The EVOLVE Program is located in El Segundo, California.
The EVOLVE program is a Regional Center vendor program (Harbor Regional Center and possible Courtesy vendorship with other Regional Centers)
The Program
The EVOLVE into the workforce program is for adults with Autism and other neurodiverse profiles who are
● Motivated and have a personal goal of employment
The program is an eleven month program, with in person group sessions Monday-Wednesday that start at 8am and end at 12pm and Thursdays 8am-11am. We accept up to sixteen adults per EVOLVE program cycle.The program starts each year in the third week of August.
The program has twenty courses that allow the adult seeking employment to learn, develop and grow in areas that benefit the adults' access to employment and their long term life goals.
The courses range from soft skills, interview skills and career exploration to emotional intelligence, personal growth and person centered planning.
EVOLVE is located in a busy working office space that allows EVOLVE to structure the program in a format that reflects the expectations, realities of a working environment.
The adults entering the program have an opportunity to discuss and explore everything they need to ensure their personal goals for employment can be realized.
We promote and mentor adults in Identifying and developing soft skills needed for employment as well as:
Understanding and awareness of employee expectations
Social confidence and ease and ways to advocate for needs in the workplace setting
How to identify what accommodations support the individuals needs and ask for them
What careers/ jobs are a good fit for the adult
How the young adults skills and strengths match the job they want
What it means to work, be an employee and the problem solving, collaboration and time management skills needed to organize and sustain a working day
In addition, EVOLVE promotes the awareness of and development in all aspects of emotional intelligence.
The program has been ongoing since 2017 and as a result we have outcome data:
Between: 2017-2022 (groups were a max of 8-12)
48 participants (current 2023-2024 cohort ongoing)
Employed: 25
In Active Internships: 17
Micro Business Development: 1
Chose not to pursue competitive employment: 5
Who Benefits from the program?
❖ Regional Center Participants- 18 years and older
❖ Regional Center Participants- who identify a personal goal for employment
❖ Regional Center Participants- who can work in group settings and feel comfortable with group instruction
❖ Regional Center Participants- who want to learn, develop and explore their own personal growth and development
*Please note the EVOLVE Program is a referral based program, this allows you and your service coordinator to assess if the program reflects and meets your needs, once a Service Coordinator refers an adult to the program we meet for an intake meeting. The meeting allows the EVOLVE program to assess if the adult’s needs are a fit for the program. The adult also meets with us, hears about the program so they can decide if the program is a good fit for their needs.
The Paid Internship Program - Intern to employee
The EVOLVE program includes a paid internship program, funded by the Regional Center. The program supports adults at EVOLVE as they explore and gain insight and work experience in their chosen career/job. The EVOLVE program is responsible for partnering with the adult, in securing an internship and supporting the adult throughout the internship into potential employment.
Please note: Internships are customized, unique to each adult and are based on the EVOLVE participants’, employment goals and chosen occupation.
Some examples of EVOLVE participants' internships are: Graphic Designer, Researcher, Accounting, Data Entry, Videographer, Production Assistant, Grocery Clerk, Retail associate, Office Administration and too many more to mention here.
● All interns receive a competitive hourly wage commensurate with the specific jobs entry level typical wage
For information on THE EVOLVE PROGRAM, please contact your service coordinator at your Regional Center