The Votes Are In!
2023 Readers' Choice is back, bigger and better than ever!
View Winners → 
AbilityFirst Teaches Life Skills to Help People With Disabilities Reach Potential
Arcadia Weekly Jul 08, 2015
by
share with
– Lawrence L Frank program participants up at Camp Paivika during the winter ski session 2 Courtesy Photo
By May S. Ruiz
A mark of a truly remarkable and unforgettable learning experience is when students go back to the same school to teach there. While AbilityFirst is not technically an educational institution, it is a place for individuals with disabilities to gain knowledge and life skills. And “alums” often return to AbilityFirst to volunteer their time and service, which could lead to part- or full-time employment. Indeed, this has become a common occurrence.
AbilityFirst was established as the Crippled Children’s Society of Southern California in 1926 by members of the Los Angeles Rotary Club, to assist kids with polio. In 2000, it adopted the name AbilityFirst to better reflect their broader mission of helping children and adults with physical and developmental disabilities reach their full potential by providing recreational and socialization programs, employment, accessible housing, and camping.
Eight community centers with various locations in Southern California offer children assistance with homework as part of their afterschool enrichment program. The staff of AbilityFirst also engages youth from ages five to 22, with activities in basic life skills, education, adaptive recreation, and day trips. These children also participate in exercise and music programs. A majority of the centers are equipped with swimming pools where aquatic fitness exercises are held to help youngsters and adults keep fit.
Mike Barkyoumb, Director of the Lawrence L. Frank Center in Pasadena, said that when he first joined AbilityFirst 16 years ago, activities at the facility were bingo and finger painting. His past experience as Senior Director at the YMCA taught him that it was possible to include sports in their program. The center now has such diverse offerings as basketball, kayaking, parasailing, surfing, even skiing in winter! Providing recreational pursuits to maintain a healthy lifestyle for people with disabilities is of paramount importance to AbilityFirst. Well planned, safe supervision makes it possible for them to participate in and enjoy any mainstream activity.
A cornerstone of AbilityFirst’s plan to serve individuals with disabilities is their employment assistance program. According to Chris Otero, AbilityFirst Manager of Partnership Development, adult services include supported employment by developing specific job competency that applies to individuals’ interests and talents which they can utilize for future occupations. AbilityFirst operates three work centers in Los Angeles, Pasadena, and Woodland Hills, where Employment Specialists help adults with disabilities acquire skills that would be needed by partner companies. They also assist with pre-employment interviews, and provide on-the-job training; coaches make sure each person’s abilities match employer requirements. Some of the business services they offer that meet corporate prerequisites include assembly, secure document shredding, packaging, sorting, collating and mailing. Some of the adults they trained have successfully found jobs with DirectTV, Ralph’s Supermarkets, and Macy’s.
Rounding out AbilityFirst’s programs is Camp Paivika (a Native American word meaning “Dawn”) in the San Bernardino Mountains. It was begun in 1946 by the Rotary Club as one of the first full-accessible camps in the United States and has been in active operation since. Otero said AbilityFirst took on the running of the camp through state funding which terminated in 2009. Today Camp Paivika is maintained through endowments from donors and fund-raising efforts by community members who capitalize the $50,000 annually needed to keep it open.
Going to summer camps helps children develop social and communications skills as they participate in activities with other kids. It helps individuals build character and gain self-respect as they become responsible for their own safety and survival in a setting outside their comfort zone. Camp Paivika offers this same independence and self-reliance for children, teens, and adults with physical and developmental disabilities. Specially-trained members of AbilityFirst staff provide assistance and guidance as campers enjoy all the fun activities available to them – archery, arts & crafts, campfires and cookouts, nature hikes, horseback-riding, swimming. This year they will have nine summer sessions, and will be open during weekends in winter. It is fully accredited by the American Camp Associatio.
AbilityFirst currently runs two group homes in Pasadena for adults and seniors with disabilities, and ten affordable, accessible apartment complexes.
In its 90 years of existence, AbilityFirst has touched thousands of lives and has made it possible for people with disabilities become productive, participating members of society. The experience these individuals gain at AbilityFirst leaves a lasting impression when they move on. According to Jenny Valadez, Program Supervisor at AbilityFirst Lawrence L. Frank Center in Pasadena, their “alums” usually come back to volunteer, and sometimes eventually join the staff. These “graduates” were just like the new arrivals as they first stepped in the doors of the community center. Their lives have come full circle, except they now have the capability to pass on the knowledge and skills they acquired.
This must be a supremely gratifying outcome for the founding Rotarians, which include Lawry’s The Prime Rib originator, Lawrence L. Frank, whose grandson Richard R. Frank continues the noble mission they started almost 90 years ago!
