Howard Prep, formerly Howard Training Center in Ceres, is in a rebuild mode. After COVID shut down the entire program it’s been slow getting developmentally disabled adults to show up for training and job placement.
On Wednesday a Ceres Chamber of Commerce event highlighted the center’s revival and improvements to Howard Prep’s 7,000-square-foot Witmer Hall. The hall sports new paint, a polished floor, a new $235,000 roof and revamped bathrooms. It is being offered as a community event center which can once again be rented out for parties, wedding receptions, corporate events, meetings, community meals and quinceañeras .
Officials with Howard Prep introduced their re-visioning of the program and displayed architectural renderings of future projects, which include a library and computer center to teach resume skills and facilitate job searches.
Janelle Santos, a Howard Prep board member explained that fundraising efforts are underway. NANOE, the National Association of Nonprofit Organizations, will coach them on the most effective ways to raise money to accomplish their goals.
In addition, Howard Prep sold some of its property for working capital.
Post COVID pandemic, Howard Prep now has built back the numbers of participants and today about 96 folks with special needs receiving support through its programs.
Brandie Montez, a manager of programs at Howard Prep, is administrator of the Home At Last program, one of two in California that places adults with special needs host families.
The Community Integration Program allows individuals to visit various job sites, learn independence and social skills and opportunities to volunteer in the community.
A total of 26 individuals are in the day program and 13 in the Home at Last program.
According to Jesus Munoz, executive director of the Stonum Road facility, most of Howard Prep’s funding comes from the Valley Mountain Regional Center. Other income comes from contracting out the services of clients. For example, Caltrans uses clients to clean up the two Highway 99 rest stops south of Turlock and for landscape maintenance.
Howard Prep continues to use its massive industrial kitchen to employ special needs workers to prepare food under contract, one being Central Valley PACE which offers free meals and services to seniors in Stanislaus County.
Through contract, Howard Prep clients also work for Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties to deliver meals to those in behavioral health and recovery programs as well as seniors in the PACE program.
The program took a hit because of changes in state law that affected the center’s ability to pay a special minimum-wage to a worker with a disabilities based on productivity, no matter how limited, in proportion to the wage and productivity of experienced nondisabled workers performing essentially the same type, quality, and quantity of work. The result was the kitchen closed for a time until some of the clients could be hired as employees.
