Southland Mall Class

The "Southland Mall Community Classroom" is designed to give young adult students with disabilities vocational training opportunities to improve in social, vocational, and work skills in a "real life" setting.

The Southland Mall Class offers students four different retail or restaurant work experiences per year with the Southland Mall:

     1st Experience:  September - November
     2nd Experience:  November - February
     3rd Experience:  February - April
     4th Experience:  April - June

The program is usually a one year placement.  The students are given the opportunity to formulate some likes and dislikes about different types of job placements they may like to pursue in the future:

     Retail
     Food Service

Students continue to work on their work adjustment skill development and social skill development while in the community.  Students who demonstrate the ability to work independently are placed at different sites throughout the mall:

     Best Buy
     Children's Place
     Foot Action
     Footlocker
     Kid's Footlocker
     Lady's Footlocker
     Macy's
     Olga's
     Rue 21

The student typically work directly with the mall employers and employees.  The primary focus of the program is to prepare students for jobs requiring entry-level vocational skills.