Programming: It's What We Do.
Minnesota Life College students discover their strengths, identify their challenges, and develop strategies for living successfully on their own after graduation. MLC staff understands the many nuances of being able to find, secure, and maintain meaningful employment, and our programs are designed to provide students with real work experiences. We provide students with continued practice in our training internships to help them develop the skills and tools necessary to live independent and meaningful lives.
MLC’s Real Skills for Real Life™ competencies, curriculum and teaching strategies fill a learning gap that prevents successful employment and independent living for so many adults. We impart our core competencies—independent living skills, employment readiness and placement, and social integration and peer support—with three interconnected program components and a holistic approach.
Minnesota Life College students discover their strengths, identify their challenges, and develop strategies for living successfully on their own after graduation. MLC staff understands the many nuances of being able to find, secure, and maintain meaningful employment, and our programs are designed to provide students with real work experiences. We provide students with continued practice in our training internships to help them develop the skills and tools necessary to live independent and meaningful lives.
MLC’s Real Skills for Real Life™ competencies, curriculum and teaching strategies fill a learning gap that prevents successful employment and independent living for so many adults. We impart our core competencies—independent living skills, employment readiness and placement, and social integration and peer support—with three interconnected program components and a holistic approach.
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Our Community Living Program (CLP) is a life-long program that provides families with stable communication, structure, and guidance; and we serve an integral role in the long-term independence of their loved ones. We annually (or more frequently if needed) evaluate the needs of our members using our Real Skills for Real Life™ competencies, and we offer CLP members transition guidance, apartment-living coaching, career support, and over 80 structured social activities per month. Our CLP members are individuals with learning differences and autism spectrum disorders who have successfully completed our Undergraduate Program and are living independently in the Richfield, MN area.
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Our Undergraduate Program (UG) is an intensive, tiered education opportunity for young adults with learning differences and autism spectrum disorders. We teach students the skills necessary for long-term, independent living and employment not only in the classroom, but in their own apartment and out in the community, using our Real Skills for Real Life™ curriculum. Our campus features an apartment-living setting located in a vibrant urban community, which allows for 24-hour teaching and access to competitive employment, safe public transportation, and limitless social opportunities.
Our Summer Internship Program (SIP) is a three-week residential summer program for teens with autism spectrum disorders and learning differences whose families are preparing for high school completion. SIP introduces those teens to our Real Skills for Real Life™ curriculum in an apartment-living setting and illuminates the value and meaning of independent living and employment.
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Healthy Living Initiative
Electives offered in health cover a broad scope of health and fitness areas. Depending upon the season and quarter, the electives vary greatly but always include health classes in nutrition, physical activities at varying levels, and general wellness education in holistic health areas. Classes include core conditioning, cardio/weights, swimming, team sports, open gym, yoga, tai chi, and more at our community partner the Southdale YMCA. Other electives offered on campus and in the local area include biking, walking club, meditation and guided relaxation techniques, rock climbing, disc golf, winter sports, skiing, and even some leisure sports activities like bowling. This year we will be featuring a wide variety of new Holistic Studies electives such as "going gluten free, cultural cooking, mood-stabilizing nutrition, and other topics with community partners like Nutritional Weight and Wellness in St. Paul.
While MLC commits a great amount of energy and scrutiny over its established methods and routines to develop independent living skills in its curriculum through independent living specialist and career development programming, the evening and weekend programming is dynamic and adaptable to the ever-changing social context with which each new class of freshman brings. With the emergence of new technologies and related addictions, we pay attention to their impact on student health and tenancies toward sedentary lifestyles which lead to chronic diseases compounded by poor activity choices. For this reason, all students engage in positive health related electives multiple times per week. We also understand that some students will need to adjust to this schedule and sometimes a completely new lifestyle so the student and advisor work together each quarter to select activities and make accommodations as needed.
While MLC commits a great amount of energy and scrutiny over its established methods and routines to develop independent living skills in its curriculum through independent living specialist and career development programming, the evening and weekend programming is dynamic and adaptable to the ever-changing social context with which each new class of freshman brings. With the emergence of new technologies and related addictions, we pay attention to their impact on student health and tenancies toward sedentary lifestyles which lead to chronic diseases compounded by poor activity choices. For this reason, all students engage in positive health related electives multiple times per week. We also understand that some students will need to adjust to this schedule and sometimes a completely new lifestyle so the student and advisor work together each quarter to select activities and make accommodations as needed.
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Preparation For Meaningful Employment
Since MLC's inception, a program goal has always been for students and graduates to find meaningful paid employment that utilizes their skills. 90% of our students graduate with paid employment (last year it was 100%!), a statistic that stands in stark contrast to the incredibly high rate of unemployment among individuals with autism and learning differences as a whole. But, in an effort to ensure MLC remains competitive in the field of post-secondary programs for individuals with special needs, to better respond to changes in the vocational world, to offer more opportunities for students and graduates to specialize in a career field, and to give them more tools to compete successfully in the work force, MLC has partnered with Century College to provide career certificate programs as part of our curriculum!
Both students and graduates will select a career certificate program, carefully selected based on workforce need, appropriate community partners, potential for hiring, and skill set. After completing this certificate, which can be obtained with one semester of coursework, students or graduates will have both a Century College certificate, as well 35 Continuing Education credits, which potentially may be transferable to other institutions. For the '17-'18 school year, the three certificate programs are culinary, hospitality and retail, with new certificate programs being added yearly.
Both students and graduates will select a career certificate program, carefully selected based on workforce need, appropriate community partners, potential for hiring, and skill set. After completing this certificate, which can be obtained with one semester of coursework, students or graduates will have both a Century College certificate, as well 35 Continuing Education credits, which potentially may be transferable to other institutions. For the '17-'18 school year, the three certificate programs are culinary, hospitality and retail, with new certificate programs being added yearly.
