Gift Shop Coming To King Street Part Of Employment Training For People With Disabilities

ALEXANDRIA, VA — A program seeking to boost employment for people with disabilities in Alexandria is planning to build a presence on King Street with a gift shop.

ServiceSource, a Northern Virginia-based organization that provides services for people with disabilities, veterans and seniors at locations across the country, has a program in Alexandria focused on employment skills and opportunities for those with disabilities.

The B.E.S.T. program, for participants who want to work but need to develop skills before joining the workforce, was developed in collaboration with the Joey Pizzano Memorial Fund. The fund was named in honor of a 6-year-old with developmental disabilities who died and supports programs helping children with special needs and their families.

In the B.E.S.T. program (Building Employment Solutions Together), participants can gain skills through vocational opportunities through partners in the community. There's also a chance for participants to make items and sell them in the B.E.S.T. Gift Shop at 122 S. Patrick Street.

"Everything in our gift shop is created by a person with a disability," Joel Pace, senior program manager for the B.E.S.T. program, told Patch. "One of the beautiful things about this program is that everything that's sold, the participant who created that thing gets 100 percent of the proceeds and ServiceSource absorbs taxes and everything else on that back end."

The gift shop sells a range of products from personalized art and paintings to jewelry, soaps and candles. It also carries items like clothing, tote bags and other handmade items made through ServiceSource's ArlingtonWeaves program.

Participants not only have the chance to sell their items at the store. They can learn key skills like customer service and handling sales.

"When customers do come into the shop, we have our participants come in, greet the customers, talk about the items that are sold, sometimes even just talking about the program in general," said Pace. "It's really it's really neat to see just the excitement and the pride that comes with those conversations when they're greeting customers."

ServiceSource is preparing to move its B.E.S.T. Gift Shop from Patrick Street to the corner of King and South Patrick Street in fall 2024. The new gift shop location will introduce a greater focus on creative arts and consignment opportunities, while ServiceSource's day program will remain at the current location.

"We're looking forward to having some of those [ArlingtonWeaves] artists come to the King Street site and show some of the new participants the ropes on how to make some of those items," said Amanda Smedley, a director at ServiceSource. "So that's going to be, you know, a new opportunity that they can have."

Along with bringing ArlingtonWeaves participants to the gift shop, ServiceSource is seeking partnerships with local artists, local arts organizations and community members. Interested artists can reach out to [email protected].

The B.E.S.T. Gift Shop is part of ServiceSource's Alexandria day program site serving people with disabilities. Along with day activities, the location focuses on helping participants build employment skills and find job opportunities, according to Smedley.

"We're really looking to provide a person-centered approach, because not everybody with a disability needs the same thing," said Smedley. "[Alexandria] and the B.E.S.T. program is focusing on individuals with disabilities that have expressed their desire to work and to have employment of their choosing."

ServiceSource works with community partners to provide work for program participants looking to build their employability skills. One of these partnerships is with Pizzano Contractors, a family-run general contractor and property services company based in Alexandria. Participants with ServiceSource provide janitorial services to Pizzano Contractors.

"They not only did a good job at the task they provide, but they are they add a lot to the ambiance and the atmosphere when they do come in," Paola Pizzano of Pizzano Contractors told Patch. "The Pizzano Contractors employees appreciate that, and they say it brightens their day and it makes them better people to see other people so enthusiastic about the jobs that they do."

Paola Pizzano believes there is a misconception about people with disabilities' employability.

"I think one of the most important obstacles that they have is people's view of individuals with disabilities and what they can't do, where B.E.S.T. emphasizes what they are able to do, and that they can get their foot in the door and that they are deserving of an opportunity to go in and work and try a job or a task," said Pizzano.

Another partnership involving the B.E.S.T. program is with the Link co-working space. Because the B.E.S.T. program is relatively new, it is in the process of building more local partnerships and hopes for more contracts to be finalized in July or August.

Smedley says a challenge for people with disabilities, like many other people face, is making the connection with employers. She says employers will get hard workers who want to build more independence and increase their confidence.

"I think it can be a little bit more challenging for individuals with disabilities to find those opportunities that are the right fit for them out there," said Smedley. "And so certainly, we're not looking for somebody to make an exception for us and to provide a job for somebody with a disability, because they think that would be nice to do. We are helping individuals learn skills that are going to be beneficial for the companies and for the small businesses and for everything that we're looking at. So it's a mutual partnership that the individuals that attend our program have a lot to give.

The B.E.S.T. program also has a small business spotlight component, which helps introduce participants to how businesses are run.

"We target small businesses, small and local businesses within the area, and we what we do is we set up opportunities for them to tour the business, to receive a presentation on how businesses run the application process, the skills that need to be present for an opportunity like that," said Pace. "We'll spotlight that business for a month, and we have a stand outside of our gift shop, and it's basically free marketing for that business. So it's also an opportunity to just expose the participants that we support to a wide variety and a plethora of opportunities that are out there for them."

The B.E.S.T. program serves as a "bridge" to where participants feel comfortable to pursue employment only without the day program elements. Pace pointed to a program participant who transitioned out of B.E.S.T. and is now at a group-supported job at one of ServiceSource's enclave sites.

"That, to me, is kind of like the ultimate success story, when we're supporting somebody who is on a job site, and they're they're integrated into the community, and then they've moved on, because they have developed skills that they've learned here," said Pace.

Other ServiceSource sites in Northern Virginia may focus on different services, such as occupational therapy, speech therapy, and a wellness center for older adults. At Fairfax County's Frying Pan Park, participants can volunteer at the farm or work at a cafe or small store at the farm.