Community Resource Fair offers support, info for students with special needs, disabilities

COEUR d'ALENE — Hunter Lange's smile was contagious as he visited different information tables and made a few new friends Wednesday evening.

He and his mom, Danielle Lange, attended the Coeur d'Alene School District's Community Resource Fair at Venture Academy to scope out post-high-school possibilities for Hunter, 14, who will be graduating before they know it.

He said so far, he's interested in art and cooking.

"I cook mac and cheese by myself," he said with his friendly smile.

“He cooks with me, too,” Danielle said, also smiling.

She said the Community Resource Fair was a helpful event for families.

"It lets the children and parents know they have some guidance in the real world after high school,” she said. “It gives them more of a subtle way into it rather than just, ‘OK, here you go.’”

This was the second Community Resource Fair, formerly known as the Transition Fair. Through this event, families of students with special needs and disabilities make connections with businesses and organizations that provide services for socialization, mobility and transitioning from high school to the workforce, to name a few.

“The goal of this event is to get information out to the people who need the information,” said Abbie Waters, vocational transition teacher and fair coordinator. 

She said many times, families call the school district for help finding services for their adult children.

"Even if they think that their son or daughter doesn’t need any services or there are no services that fit their needs, that’s just not true," she said. "There’s such a wide variety of resources in our community.”

Transit specialist David Waterhouse represented the free Kootenai County transportation service Citylink as he engaged with fair attendees. He said Citylink often works with the clients of other entities at the resource fair, such as Kootenai Health, Coordinated Services of Idaho, the Idaho Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired and the Secondary Transition Education Program.

“People with disabilities may not ever possess a driver’s license," Waterhouse said. "(Citylink) provides them transportation to and from school and work and grocery stores. It provides them with a form of independence."

He said Citylink has welcomed employees from Tesh, Inc., a nonprofit developmental disability agency, for more than five years. 

“We love working with this community and seeing these people,” Waterhouse said. “They might have grown up being told what they can and can’t do because of a disability, but with public transit and Project SEARCH and all these other programs, they're showing you can do these regardless of your disability. It’s awesome.”

Project SEARCH is a high school transition program that prepares recent grads to enter the workforce though internship rotations with different employers, including Kootenai Health.

Lake City High graduate Durant Teague, 20, and Venture Academy grad Spencer Vogt, 18, both graduated from high school in spring 2024. They are refining their workplace skills through Project SEARCH, from which they will graduate in spring 2025.

“Our goal is to get a job after Project SEARCH," Teague said.

Vogt said they were finding the fair to be helpful.

“I really like all of them, Project SEARCH, Bella Angels, Chrysalis, Tesh,” he said.

He name-dropped Esther and Isaac Mann, who own and operate Bella Angel Care, a residential habilitation agency that works with adults with developmental disabilities.

"We teach them independent living skills, in the home or in the community,” Esther said.

The goal of Bella Angel Care is to create a tribe where people feel they belong.

“We all have high school where we have forced socialization, then that goes away and then there’s nothing," Isaac said. "We wanted to create that bridge for them to get out and have fun and have people to be with.”

“We just want to give that organic opportunity for those relationships to grow,” Esther said.

Tesh's Veronica Klein said it was exciting to see some familiar faces at the Community Resource Fair.

“As an advocate for our community and a resident of Coeur d’Alene, I feel this is an underserved population that deserves to have their voices heard and deserves to be seen as valued members in our community," she said. "To network and to collaborate here is such a wonderful opportunity to be a part of.”

    Esther Mann of Bella Angel Care chats with Project SEARCH interns Spencer Vogt, 18, center, and Durant Teague, 20, right, Wednesday evening during the Community Resource Fair at Venture Academy.