Skills Academy Vocational Center of Colorado Springs has been awarded $840,000 from The Daniels Fund to support the creation of training and job opportunities for adults with disabilities.
Over 80% of people who have intellectual disabilities face unemployment or underemployment, and many of those individuals spent their lives in poverty, said Daniels Fund president and CEO Hanna Skandera in a statement to The Gazette.
“Skills Academy offers people with disabilities opportunities to thrive through award-winning career training programs,” Skandera continued. “These folks held a special place in our founder Bill Daniels’ heart — his sister had a developmental disability, and her challenges inspired Bill’s commitment to empower people with disabilities to maximize their independence and enhance their quality of life through programs like Skills Academy.”
A career financial professional and adoptive mother of six children, Randee Van Ness founded what would become Skills Academy Vocational Center in 2020 after she saw her smart and ambitious, but special needs, son struggling to find a path forward after high school.
“He could not handle a job yet because of his ADHD and his lack of job skills, and there were no programs or apprenticeships that would teach him those skills because of his ADHD and autism,” said Van Ness, speaking with The Gazette for a story in late 2023.
Started in two rooms of her Springs financial office, the academy now welcomes students in more than 40,000 square feet of former office space, and has graduated hundreds.
The Daniels Fund grant supports the establishment of three commercial Skills Academy kitchen training facilities in the Springs and one in Denver. Van Ness said the grant money will allow for an August wrap to expansion of its local teaching kitchen and realization of its Chips for a Cause project, a “social enterprise” created in partnership with Denver-based Raquelitas Tortillas to train and funnel students into on- and off-site work opportunities.
“Together, we will be able to double our student capacity and provide transition jobs for 15 adults with disabilities,” said Van Ness, adding that the program will soon be opened to those transitioning out of local youthful offender programs, including Spring Creek Youth Services Program.
“The way I look at it is, if we don't help, they're going to go back to their old job, which is what got them in jail,” Van Ness said. “This not only helps that kid but it helps everybody. It reduces taxpayer costs to incarcerate, and it helps these kids rehabilitate … by becoming taxpayers and contributors with an investment in society.”
Founded by media pioneer and mogul Bill Daniels, the Denver-based Daniels Fund supports “highly effective” nonprofits in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming through its grants programs.
In 2023, it awarded $43.9 million to nonprofit organizations and students in Colorado, including $120,000 to Orton Academy in El Paso County, a K-8 school that focuses on serving students with dyslexia, and $50,000 to support the Rocky Mountain Youth Leadership Conference in Monument, a weeklong summer camp for high school seniors that focuses on leadership, civics, and free enterprise.
Your Privacy Choices