​We are celebrating our April Participant of the Month, Maggie!

​Participant of the Month is awarded by nominations from both peers and staff for individuals who have clearly demonstrated one or more of our three R’s: responsibility, resilience, and respect. Here are some of what people had to say about Maggie’s RESPONSIBILITY:

A staff member shared, “Maggie has hosted and organized an unbelievably successful birthday bash for the past two months. Her creativity has increased our engagement levels for the birthday bash!"

When asked why she has been recognized as Participant of the Month, Maggie shared, “I think I was recognized because of my involvement in the birthday bashes." 
 
Maggie graduated from MICC's College Program in 2017 and is an active participant in MICC's Community Program. She is involved in Retro Crafting, MICC's Next Top Chef, and Journaling electives. She also leads a biweekly Sensory Club on Saturdays, and shared, "I love learning new stress relief techniques and sharing them with others."

Congratulations, Maggie!

​Minnesota Independence College and Community is a 501(c)3 nonprofit vocational and life skills training program for young adults with learning differences and autism spectrum disorders. Since our founding in 1996, MICC has remained dedicated to helping our students make successful transitions towards independent living and self-sufficiency. MICC is proud to be recognized as one of the Top Workplaces in Minnesota by the Star Tribune.

Media inquiries can be sent to marketing@miccommunity.org.

We are celebrating our February Participant of the Month, Cole!

​Participant of the Month is awarded by nominations from both peers and staff for individuals who have clearly demonstrated one or more of our three R’s: responsibility, resilience, and respect. Here are some of what people had to say about Cole’s RESPECT:

A peer wrote, “He always cares and asks how everyone is. He is very kind-hearted.”

Additionally, a staff member shared, “Cole demonstrates respect daily. He always asks his peers and staff how they are doing (and asks follow-up questions)! He is a great participant in class and respects the opinions of his peers.”

When asked why he has been recognized as Participant of the Month, Cole shared, “I think I was recognized as participant of the month because I am respectful and I like to ask people about their day and help others.”
 
Cole’s favorite thing about MICC are “the socials. Especially going to the zoo.” Two fun facts about him are that he likes holding doors for other people and he likes anime.

Congratulations, Cole!

Elissa Beard graduated from the MICC College Program in 2016 and recently celebrated another graduation, receiving her associate degree in Early Childhood Development at Liberty University. She was able to hop onto Zoom for a quick call reflecting on how MICC helped put her on the path she’s on today and what she’s looking forward to in the future.  

Elissa’s passion and success in her Early Childhood Development career find their roots in her time at MICC when she began working at a preschool. “I started volunteering my time when I was a part of MICC,” she explains, “and then they hired me two years later and I had fell in love with the job.” Knowing that a degree is required to work with young children, Elissa knew that her years at MICC were to prepare her for pursuing her associate degree one day. MICC prepared her to succeed at Liberty by strengthening her time management and organizational skills which Elissa claims was most important when balancing her classes and work schedule. 

The experience was immediately different as she wasn’t as active on campus, “I was working at the preschool Wooddale Academy at the time while doing my school online. So, I took one class at a time.” Like many participants in the College program, Elissa lived in the on-campus apartments for all three  years at MICC. She mentioned that her apartment mentor, Julia Smith, was a significant support for her throughout her journey, saying, “She was my mentor for all three years. She encouraged me spiritually; she had this great spirit in her that I admire in her.” ​

Though difficult at first, Elissa used her faith and positivity as motivation, stating “It was my ultimate goal to get this degree. I felt like the Lord wanted me to use the gifts that I had to be a blessing towards other people.” For other students at MICC considering pursuing additional education, Elissa’s biggest piece of advice is to keep an optimistic outlook. “Follow your heart and never give up in life because you don’t know if you’re capable of doing this.” she urges. “If you say you can do it, you can do it but if you say ‘Oh I can’t do it’ well then you're not going to reach what you want to do in life.” Taking her advice, from just one conversation, it is evident when talking to the recent graduate that her positive attitude has gotten her exactly where she wants to be.  
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Passionate about working with children and excited about the opportunities her journey with MICC and Liberty University have prepared her for, Elissa is ready for the next steps in life. Currently, she works at Wooddale Academy in Eden Prairie with students aged 3-4 and enjoys helping with art projects the most. When considering what the future has in store for her, Elissa shares that she thinks, “What's next for me is to be an assistant teacher along with doing mission work too. I think God has really nudged my spirit to go to do mission work too.” She would like to thank her friends Bang Schneider, Erin Manoles, Courtney, Ashley, Jeremy, Elizabeth, and all her coworkers at Wooddale Academy for their support now and moving forward. Everyone at MICC is very proud of Elissa’s accomplishments and wishes her the best of luck moving forward. Congratulations Elissa!  ​

