The future is uncertain for a program that supports independent living for young adults with disabilities after its funding was cut.
For the past 10 years, Independent Living Nova Scotia has offered a program called Access to Community Education and Employment – or ACEE. It helps recent graduates with physical, mental or intellectual disabilities enter the workforce or get a post-secondary education.
“They could be going into education. They could be going into employment,” says Sherry Costa, the executive director of Independent Living Nova Scotia. “They could be more engaged in the community, but ultimately the goal is to have greater independence, because we have youth that are graduating, but graduating to what?”
However, Costa says she received a letter in April, notifying her that the Halifax Regional School Board was going in another direction and the ACEE program would stop receiving provincial funding on June 30.
“We were quite concerned with the outcomes for students and that means them being successful when they were finished with the program and ready to transition,” says Halifax Regional School Board spokesperson Doug Hadley.
The school board says it isn’t leaving anyone out in the cold; the Achieve Program, which already exists at five Nova Scotia Community College campuses across the province, will begin at Dartmouth’s Akerley Campus in September.
“We just see it as a great fit for students who are transitioning from high school to something else to get an opportunity to see what it’s like in a post-secondary environment,” says Hadley.
While the school board says ACEE wasn’t meeting its desired outcomes, those who have been involved with the program say that simply isn’t the case.
Costa has received a number of letters from graduates of the program, showing their support for ACEE.
“Our program, serving these specific participants who fit this need, and the program needs to continue or they’re going to be lost,” says Costa. “There was a huge gap and continues to be a gap for people with disabilities, youth that graduated from high school and looking to move into the next step of their life.”
An online petition calling on the provincial government to save the program has more than 200 signatures.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Allan April