College of Education and School of Criminal Justice Named Jewish Family Services Community Partner of the Year

NSU’s Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice (FCE&SCJ) has been named Jewish Family Services (JFS) Community Partner of the Year!

Maribel Del Rio-Roberts,Psy.D., was in attendance at the JFS 57th Annual Meeting on May 15th to receive the award on behalf of FCE&SCJ for Community Partner of the Year.  She  has worked in collaboration with Jewish Family Services (JFS) this year to connect students in the MS in Developmental Disabilities program to employment opportunities within JFS’s newly established “BOOST” program.  The BOOST program is aimed at improving vocational and functional life skills, socialization and community integration for adults with developmental disabilities.  The program addresses a high need area in the community, while also providing an exciting real-world, paid employment opportunity for NSU students in the field of developmental disabilities.  The partnership resulted in employment for 3 MS in Developmental Disabilities students Alyda Inoa, Danielle Figg, and Nikol Rodriguez, as Skills Coaches within the program. The program is currently running for 24 weeks as a pilot for six young adults (currently ranging in age from 23-31, all on the autism spectrum), and will run another 24-week cycle for another six young adults upon completion of the first cycle.