Just outside Chicago, a family-run coffee kiosk is making sure developmentally challenged adults get job training to help them succeed in the working world.

“I don’t know much about coffee, but I think it’s good.”

Those are the words of 18-year old Jacob Metrick. With the help of his mom, Gail, Metrick recently opened a coffee shop outside of Chicago that helps train developmentally challenged adults for life in the working world.

The shop is called Perk Center Café, and it’s really just a small drink kiosk inside a community center in Glenville, Illinois, but the Metricks are out to make a big difference in their employee’s lives.

The café serves coffee, tea, bottled drinks, and prepackaged salads and sandwiches. Of the 16 current workers, more than half have developmental disabilities that range from epilepsy and Down Syndrome to autism. Workers are paired with tasks suited to their abilities and preferences and follow check lists to complete each task.

Employee Julie Schneider is one such employee. She likes to arrange and restock the to-go cups, lids, and soup containers, so she works for one hour each week following a step-by-step approach as her mother looks on.

“The more skills she learns, the more capable she’ll be to go into a volunteer position or possibly paid employment down the road,” said Julie’s mother, Susan Schneider.

In the mind to help out

Jacob Metrick says he got the idea for the café about a year ago while heading home from the community center’s fitness area. He noticed that a coffee stand that had originally been in Perk Center café’s place had closed. With an older sister who has autism, Metrick quickly envisioned a place where developmentally challenged adults could learn job skills in a low-stress setting.

“I said, ‘Oh no, that’s way too much work,’ ” Gail Metrick told the Chicago Tribune.

But as Gail Metrick warmed to the idea, it became apparent that their family could respond to a problem many people dealing with developmental disabilities face once they reach adulthood. State support for those individuals often ends on their 22nd birthday, leaving little transition from high school to the working world.

“A lot of times people with developmental disabilities get put in the blind spot of the community,” Metrick said. “This is sort of a passive approach to get people aware of the various challenges people have.”

Shortly after Jacob Metrick’s idea came about, the family recruited friends who have children with special needs to support the idea and drafted a proposal to the community center. The Metricks then raised money to cover the cost of renovating the café to make it handicapped accessible.

Employees earn minimum wage, but the café is strictly non profit.

If you live in the Chicago area and want to pay the Metricks and their employees a visit, click here to get details from the Glenview Park Center’s website.

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