The UnityPoint Health® – Trinity Project SEARCH Program was awarded the fourth annual Happy Joe Whitty Award at Hand in Hand’s Chili Cook-Off Saturday, February 4. The award is given to a company or organization in the Quad Cities that makes hiring people with disabilities a priority and contributes to the programs that provide people with disabilities opportunities to build their confidence, self-esteem, and provide social interaction.

“Project SEARCH allows interns to learn and develop those essential job skills to be successful in the workforce,” says Stacie Kintigh, Project Search Coordinator. “It’s truly rewarding and fulfilling to see how much our interns grow from the start of the program to graduation. UnityPoint Health – Trinity is honored to have had an impact on the lives of these young adults.”

The Happy Joe Whitty Award was created in 2019 to honor Joe Whitty and all his work with the disability community. Past winners of the award include Happy Joe’s, Hy-Vee, and Lagomarcino’s and are voted on by volunteer committee members of the Chili Cook-Off.

UnityPoint Health – Trinity first offered Project SEARCH back in 2016. Since then, 35 interns have graduated from the program. In its six years, 86% of Project SEARCH graduates have met their employment goal of 16 hours per week or more and pay of minimum wage or more.      

Project SEARCH partners with North Scott, Bettendorf, and Pleasant Valley school districts and local support agencies Goodwill, Vocational Rehabilitation, and Mississippi Bend Area Education Agency to provide employment to individuals with disabilities. The program uses classroom instruction coupled with workplace internships to prepare individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities for competitive employment. A successful outcome for their interns is employment in an integrated setting (working alongside coworkers with or without disabilities), year-round work of 16 hours per week or more, and pay of minimum wage or higher.

To learn more about Project SEARCH visit https://www.unitypoint.org/quadcities/project-search.