2024 Spring and Summer Leisure Times

The new 2024 Spring/Summer Leisure Times is here!!  Explore the new opportunities, and sign up TODAY!  Spaces fill up quickly, so don’t miss your chance to register now. Spring/Summer 2024 Leisure program registration is now open!  To view a complete copy of the Spring/Summer 2024 Leisure Times Brochure, Click Here.  The registration deadline is Friday, April 5, 2024. …

two young men work in a lush green garden

Summer Teen Project in the City

Experiences to Build Skills for the Future! As a teenager with a disability, the goal of post-high school employment can seem huge. The St. Louis Arc provides a summer project, Neighborhood Experiences, which supports teens in identifying their post-graduation goals and in building the skills needed to achieve them.    What Makes This Different Than Summer…

round logo says The Council on Quality and Leadership CQL Accredited

Connecting at the Neighborhood Beauty Shop

The Neighborhood Experiences summer project is a steppingstone for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, ages 16-21, on their way to employment. Arc participants serve as volunteers with organizations or businesses they are interested in and practice hard and soft employment skills while making meaningful community connections. Through this experience, 14-year-old Arc participant A’Leah discovered…

Tech Connects

Eric, a young man with Down’s Syndrome and an intellectual disability, is always on the move. With family activities, pickleball, basketball, karate, and other community involvement pulling him in several different directions, he found himself overwhelmed with a busy schedule to wrangle. All that planning takes time! Adding to this stress, Eric sometimes forgot whether…

Chakeeta – Empowered for a Good Life

  12,844 steps. That’s how many steps Chakeeta Thomas has taken today. “And it’s a light day,” laughs Chakeeta. “If I work a banquet, it’s always more.” Chakeeta is determined, resilient, with indefatigable energy. And, as her friends will say: she steps up.  A caseworker connected Chakeeta with St. Louis Arc when she was still…

Baby Doll and Stuffed Animal Bears

Giving Tree 2023

Each year families who participate in our Capable Kids and Family (CKF) and Parents Learning Together (PLT) programs receive holiday gifts as part of the annual St. Louis Arc Giving Tree. As we approach the holiday season, the Arc partners with businesses and individuals in the St. Louis community who buy gifts off a child’s…

A Little (Tech) Magic

Aging with Empowerment (AWE) participant Retha has a special love of all things Disney. In addition to enjoying Disney movies, she’s visited Disney World and longs to travel there again. “Retha would love to go back to Disney someday, but it wasn’t something she could do right now,” says Stephen Turner, coordinator of AWE North…

Sampling What’s Next

Kele says he loves cooking, so making lunch for himself and other participants in the NextED Challenge program this past summer was easy. But other learning activities have proven useful in helping the 19-year-old community college student tackle new challenges. “I learned about using the public bus system, for one thing,” he says. “And managing…

Getting the Best Early Start

    They call her Itsy, after the Itsy Bitsy Spider. She does hard things every day — sometimes exhausting therapies — but Itsy is determined and smiling. “When Itsy started with therapy, she couldn’t hold her head up or track things with her eyes,” recalls Shamecka, Itsy’s mom. “She needed all this equipment and toys that we were…

A young man sits in a chair at work

Pre-Employment Training for Future Success

Pre-employment training goes beyond teaching job-specific skills. It aims to develop well-rounded individuals who are confident, joyful, and equipped with a range of employment skills. At the St. Louis Arc, the Pre-Employment Training program is a one-year program that helps individuals grow and refine their skills to work toward successful employment. Building Skills The program…