What Project SEARCH looks like:

Each day starts in a classroom where students reflect on the previous day, journaling their key learning, problem solving, and planning. The bulk of the day is spent in worksite rotations developed throughout the sites. Students end their day in the classroom, learn employability skills. The program runs for one year, on a school cycle, and is the last year before high school graduation.

Skills Trainers provide training to students for each work experience, while site supervisors and managers will provide natural supports. Students receive continual feedback from Project SEARCH staff, co-workers and supervisors. 

 The ultimate goal is to support students to be successful in their post-graduation search for competitive employment, utilizing transferable skills learned through the work experiences in the program. While we appreciate when it happens, host businesses/organizations are under no obligation to hire students once they have completed their Project SEARCH year. 

Project Search History

Project SEARCH was developed at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. In 1996, Erin Riehle, then Director of Cincinnati Children’s Emergency Department, felt because the hospital served individuals with developmental disabilities, it made sense they should commit to hiring people in this group. She wondered if it would be possible to train them to fill some of the high- turnover, entry-level positions in her department. As a starting point, Erin presented her ideas to Susie Rutkowski, then the special education director at Great Oaks Career Campuses. Erin and Susie formed a partnership that was instantaneous, and together they launched Project SEARCH.

Since its inception, Project SEARCH has grown from a single program site at Cincinnati Children’s to a large and continuously expanding international network of sites and a continuation of the primary objective to secure competitive employment for people with disabilities.