Building lifelong skills through the BOSS program

Not only is Grace Burrows participating in the Business Opportunity School for Success (BOSS) for the second time, but she’s also looking to make the leap from Transition & Young Adult Program (TYAP) to Supported Employment. That’s a shift that Transition & Young Adult Program Manager Kyla Parkins is hoping becomes more common as the program continues.

“Clients don’t have to be limited to participating in just one program at The Arc,” Parkins said. By the name alone, individuals aren’t expected to continue in TYAP forever, but it’s exciting to have people like Burrows take that momentum and confidence and carry it forward with them in life.

The BOSS entrepreneur program has only been around since 2019, but this is the first time there have been repeat participants. BOSS has two parts: going over skills in a classroom environment and then the participants become employee entrepreneurs as the product creation and sales portion of the program gets underway. The course covers aspects of handling money, making products, following instructions, building confidence in talking to people, and tracking inventory. All those important skills are tools that will come in handy throughout their lives.

Burrows is soft-spoken when you first meet her, but she is a keen observer with an eye for detail. Over the last year, she has been busy getting experience volunteering and interning around the Spokane area before she graduates high school in the spring.

Her Supported Employment specialist, Stephanie Milliette, has been working with her to narrow down options for what she would like to pursue when she starts the job-hunting process. Her aim is to find a job in a bakery.

“We are currently working on plans, ideas, and building a profile to target that dream so that when she is ready to start submitting applications it will be with businesses who provide baked goods. She is also a great cake and cupcake decorator and likes doing that creative side of baking as well so she is hoping to be able to work somewhere that she could help decorate,” Milliette said.

Through her time with The Arc, Burrows has honed her experiences into lifelong skills and is excited to pursue her employment goals in the next chapter of her life.