Tierra del Sol Foundation

Tierra believes that a meaningful life is defined by meaningful work. Tierra's goal is to empower adults with developmental disabilities to live a life of value, purpose, and meaning. We do this via Workforce Development, College to Career, and Careers in the Arts.

Partners (comprised of businesses, non-profit organizations, colleges, and occupational centers), continue to express satisfaction with Tierra’s services. Discovery Cube’s director reflects on the success of their workforce development partnership: “[Tierra volunteers have] become an integral part of our entire operation . . . that has just made a huge difference in the way we operate.”

Tierra’s individualized support services empower each person to identify, pursue, and achieve their goals. For example, Stephen's journey with Tierra began several years ago, after graduating from high school. A shy, but hardworking young man, he trained in Tierra's Workforce Development program, discovering his strengths and developing his skills. Stephen achieved a full-time position at UCLA Olive View Medical Center where he prepares food for up to 800 patients each day. Through skills he learned at Tierra, Stephen independently takes the MTA to work each day, develops his job and independent-living skills, and contributes to the community.

Tierra provides individualized planning and support to help youth build required skills for successful careers. Tierra’s Direct Support Professionals serve as coaches and mentors to a cohort of up to four adults ("associates"). These adults progress through the program’s phases, to ultimately obtain paid employment:

DISCOVERY AND PATH PLANNING
Associates begin with a structured Discovery experience which allows them to take part in and evaluate their career opportunities. After a 30 to 90-day period of discovery, associates express their personal and vocational goals via Planning Alternative Tomorrows with Hope. This process engages Tierra staff, the individual, his/her family, and a California Department of Developmental Services representative, in a planning session that results in a plan to help the client reach his/her goals. Discovery sets the tone for each person’s experience, and helps them successfully transition to adulthood.

EDUCATION
Building self-advocacy skills, social relationships, and mastery of the student role, allows first-year students with disabilities to develop the sense of belonging that is critical to achieve academic success and persistence (Journal of College Student Development 2015). Skill-building activities are interwoven throughout Tierra's services. Staff members support clients to complete courses in their career fields, participate in service-learning with other nonprofits, and build independent living and employability skills.

BUILDING PROFESSIONAL CAREERS
Associate artists work with ceramics, pastels, acrylics, paint, textiles, and pencil. Participants write artists statements and produce exhibitions, including creating themes, selecting art, installation, and promotion via social media. Tierra partners with galleries and other venues to produce exhibitions that enhance artists’ resumes and generate income, while expanding the audiences. Exhibitions provide a pathway for artists to share their contributions and become known and valued by the community. Participants pursuing other career paths take part in service learning, mock interviews, and professional-level certifications and training to prepare for their careers.

PARTNER WITH PROFESSIONALS
To raise awareness of associates’ skills and create ongoing opportunities, Tierra partners with employers and colleges, as well as reputable artists, curators, and publishers. Through these interactions, associates learn about their desired career field, sharpen their skills, and build their network.

WRAP-AROUND SERVICES
Additional training is provided in money management, transportation, communication, personal and workplace safety, physical education, and nutrition habits. As individuals move from segregated environments and into community-inclusive environments, typical life stressors can exponentially impact their lives. Tierra provides healthy lifestyle classes and clinical services to catch those whose life balance is tilting towards the negative.

Tierra del Sol Foundation is a CARF-accredited organization with a Three-Year Accreditation. This accreditation decision represents the highest level of accreditation that can be awarded to an organization and shows the organization's substantial conformance to the CARF standards. An organization receiving a Three-Year Accreditation has put itself through a rigorous peer review process and has demonstrated to a team of surveyors during an on-site visit that its programs and services are of the highest quality, measurable, and accountable.

Additionally, Tierra del Sol Foundation has consistently received unqualified opinions on all financial audits. Tierra has a modern, metrics-based infrastructure that employs a Chief Financial Officer and Accounting Supervisor to oversee the financial accounting practices and day-to-day responsibilities of the organization.

Through its community-based partnerships (with businesses, non-profit organizations, colleges, and occupational centers), Tierra empowers each person served to achieve paid employment, provide professional volunteerism, or pursue post-secondary education, including intensive vocational training programs, as well as pursue a career in the arts.

Tierra believes that a meaningful life is defined by meaningful work. To begin quantitatively measuring this, Tierra created a research-based impact measurement tool that measures associate progress in employment skills, safety, and career development. Once fully realized, these elements create a positive experience in which people can address the social determinants of health and achieve health equity. Components are measured using tools developed by Tierra, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and Stanford University.

To learn and share challenges, experiences, and promising practices, Tierra is part of coalitions focused on people with disabilities, business, nonprofits, and community/government. For example, executive staff are part of APSE, CalNonprofits, Council for Advancement and Support of Education, National Leadership Institute on Developmental Disabilities, and TASH.

Adults are served throughout L.A. County, via Workforce Development, College to Career, and Careers in the Arts. 500 adults are enrolled in full-time workforce development services. Adults hold paid jobs at local companies. Interns hold short-term paid positions. Artists earned a paycheck by selling their work at exhibitions, such as LA. City Hall’s Bridge Gallery.

Tierra educates high school students about their choices after graduation via classroom presentations, LAUSD luncheons at Tierra’s campus, and attending graduations at schools such as Miller Career & Transition Center and Leichman Career Preparatory and Transition Center.

As associates move from segregated environments, into community-inclusive environments, typical life stressors can have an exponential impact on them. Tierra mitigates this via clinical oversight, thereby catching those whose life balance is tilting towards the negative. Each month, more than 120 people's mental and physical challenges are addressed.

Young adults take part in time-limited rotations via Tierra’s Intensive Vocational Training Program, Excel, to learn skills for employment, customer service, travel and safety, and transition planning, while getting paid. Graduates from this program transition into community-based programs.

A Paid Internship Program uses State funds to encourage employers to hire short-term interns, who – after proving themselves on the job - are considered for paid staff positions.

Students enrolled in Tierra's College to Career program attend local campuses: CSUN, College of the Canyons, Glendale Community College, Los Angeles Valley, Mission, and Pierce Colleges, as well as West Valley Occupational Center.

Associates pursuing arts careers explore drawing, painting, textiles, and ceramics in Tierra’s progressive studios (in Sunland and Upland). Tierra del Sol Gallery, in downtown L.A., accelerates the careers of distinguished associate artists. The BLVD Pottery and Marketplace introduced people to associates’ skills via resale agreements and pop-up markets.

Staff are engaged via (1) Tierra's employee engagement platform, which equips staff to use their unique strengths, while increasing effectiveness by providing supervisors with feedback on near-term tasks, and (2) training in how to track and communicate associate progress via Therap, Tierra’s HIPAA-approved person-centered information database.