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Goal

Our goal is to purchase various items that can be used to help teach our students about fire safety. This grant when fulfilled can be used to help teach our students the importance of watching out and protecting our work area from current and potential fire related concerns. These students are within our Extended Transition program that teaches special needs (ESE) students' skills which will help them to get a job of their own before or after they exit the program. 

 

What will be done with my students

It can be commonly known that learning work related experiences and behaviors can help a student learn skills needed for when they achieve a job of their own. My students are not much different except that they have special needs which adds to their challenges. They even face limited job and career sources based on their abilities. With the added challenges with Covid-19 my students can find themselves even more limited in the opportunities that they may have. I am working to change that and to develop and show the skills that they do have and add new ones.

This grant is based around a need that I see daily with my students. Many come to their site-based program where they learn job and work related skills. Often, we are filling rolls that will add value throughout the work site. Our students often enjoy a job we call "policing the grounds." What this entails is going around the green spaces, the parking lots, and around the buildings and picking up garbage. Unfortunately, a large amount of what we see and clean up are cigarette butts. Some are even still burning when we find them. Whether visitors or other staff they often just throw them out of their car when they park. This is a habit we would like to see change and improve.

When policing the grounds' we have encountered areas that have caught on fire in the medians, or even trash cans. People fail to recognize the importance of putting out their cigarettes and properly disposing of them. Or have seen them catch on fire other litter, sticks, or leaves etc in the lots and grounds. Our class goes out and cleans up the garbage and cigarette butts. What we find and in theory is that the cleaner you keep the grounds the more conscious people are to dispose of their car waste properly. But if the garbage just remains and the cigarette butts continue to litter the grounds then others just add to the problem thinking that is the norm to do. Sad but true. We want to change the mindset and show respect in our worksites. And be able to report fire concerns immediately.

Additionally, when we have seen a little fire, we have no resources to call for help other than running in the building and or addressing the trash can someone failed to put out their cigarette butt before throwing it away. We are in need of walkie talkies so that the students when policing the grounds can call for and reach other adult help. The walkie talkies can also open up other avenues of communication to encourage our students to communicate concerns they may see in general. From an educational standpoint I see this adding layers to the value I can create with my students and giving them additional job skills and awareness of things to look for that are not safe and to report them immediately. Especially when concerning fire safety.

My students want to learn real world job skills. They also want to be prepared for job skills they will need and can make them more hirable in their future. Students will be taught how dressing appropriately using and wearing the fire safety reflective vests around the outside of the workplace facility. With my students being special needs students the differences can also set them further apart from their peers. This grant creates a hands-on experience that can be used to add to the experience that employers are looking for from potential new staff and improving mindsets.  

 

Benefits to my students

As we develop our decision-making skills are used and enhanced. A person’s quality of life improves in correlation to them. A person's smarter choices result in better use of their time, money, and other valuable resources. This project helps provides students with an opportunity to learn more about decision-making. The benefits to this grant starts with an overview of the decision-making process followed by a discussion of various internal and external factors that affect decisions with supporting the programs goal to help create fire safety identification and decision making choices. As well as learning how to alert others of concerns when they arise.

With full funding of this grant, we will be able to purchase a variety of supplies that will help to assist in the described goals. Hope is that some of the supplies may be used across more than one of our extended transition programs and at other sites. This need is real and creates an awareness that is needed and a valuable educational process.

Other benefits for my students include giving them greater exposure to other adults in the workforce and helping them gain and develop the skills and confidence they need to be a functional job holding member of our workforce. Doing these fundamental tasks likely picking up cigarette butts with a grabber that will be seen by other staff and visitors will give our students and those around them a better awareness of all of our cause and effect actions.

Thank YOU to our generous friends at The Hartford - they helped to inspire the writing of this grant and to see the need for educating about fire safety. 

 

Describe the Students

I teach students with many different special needs exceptionalities (ESE) who all would like to learn how to get a job of their own.

We deeply appreciate YOU in advanced for your consideration with funding of this grant project as well as the support of The Hartford.  

 

Budget Narrative

To purchase items from Amazon.com that will help provide fire safety education, supports, and safety for our students and staff at up to 3 program sites. 

 

Items