Bergen Partners with Alpine Learning Group to Train Special-Needs Adults

Bergen Community College and Alpine Learning Group – a Paramus-based non-profit educational program serving children, families, and young adults with autism – have partnered to create constructive work experiences for two of Alpine’s recent graduates: Jason Chang of Glen Ridge and Michael Schoales of Old Tappan. Both are now working as data entry assistants in the College’s Centralized Scanning Facility to help further develop their job skills and acclimate them to a workplace environment.
Bergen’s Director of Technologies, Ed Pittarelli, Alpine’s Executive Director, Bridget Taylor and Alpine’s Director of Adult and Transition Services, Erin Richard, worked on arranging the partnership over the last four months. Pittarelli has also worked with Alpine on other projects.

The end result was a mutually rewarding and engaging program for both the College and the Alpine participants, Chang and Schoales. Each day, the duo completes their tasks in a College office with the helping hand of Alpine’s Senior Life Coach, Meghan Kenny. Chang and Schoales are assisting the College in converting to a paperless transcript system by scanning documents into the College’s document management database. Chang has also worked in Bergen’s renovated Sidney Silverman Library.

A proud Pittarelli often checks in on the Alpine graduates and remains excited about the partnership.

“The College will give Jason and Mike skills that are not only meaningful, but in demand in the commercial marketplace,” Pittarelli said. “In addition, the work they are doing is very important to the College’s document and records management program.”

Richard said the College is an ideal location to transition Alpine’s graduates from the classroom to the workforce.

“It’s a very exciting venture,” she said. “The College has so much going on; it is the kind of place where there are a lot of different opportunities for our graduates. At the College, you have a microcosm of a community – it is a great environment to learn within.”

Alpine Learning Group was founded in 1988 by a small group of local families and autism specialists. The following year, Alpine welcomed its first four students into the program. Alpine’s education program has grown steadily and now serves 29 learners with autism from age 3 to 21. The adult program began in 2004 to provide services to graduates of the education program. Alpine also maintains an outreach program to assist families with toddlers confronted with autism.

Bergen Community College is a public two-year coeducational college, enrolling more than 14,000 students in Associate in Arts, Associate in Science, and Associate in Applied Science degree programs and certificate programs. More than 10,000 students are enrolled in non-credit, professional courses through the Division of Continuing Education, the Institute for Learning in Retirement, and the Philip J. Ciarco Jr. Learning Center, located at 355 Main Street, Hackensack. Information about the College is available at http://www.bergen.edu or by phoning the Welcome Center at 201-447-7200.



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