Hoang joined CSP in August of 2023. Hoang had limited work experience and was extremely shy. When he joined CSP, Hoang said he wanted to focus on his classes and wait to look for work. He enrolled in our CSP classes - Job Skills, Computers, Social Skills, and Self-Advocacy. Hoang also visits the ARISE (Academics, Relationships, Independence, Self-Advocacy, and Emotional Health) Lab on campus where he began to socialize more with fellow students.
As the semester progressed, Hoang started to become more outgoing and even volunteered to participate in an outreach presentation for CSP. For this project, we took a photo of Hoang and asked him where he wanted to work. Hoang said, “I want to work somewhere where I can like, put things back where they belong.”
As Hoang’s self-advocacy and social skills increased, he expressed his desire to obtain employment. Hoang began working 1:1 with a job developer to build his employment skills. They built a resume and discussed his previous work experience at the 99 Cent Store. Hoang expressed interest in working at a grocery store, so the job developer added him to the list of students to participate in the collaborative agreement between North Orange Continuing Education (NOCE) and Ralph’s. Hoang and his job developer conducted intensive preparation before his interview, and Hoang did great. He was offered a position at Ralph’s in April of 2024. Hoang has 100% job coaching provided through the CSP project. He is acclimating well to his new role, and we hope to scale back job coaching in the near future.