4 minute read
ZABS Place Celebrates Nine Years of Helping Adults With Disabilities Reach Their Dreams
December 2023
By Charlie Gale
In November 2014, ZABS Place opened its doors in downtown Matthews. The goal of the nonprofit was simple: to provide job training and opportunities for young adults with disabilities in our community. ZABS was founded to address a critical need in Charlotte. With over 65,000 special needs adults in our community and an 80% unemployment rate, families were crying out for opportunities for these young people. As its 9th anniversary approaches, ZABS is taking this opportunity to look back at where they’ve been, where they are today, and what lies ahead.
When ZABS Place opened, it had only a few young adults in its training program and only the beginnings of a curriculum. Since then, they have trained over three hundred young adults and have fine-tuned their training program to track each employee’s progress toward their individualized goals. 90% of the trainees have graduated from the program, and ZABS has helped place them in other employment in the community. ZABS graduates work in various areas: at stores like Lowe’s and Harris Teeter, at bakeries like the Great Harvest Bread Company, behind the scenes at doctors’ offices, and even at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Many of these young people started at ZABS Place with no skills or experience and only a wish to become adults and join the workforce. For every one of these graduates, a job that fits their interests is a dream come true.
When ZABS Place opened, it was only a thrift store, but it has since expanded to provide programming for its trainees. The ZABSpreneurs program helps young adults create their own microbusinesses, designing and marketing products to sell throughout the community. ZABS After Hourz provides after-work social opportunities for current and former trainees. Upcycling University offers a chance for young people to hone their artistic skills as they create objects from recycled material to use both in the store and elsewhere. And ZABS Place has continued to grow. Earlier this year, they opened a furniture store right next door, which gives them more space to showcase dining room tables, bedroom sets, bookcases, and other furniture that has been donated for sale.
Looking ahead, ZABS Place plans to double the annual number of trainees in its program and hire more job coaches to assist them in learning the skills they need to be successful in the working world. They hope to increase their online presence and provide more opportunities for trainees to work in this area. They will expand their ZABSpreneur program to help more young people start their own businesses. They hope to find more partners in the wider community that will enable graduates to find their dream jobs.
ZABS Place has been successful in its mission. It regularly hears from graduates and their families, grateful for the opportunity they have received, grateful for the help with job placement and social opportunities. Without ZABS Place, many of these young people would be sitting at home, with little to do and few chances to participate in the larger life of the community. Now they have a chance to work, to learn new skills, and to show people that they are more than their disabilities.
ZABS Place was founded under the auspices of Chabad of Charlotte and inspired by the Friendship Circle.
ZABS Place is a beneficiary agency of the Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte. To learn more, visit ZABSPlace.org.
