DUNNING — When Gerald Kelleher started interning at Eli’s Cheesecake Company, he was filled with nerves.
Now, the 17-year-old is a pro at boxing cheesecakes and was able to land his first job.
Kelleher was one of four Project Wright Access graduates honored Thursday during a ceremony at the Eli’s Cheesecake facility. Started in 2022, the Project Wright Access program teaches Chicago teens who have developmental disabilities about the workforce and helps them find jobs.
Gerald’s mom, Melissa Kelleher, said the program made her son more independent.
“I think it helped him cross over from being a child to being an adult,” Melissa Kelleher said. “He immediately came home and felt like he was really a part of something.”
The program began as a partnership between Eli’s Cheesecake, Wilbur Wright College, the Chicago School for Agricultural Sciences, or Chi Ag, and Jacqueline B. Vaughn Occupational High School.
Eli’s President Marc Schulman said the cheesecake company, which has been in Dunning since 1984, has partnered with the three schools for years, conducting job shadows and teaching students about the food industry.
Three years ago, Schulman sat down with the schools’ leadership teams to discuss the creation of a more formalized job training program.
Wright College applied for grant funding through the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity‘s Job Training and Economic Development grant. Wright was awarded $300,000, and Project Wright Access was born.
Wright Access participants complete a 10-week job training class and an internship, said Noel McNally, the project coordinator for Wright Access. Participants are paid a $1,000 stipend, and cohorts typically include four to five students.
Classes are twice a week and are typically conducted at the Wright campus. During the internship, students work alongside a job coach at a nearby business one to two days a week.
Eli’s was the program’s founding business partner, and the first cohort of Wright Access students began working at the cheesecake company in fall 2022. Since then, the program has grown: Students intern at Lurie Children’s Hospital, Metropolis Coffee Roasters, Horse Thief Hallow Brewery and at a nearby Walgreens, McNally said.
Thirty students have graduated from Wright Access. At least 10 graduates have found permanent employment, including four who work at Eli’s.
Career coaches, like the one who helped Gerald Kelleher get his job at County Fair Foods in Morgan Park, work with students to connect them with jobs.
“The end goal is employment,” McNally said.
While high schools like Vaughn and Chi Ag provide specialized education and support for students with developmental disabilities, once students graduate, there is a “funding cliff,” McNally said.
Through high school, students with disabilities are protected under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Once, students graduate, their rights are protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act, which offers less educational accommodations and resources, McNally said.
According to the Bureau for Labor Statistics, in 2023, the unemployment rate for people with any kind of disability was 7.2 percent. In comparison, the unemployment rate for people without a disability was 3.5 percent. A 2014 report commissioned by the Special Olympics found 21 percent of working-age adults with development disabilities are unemployed, compared to just eight percent of adults without developmental disabilities.
The initial grant funding for Project Wright Access will expire in December. McNally said Wright College has applied for another round of funding, this time $750,000. Under the new grant, McNally hopes to partner with more local businesses, hire more program staff and expand to 40 student participants.
McNally anticipates hearing back about the grant in the next few weeks.
Gerald Kelleher will graduate from Chi Ag in less than 30 days. His mom said seeing him learn the ropes at Eli’s and then at County Fair Foods has given “big hope” for his future.
“It opened up his mind and showed him that there’s more out there than just being in school,” Melissa Kelleher said.
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