The Salad Days of Job Training

The Farm Store is an organic restaurant and market Culver City providing supported job training for 30 young people, many of whom are developmentally or emotionally disabled. It is sponsored and supported by the nonprofit Educational Resource and Service Center, a diagnostic and therapy center, also in Culver City.

The store was founded in 1991 to provide vocational training to ERAS Center students 14 and older in a public work environment. The daily staff includes a special education teacher who gives out daily assignments, a store manager and full-time, nondisabled kitchen professionals. The Farm Store’s clientele include Sony Studios and Culver City municipal employees.

BARBARA CULL: Executive director, ERAS center, developer of Farm Store

The Farm Store is a way for me to change public opinion about people who have disabilities by having them work with the public to show what they can do.

Every student, whether they have a high or low IQ, can learn to do a job at The Farm Store. Some students chop vegetables for salads, some work the cash register and others help develop the store’s marketing plan. Everyone is contributing and all of the money generated by the Farm Store goes back into the ERAS Center.

Students learn about good nutrition and proper eating habits by making healthy foods at the restaurant and by planting a garden. They also learn about environmental concerns by using organic vegetables and implementing a recycling program.

The Farm Store speaks to many of the things that I wanted to achieve when I started The ERAS Center. I wanted a cause and effect change in the systems [school] that serve children. Students need to learn how to be independent, work together and how to be accountable for their actions. In the past schools haven’t modeled that concept.

Students come here to heal or to acquire the tools they need to be successful. We help students realize their dreams.

JEFF ALZINA: Special education teacher, Farm Store instructor

When the kids first come into the program they are very shy. Working with the public really opens them up. They learn many communication skills just by meeting new people at the Farm Store every day. The community response to this program is awesome.

* Interviews by Mary G. Wentz