Center provides opportunities for people with disabilities

BY WENDY SCHEURING

Brevard Achievement Center (BAC) has been expanding its presence as it remains an important and well-known cornerstone of the community.

Solidified more than 50 years ago, the nonprofit organization has been at the same location at 1845 Cogswell St. in Rockledge. Begun in 1968, the center is a place where the disabled in the community can go to seek employment and sharpen their job skills as well as life skills.

“Our mission is to provide persons with disabilities innovative services and opportunities to achieve personal success,” said Keri Goff, the director of community relations of BAC, which is housed on a five-building campus.

The nonprofit organization’s growth has outpaced its original campus size.

“We outgrew the space we had, so we bought the lot next door and built a new 10,000-square-foot building,” Goff said. “We are expanding our footprint.”

She said that BAC, a member of the Cocoa Beach Regional Chamber of Commerce, will have a ribbon cutting for the new facility at a future date, which is yet to be determined.

BAC has an employment side and a personal development side.

“We are hiring individuals,” said Goff, who has worked at BAC for the past four years. “Five hundred fifty out of 750 employees (hired by BAC) have a significant disability.”

On the program side, we take a participant who is not a BAC employee and place them into the community through training.”

BAC pays for their on-the-job training, which is approximately eight to 10 weeks, with hopes of them receiving employment afterward or, at the very least, work experience that can proudly appear on a resume. BAC offers additional programs, such as an adult day training program, where people can receive employment assistance, job coaching, pre-employment training, guidance in entering the workforce, as well as life enrichment skills, building self-esteem, and even art programs.

“We focus on the individual person,” Goff said

The Brevard Achievement Center is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information, call 321-632-8610 or go to bacemploy.com. SL