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DRS currently funds three programs through Sugar Plum Bakery:
Employment Planning -------------------- Employee Development --------------------
Community Employment
Employment Planning-Employment planning at Sugar Plum Bakery starts with a situational assessment. Before we begin to seek employment for individuals, we need to gain an understanding for their strengths, areas for improvement, and job preferences. A situational assessment helps us find appropriate placements. During an assessment, our Employment Specialists evaluate the individual for two to four hours at a job site of their choice. The Employment Specialists work alongside the individual to ensure safety and accuracy. The Employment Specialists complete a comprehensive report that is shared with the Department of Rehabilitative Services. If DRS agrees with the findings, funds are made available for the continued training of the individual. Employee Development-We offer two programs that encompass employee development:
Work Adjustment provides individuals with a 30 to 60 day training period to address any work deficits. Issues addressed can include: hygiene, task completion, stamina, and work ethic. This program is designed for individuals who do not have job experience or have lengthy lapses in employment. Our enclave is a partnership with the City of Virginia Beach Mental Retardation Services and Sugar Plum Bakery. The enclave is designed to integrate disabled persons into a work setting with non-disabled co-workers. Our employees work five days a week performing a number of essential tasks at the bakery. In 2006 Sugar Plum Bakery developed our own in-house enclave.
We currently have 14 positions available in our enclave. The employees in the enclave work with a job coach provided by the City of Virginia Beach for the duration of their employment. Community Employment-Our Employment Specialists assist individuals with all aspects of gaining and maintaining employment. Community employment includes:
Our Employment Specialists seek job openings in the individual’s community and arrange interviews. The Employment Specialists are present at all interviews in order to assist the interviewer and the individual during the interview process. Job Coaching Once the individual has been offered a position, the Employment Specialists accompany the individual to all company sponsored training and provide additional training to ensure job success. Job coaching includes:
After 90 days of successful demonstration of job knowledge and skills, the Employment Specialists will visit the job site on a monthly basis. If problems arise, the Employment Specialists will visit the site until the situation is resolved.
Please feel free to contact the bakery and speak to one of our job specialists if you would like more information about this or any of our other programs.
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There’s an old proverb that says, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Sugar Plum Bakery does a little (okay, a lot) of both. To most of South Hampton Roads, we’re a hometown favorite for cookies and cakes, baked goods so irresistible we’ve been consistently voted “Best of the Beach” by the readers of The Virginian Pilot's Beacon. But to some area residents, we’re much, much more than that. We’re a training center. A proving ground. An all important first step to people with disabilities who have come to us, dug in, worked hard and often overcome tremendous obstacles to “bake” a special place for themselves in a working society. 
Some tasks include:
Community Placements:
Positions Held:
