The AWE Center
At the Art, Work & Entrepreneurship Center (The AWE Center), we are committed to providing a great experience to prepare every participant for the future.
The AWE Center’s mission is to empower, assist, & inform the intellectually and developmentally disabled population; To meet their many needs on an intimate, family-to-family basis, and to continue to be an advocate for this population on a community and state level.
Offering services in-center and in community-based settings, the program been designed to cater to each participant’s interests and desires. Participants and their families can choose from a menu of day services that fit their lifestyle, schedules, abilities, and goals. Activities focus on building skills needed to achieve maximum independence, including social and life skills, communication, problem-solving, self-help, adaptive, and employment-related skills, and have been implemented to promote educational, employment, and personal advancement for all participants.
Activities offered at the AWE Center include, but are not limited to the following:
- - The Arts: Music, Painting, DIY crafts
- - Fitness & Nutrition: Yoga, Zumba, Basketball, Flag Football, & Menu Planning
- - Independent Living Skills: Cooking, Money Management/Budgeting, Grocery Shopping, & Laundry
Additional Programs offered within the AWE Center:
- - Prevocational Training: As previously mentioned on our Employment Services Page, our prevocational services are designed for individuals interested in strengthening their vocational skills in anticipation in becoming competitively employed in the community. Activities may include:
- • Training Classes- resume development, job interviewing, computer skills
- • Volunteer work experiences
- • Workplace communication/social skills
- - Supported Employment: Services are designed to help participants achieve their employment desires and achieve social and economic inclusion through sustainable employment. Services include training and instruction, job coaching, and travel training.
- - Career Planning; Services can help individuals obtain, maintain, or advance in competitive employment. By working with the AWE Center career planners, a participant will
- • Develop a career path that leads to sustainable employment
- • Foster achievement and advancement
- • Identify social networks and community supports that can lead to career opportunities
- - Behavior Supports: Behavior Support Services are offered for participants with challenging behaviors. We have a team of Behavior Technicians with the ability to implement behavior plans within the day program schedule. Under the direction of BCBAs, Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) concepts are used to address these challenging behaviors, and could involve customized behavioral supports including procedures such as behavioral assessments, data collection, and the creation of Individualized Behavior Support Plans.
The AWE Center is located at 463 Valley St, Maplewood, NJ 07040. Services are offered Monday through Friday from 9 am to 3 pm.
Transportation to and from services will be provided within the established catchment area.
DDD participants are permitted to request up to 30 hours per week of Day Program services through the Division of Developmental Disabilities. Self-pay options are also available.
If you’re interested in submitting a referral for the AWE Center, please complete our Day Habilitation referral form.
