Programs
Community Learning Program
The Community Learning Program is to meet the needs of intellectually disabled individuals in the community. The program is currently both an onsite and an offsite program. Offsite it is located in an apartment in the community. This gives participants a unique opportunity to meet and work with other community members. CLP provides it's participants with community work and recreation experiences as well as individual instruction in functional/life skills training. The program is designed to support these activities.
The Green Team is a lawn mowing operation that provides participants with actual work experience in the community. Various individuals are selected two to three times a week to mow lawns. The Green Team maintains a lawn care contract for four residential homes. During each outing, four Gateway Resources participants are involved.
Various participants have the opportunity to have work experience in the community. We have Triple E contracts to fill on a daily basis; we have a community placement at Hangers Fashion Warehouse, Video Stop in both Winkler and Morden, and Triangle Oasis.
Recreation opportunities also make up a portion of the program. Activities such as low impact aerobics, walks in the park, picnics, mini-golf, and bowling are enjoyed by the participants and are a good source of physical activity.
The instruction that takes place during the Community Learning Programming includes such topics as personal care, safety, money recognition, time concepts, emotions, peer interactions, basic reading and writing, shopping, and other functional/life skills. The goal of this instruction is to help the participants to live more independently.
The future for the CLP is optimistic. Individualized programs aimed at meeting the specialized needs of participants have challenged the program to grow and try new activities. We anticipate that many more opportunities will become possible as the program meets the needs of more individuals.