For media inquiries please contact Katherine Sjeklocha at ksjeklocha@miccommunity.org. 
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Minnesota Independence College & Community is a 501(c)3 nonprofit vocational and life skills training program for young adults with learning differences and autism spectrum disorders. Since our founding in 1996, MICC has remained dedicated to helping our students make successful transitions towards independent living and self sufficiency. MICC is proud to be recognized as one of the Top Workplaces in Minnesota by the Star Tribune.

The Committee organizes monthly trainings for all MICC staff August through April based on suggestions from program staff to continue developing their skills and understanding of how to best support students based on best practices and experts from the community. Some training topics this year included:

• ASD Evidenced-Based Practices and COVID-19,
• Sensory Differences and ASD,
• ASD and Cultural Sensitivity, and
• Developmental Perspective on Sexuality.

Additionally, the Autism Committee was responsible for our incredible conversation with Dr. Temple Grandin (click here to read more about our takeaways from our meeting).

Over the past two years, an average of 80% of respondents to our year end evaluation indicated that they had used some form of evidenced-based practice in their work as a result of our trainings. The Autism Committee will continue to look to MICC staff and participants to identify training needs that will have a meaningful impact on our community.

The Autism Committee members are an invaluable resource to ensure MICC is able to provide participants in all programs positive and appropriate learning opportunities and experiences that will support in their independence.

Questions about training, interested in resources or have suggestions on training topics? ​Email autismcommittee@miccommunity.org.

Meet Dustin, a senior in the College Program at MICC! We are excited to announce that Dustin has been named the first recipient of the new Participant of the Month program!

He is active in his community by volunteering in his free time with the Autism Mentorship Program (AMP), the MICC Mentoring Program and is currently the student representative for MICC's Positive Behavior Intervention Supports (PBIS). Peers and staff recognized Dustin for being responsible by completing tasks independently and respecting others by listening before speaking.
We are so happy to recognize Dustin in our rejuvenated Participant of the Month program. Congratulations, Dustin!

Read more about Dustin in his own words below: 

​"I am Dustin Schmidt and I am currently a senior. My favorite thing about being at MICC is that you start as a freshman learning how to take care of yourself and cook, then in a junior year you get a feel for the certificate program and work in areas that are related to it, then in senior year, you get to find yourself a job. Electives I'm currently involved in are Walk, Jog and Run, Seasonal Sports, Rock band, Lego Masters, along with being involved in the MICC Mentorship Program as a mentee, being a mentor in AMP or Autism Mentorship Program, and am the Student Representative in PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention System). 


Two fun facts about me are I'm always musical and I like to have a good sense of humor and I think I was picked as the participant of the month because of my resiliency by being flexible in my schedule, my responsibility by doing my tasks a lot without being asked and my respect by respecting others' decisions and letting them talk first before me."

Richfield, MN July 2, 2020—Minnesota Independence College and Community has been named one of the Top Workplaces in Minnesota by the Star Tribune. A complete list of those selected is available at StarTribune.com/topworkplaces and was published in the Star Tribune Top Workplaces special section on Sunday, June 28.
 
Produced by the same team that compiles the 29-year-old Star Tribune 100 report of the best-performing public companies in Minnesota, Top Workplaces recognizes the most progressive companies in Minnesota based on employee opinions measuring engagement, organizational health and satisfaction. The analysis included responses from over 76,000 employees at Minnesota public, private and nonprofit organizations.
 
The results of the Star Tribune Top Workplaces are based on survey information collected by Energage, an independent company specializing in employee engagement and retention.
 
Star Tribune Publisher Michael J. Klingensmith said, “The companies in the
Star Tribune Top Workplaces deserve high praise for creating the very best work environments in the state of Minnesota. My congratulations to each of these exceptional companies.” 
 
Minnesota Independence College & Community (MICC) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit vocational and life skills training program for young adults with learning differences and autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Since our founding in 1996, MICC has remained dedicated to helping our students make successful transitions towards independent living and self-sufficiency. 
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To qualify for the Star Tribune Top Workplaces, a company must have more than 50 employees in Minnesota. Nearly 3,000 companies were invited to participate. Rankings were composite scores calculated purely on the basis of employee responses.