Vocational Services

For our vocational services we offer the following three programs.

Tinton

The Tinton program at NHTC provides an employment opportunity for people in a highly supervised and structured environment. People have the opportunity to learn important job skills in a woodshop setting. They work on fulltime community contracts of orders for stakes, pallets and other wood products.

Harvard

The Harvard program at NHTC provides a variety of work and non-work activities to people who choose to participate in these services. The program includes several jobs that require basic motor skills and prepare people for the next stage of employment on the road to independence. In addition to work opportunities, Harvard provides activities for those people who may not be interested in work or whose skills require further development. These include sensory activities, hobby exploration, volunteer participation, and community involvement.

One of our primary jobs is working for a company called RamVac, part of the DentalEZ group, and it involves packaging a cleaning agent, RamClean (RamClean website), for dental vacuum pumps. The work opportunities that RamClean offers include scooping the powder into bags, sealing the bags, boxing the bags, folding boxes, and completing the task by stacking pallets. Another job that keeps us busy in Harvard is filling ear plug pouches for a company called Impak (Impak website). In addition to these primary jobs, the Harvard program provides “as needed services” including rubbing stamping, stuffing envelopes, and shredding paper. We are always willing to take on new jobs as time allows, so if you have a job requiring basic skills that you are interested in outsourcing, please contact the Program Manager of Harvard for more information.

People participating in the Harvard program also have the opportunity to volunteer for various community organizations including Meals on Wheels. Harvard delivers Meals on Wheels to the elderly of the Spearfish community once a week. We also participate in temporary volunteer opportunities as needs arise and are actively seeking new volunteer opportunities to participate in. In addition to volunteering, people in the Harvard program have the opportunity to enjoy all that the Spearfish community and Black Hills have to offer as they get into the community and participate in daily and special activities. Harvard staff are consistently seeking out new hobbies and activities of interest for the people supported by the program in an effort to enhance people’s lives and lead to more meaningful days.

Job Shop

Northern Hills Job Shop helps people find employment. Our goal is to help people find and prepare for their dream jobs. The Job Shop offers 7 different job crew opportunities. The work crews are available as a transition step for people who someday would like to work independently in the community. The people we support can choose from a motel crew, a cleaning crew that works at a variety of different businesses in the community, a crew that cleans the city park bathrooms, and an evening cleaning crew. The job shop has also started 2 new crews in the past year, a yard crew that works for the city of Spearfish and a crew that works for Apex Construction. We are currently training 4 people in a day care setting, as this is of interest to many of the ladies in our agency. All work crews have a job coach available to teach the skills needed for successful employment.

The next step for the people we support is to acquire individual employment. We currently have 18 individuals who work in the community relatively independently. These people receive limited job coaching and assistance.

The role of the job shop is to give people we support a variety of work options and ultimately place people in their dream jobs.