Services

Whole Latte Love Café is a paid vocational training program and supported employment model, offering time limited Vocational Habilitation services that provide real-work experiences (including volunteer work in the community). Services are meaningful & intentional, and developed around three critical priorities:

  1. Person-Centered Planning
  2. Community Membership
  3. Community Employment

Our priority is on teaching work-readiness skills, engaging employers, supporting safety needs, and making connections in the community, while spreading inclusion in the workplace.

An individual must be 18 years or older, a graduate of high school and found eligible for funding through Ohio’s Waiver programs, managed by the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities.   An individual’s service plan must report the desire to learn about working in the community as our primary focus is on:

  • Developing general work & social skills,
  • Addressing job-related expectations,
  • Self-determination and
  • Increasing independence towards individual or community-based transportation needs.
  • All employees are compensated in accordance with applicable federal laws and regulations.

 

Each individual will be empowered to develop his/her own employment-related goals. Direct supervision is provided while working in the café, the kitchen and/or in the community, and while learning about other jobs and volunteering.

Customer service training is providing in five specific positions inside the café while increasing social integration, promoting activities of daily living, as well as determining job accommodations.   In addition, every employee will receive assistance with problem-solving techniques, job-related expectations, and examining critical-thinking topics through our EMPOWER PROGRAM.

All applicants will go through an interview process prior to determining whether WLLC is a suitable Provider. WLLC generally provides services up to five (5) hours per day Monday-Saturday.

WLLC does not discriminate based upon one’s disability, and an individual’s needs will be thoroughly considered. However, there are some conditions that we cannot appropriately support and therefore, WLLC may not be suitable for every applicant.

To learn more about our services, download our FACT SHEET, Job Description + Addendum and Job Application.  Reach out to your SSA at the County Board to schedule a tour.

The Primary Concepts

  • Designed to teach and reinforce concepts related to work including responsibility, attendance, task completion, problem-solving, social interaction, motor development and safety.
  • WLLC business promotes customer service skills, the concept of building community memberships and increasing independence, while expanding one’s choices through ongoing supports.
  • The ability to effectively communicate with supervisors, coworkers, and customers.
  • Generally-accepted workplace conduct and following dress code policies.
  • The ability to complete work tasks as directed, with or without accommodations.
  • Learn more about self-determination; develop self-advocacy skills; and acquire skills that enable more independence, productivity and integration within your community.

Video Transcript

[Bryan (Trainee)]: Belonging. It’s like a sense of, I fit in.

[Veronica (Café manager)]: Belonging is about feeling safe and secure.

[Ryan (Patron)]: It’s where you really feel connected, where you feel that, you know, you are welcomed and you are understood and you are accepted.

[Emma (Trainee)]: I belong to a church. I belong to the café. I belong to my, my family.

[Rick (Patron)]: I feel like anybody deserves an opportunity to bring value to others and to feel like they belong in the room they’re in.

[Pastor Brian (Patron)]: Here it has that common touch which helps you belong, and I am new to North Canton. I started working here in the fall and um coming here and meeting some of my parishioners here um has helped me belong to North Canton.

[Voice of Veronica while showing café trainees]: Everybody wants to feel like they belong. No matter who they are, where they come from. They want to have a purpose that’s something that makes them feel included.

[Bryan]: Being included, it shows us more uh what we can do instead of the world saying, “oh you can’t do this”. You come to the cafe and they’re like, yes you can.

[Pastor Brian]: It gives us a real life opportunity to build relationships with adults who happen to have disabilities. Because sometimes in our regular lives we might not have the interaction, but here at Whole Latte Love you get the interaction action and you get to feel that this person is just like me.

[Ryan]: It really shows how no matter your uniquenesses, no matter your differences, that you know, you can come together, you can collaborate, you can you know, build that community together of inclusion. To where everyone’s helping everyone be a little bit better every day.

[Briana (Café DSP)]: I think inclusion is important to the trainees because it gives them a sense of community and involvement.

[Randi (Café DSP)]: Inclusion means that they have a place to belong. They have opportunities to join in and make choices, and to really be a part of all the things the community has to offer.

[Veronica]: Community is about people coming together, people just being together, looking out for each other.

[Sidney (Trainee)]: You’re together, you’re part of a group, like you’re part of a team. You work as a team.

[Briana]: A place where you are welcomed always and not judged. Um, a place that you can be you.

[Emma]: Community is about, like, me with friends and my boss.

[Rita (Patron)]: Whole Latte Love Café is an important part of the community because everyone here has something to contribute also. If they’re successful, that means our community can be successful.

[Rick]: Whole Latte Love represents to me the opportunity for some folks that maybe didn’t realize that they could make an impact in people, but they come here, they work, they learn how to do that, and then all of a sudden, they’re impacting people as well.

[Bryan]: Community is the people that come in and talk to us.

[Sidney]: When customers come in, I like to, you know, get to know them. And everybody is so nice here, and they’re very caring.

[Bryan]: So we get to know them, we get to know the community, the outside world.

[Rita]: I come to the cafe because I want everybody here to succeed, and if there’s anything that I can do by bringing more people, by patronizing here, this is where my heart is.

[Randi]: We talk about inclusion a lot and this is a chance to see inclusion in action, and to see what that means, and to experience it firsthand, and everything it has to offer.

ADDITIONAL SERVICES

  • GROUP EMPLOYMENT means time-limited volunteer opportunities for groups of two or more workers with similar interests outside of the café, in the community with local businesses. Job coaching supports and training activities provided during an individual’s 5-hour day.
  • CAREER PLANNING are comprehensive community engagement services. The focus is on discovering a person’s preferences in community activities, assisting with maintaining a meaningful social life, promoting problem-solving skills, as well as self-determination and personal care. The expected outcome is competitive integrated employment through the following services: Career Discovery, Career Exploration, Situational Assessments, JSST, & Job Development.
  • CAREER DISCOVERY is a 1:1 weekly movement towards the path to community employment. This service lasts between 6-12 weeks and is implemented after Voc-Hab, and/or Group / Enclave Services have been initiated. This service involves making informed choices and determines emerging themes of interest, preferences, benefits, and obstacles. An individual will have the opportunity to examine his/her own workplace readiness skills, explore and learn more about jobs of interests and visit with potential employers, all resulting in a Career Profile. A Career Profile summarizes the process, revelations and recommendations for the next steps regarding an individual’s vocational portfolio.
  • CAREER EXPLORATION is a 1:1 weekly service which implements the Career Profile, allowing an individual to connect the dots with employers, while observing job tasks in the community. This service also includes informational interviews and/or job shadowing. When possible, an individual will be given the opportunity to perform actual job duties.
  • SITUATIONAL ASSESSMENTS are time-limited (usually 30 days for each interest experience) opportunities that allow an individual to be observed and assessed in an integrated working environment with a job coach.
  • JOB SEEKING SKILLS TRAINING (JSST) is a 12-week training class designed to introduce the fundamentals of looking for a job in the community. Each individual will be guided through the John Holland Job Hunting Handbook, learning how to complete a job application, why references are necessary, when to ask for accommodations, crafting a resume and practice interviewing
  • JOB DEVELOPMENT is an individual service designed to attain competitive integrated employment that is consistent with an individual’s personal and career goals. A job seeker will be referred to Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities (OOD). During this stage, a job seeker will learn about all the vocational rehabilitation services and how they are utilized for community employment.

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