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feature
Hero’
AN ‘UNSUNG
Partnership Provides Job Skills to Underserved Students
Above: Leah Coleman, a Tupelo Public School District (TPSD) graduate, scans leg pumps in 2020 at North Mississippi Medical Center (NMMC) as part of
Carl Smith
A
Project SEARCH Mississippi student
lifetime of success can
students so they can successfully
internships. Coleman is one of three
come down to whether
transition into adulthood.
TPSD graduates recently hired by the
someone has access to
the right skills and opportunities, and a partnership between the Mississippi Department of Rehabilitation Services
hospital for full-time positions. She preSince its 2018 launch at Jackson’s University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC), almost 100 participants with disabilities or other special
(MDRS), local health care providers
needs have graduated from Project
and numerous schools across the
SEARCH Mississippi, a nine-month
state is providing employment skills
employment preparation program
and workforce opportunities to a seg-
that immerses learners in workplace
ment of traditionally underserved
internships at seven local hospitals.
School Focus
18
viously completed an internship in the hospital’s sterile processing division. Photo by Adam Robison, Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
Summer 2021
