space before of gluten-free. But then when somebody was talking about this apricot cupcake that we have here, and I was like, why not? And I I began like cutting it into four. I thought I'm just gonna have a quarter and then I'm gonna have to put the rest away. I'm just not gonna eat that. So I started with a quarter of it, graduated to half, and then the whole thing was just avowed. And now I'm like, that might have been the best cupcake I've ever had. And I'm not, just because I work here, I am telling you I'd have been lined up for this cupcake. It is phenomenal and super pretty. And then the other item is lemon bars. We do this amazing, these amazing lemon bars that are phenomenal. Only because I'm prejudiced, all of our items are amazing, and the people that make them are amazing. That's the best part about it, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:45

That's one of my questions, also, is that okay, so I understand that you have the customers in terms of the most popular items, but from the participants themselves, do what are their like do they have particular favorites that stand out to you?

SPEAKER_02 32:58

It depends. They come out, so they're all lined up. So fun part of my job because I'm working with students, and particularly I told you like some students that will need additional supports, and I see success, they'll come into my office and I say, I'll have something special for you. So I get I get a little bit of inside scoop of what they like. Lots of cookies. They they really like our cookies, the big cookies with sprinkles. They like the chocolate chip cookies. They they're they're big cookie, the students like the cookies.

Support

SPEAKER_01 33:26

So we showcased Sunflower Bakery a lot, and I'm sure there's people listening here who are gonna ask, how can they support your mission? What can they do to help keep you going? I love this question.

SPEAKER_02 33:37

So there's multiple ways to support us. Of course, there is on our website, like just donating to our company. Like you could go online and just there's a barcode there. You can donate money. You can, of course, come in here and just buy our cookies and our pastries and all of our treats. But in addition to that, there's also the volunteer opportunities. So we're opening up for volunteers to come in. We do obviously a security check on anybody that would choose to come on board. But yeah, come on board and volunteer with us. You could work help out in the kitchen, whether that's work side by side with some of our pastry chefs and our culinary chefs, or work to help out our students. That would be great.

SPEAKER_01 34:19

Oh, that's fun for someone. I'm thinking like a high school student or college student who's interested in the culinary field, and then they get to work alongside these individuals. Like what a what a great opportunity.

SPEAKER_02 34:30

Absolutely. And lots of, and we do have lots of volunteers coming in, but particularly around the holiday season, too, like packing, they'll come in and help us pack. But but working with the students, like a lot of times they'll work with the students because of, again, it's a busy space. So coming in and having that opportunity to interface with people learning differences is really it's beneficial to everybody.

Connections

SPEAKER_00 34:53

This is actually kind of taking a step back a little bit, but I am curious now. You had mentioned you employ professional chefs. How do they find you, or do you find that there is a particular characteristic of the chefs that you ultimately end up hiring?

SPEAKER_02 35:13

That's a great question. You have to have the right temperament to work with students with learning differences. Patience, really, really important. Having some understanding or maybe worked with in some time with people with learning differences is helpful. I also, part of my job here is to do trainings. We do trainings on Mondays, about once a month, that we're doing trainings where I talk about things like the ABCs of behavior, antecedent, behavior, and consequence, talk about how to respond to a student that may be struggling. So your help prompt weight strategies, um, or we'll talk about executive functioning, how to work with students with have, you know, issues with processing, or students that may have issues with, you know, memory and stuff like that. So yeah, we we do trainings routinely, but definitely we want chefs to come in here that work with our students that are interested in working with our students and motivated. That's paramount because we are student-centered and everything's about our students. So having people that really want to work in with students with learning differences is really important. Um, oftentimes, what you'll find at Sunflower is a direct connection to somebody that has had a disability. For complete disclosure, I have a brother who had a car accident when he was in second grade and had a traumatic brain injury, a little bit older. So, you know, that was back in the day where we had self-contained classrooms. This is long before IDEA 2004. And as a byproduct of that, it sort of enabled me to be an advocate and want to do something in a space. And what you'll find at Sunflower is a large percentage of our population that works with our students have have some connection to that space. And as a result of that, their level of empathy, their level of compassion, super high.

SPEAKER_00 37:21

I'm glad to hear you say that because my background, I am I am a parent, I have two children, but they are neurotypical. And the people that I have surrounded myself with, and Megan is one of them, she's probably at the forefront of it. One of the things that I've always found interesting is that she's so good at what she does, but she'll be the first to tell you about her sister. She has had that experience. And when we were talking about the business for all fair, so many of the conversations that I heard people having, this was from both Megan and Aaron, the other transition coordinator who put on the show, that it seemed like that there would be an easier path into employment if someone that they were working with had a background or an understanding of that population. And so it's always been, for me, I've always considered myself to be an outsider. So I always find it fascinating when I watch what you guys do.

SPEAKER_01 38:19

Yeah, and we will see that when we go to new businesses to start talking about our work programs. A lot of times the whoever I'm talking to, the manager, the owner, will be like, oh, well, you know, my cousin has a disability, or I grew up next to a neighbor with it. Like there, there's pe everyone has a connection in some way or another. And I think that's a way for them to understand and then grow on that conversation from there. And it has changed, like you said, you know, my sister was in self-contained as well when she was in school growing up. But now she she does work and has a job for a couple days a week. So it is interesting to see how it's transformed. And I think like we just need to make sure the rest of the world is catching up.

SPEAKER_02 39:05

For sure. So that's six degrees of separation. I was we I was down in the islands on vacation and we're just swimming, and then I end up getting a conversation with a couple from New England. And then with, of course, the conversation is like, what do you do? So what I do comes up and immediately shared with me that they have two children that have they're neurodiverse and fascinated by what I did, and their sons are in the transition space. So yeah, it it's it's we all know it now. I I think that particularly when we see the rise in autism spectrum disorder, that there's so many people that you it's almost impossible not to be somehow connected in some way to it. And then and it's like that saying that when you know better, you have a responsibility to do better. And I think people recognize that more and more that this we have to take on these responsibilities as

Looking foward

SPEAKER_02 39:57

you would.

SPEAKER_00 39:58

Well, Beth, we cannot thank you enough for coming on and talking with us about that.

SPEAKER_01 40:02

Thank you anytime. Yeah, and I have you on my list for the fall so we can touch base about Beth was telling me that she had got like pushed into some of the classes in Montgomery to kind of do like a demo of what they do there. So, and I know I've talked to a couple of our transition teachers of students that would be great to do this with. So I definitely would love to talk more about that and then to get our teachers over to see the space.

SPEAKER_02 40:26

I host sometimes on we'll host teachers during staff development days. So teachers Oh nice. Yeah. So if you guys, I do a tour and I'll do a presentation. I know. And we have snacks in the back. We'll take a walk through and do a presentation. I'll share best fun facts about what's going on in the hospitality industry. That's awesome. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 40:47

Well, Beth, and then do a quick plug. How can people find Sunflower?

SPEAKER_02 40:51

Well, they can find us online. Just go to Sunflower Bakery and they can, it comes right up. It's actually one of the first places that comes up. And if you put in learning for students with learning differences, that'll also come up.

SPEAKER_00 41:04

Well, again, we thank you, thank you, thank you for coming out and talking with us.

SPEAKER_01 41:07

Yes, this is great. I appreciate you guys. Well, yeah, we appreciate you.

SPEAKER_00 41:12

Yeah, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Outro

SPEAKER_01 41:24

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