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The Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) is pleased to announce a new partnership with Project SEARCH; a world-renowned high school transition program.  Project SEARCH is for students with significant intellectual and developmental disabilities. The Department will employ ten (10) interns for its first Project SEARCH program year. The interns will transition into different positions throughout the department every 12 weeks. The intent of the rotation is so that the students can experience various job duties throughout DelDOT.   The participating students will attend the program for a full school year. The goal for each student participating in the program is competitive employment.  

DelDOT Secretary Jennifer Cohan stated, “DelDOT is looking forward to providing the Project SEARCH interns work sites that teach them competitive, marketable, and transferable skills.  DelDOT is also very excited to be the first public agency to participate in what we see as a very valuable program and hope that other state agencies will participate in the future. We are actually hoping that the interns become a pipeline of potential full-time DelDOT employees. ”

Michelle Flanders, Principal of the John S. Charlton School in the Caesar Rodney School District, said, “It is an incredible opportunity that is unparalleled anywhere else since DelDOT is the first state agency to partner with Project SEARCH. This is a combination of many years of hard work to give the students an opportunity to gain competitive employment, which is the best possible outcome.”

The program is made possible with the partnership amongst DelDOT, Autism Delaware, Community Integrated Services, Caesar Rodney School District, the Department of Labor and Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services.

The goal for each student participant is competitive employment. The program provides real-life work experience combined with training in employability and independent living skills to help youths with significant disabilities make successful transitions from school to productive adult life. The Project SEARCH model involves an extensive period of training and career exploration, innovative adaptations, long-term job coaching, and continuous feedback from teachers, skills trainers, and employers.

As a result, at the completion of the training program, students with significant intellectual disabilities are employed in nontraditional, complex and rewarding jobs. The presence of a Project SEARCH High School Transition Program can bring about long-term changes in business culture that have far-reaching positive effects on attitudes about hiring people with disabilities and the range of jobs in which they can be successful.

For additional information of Project SEARCH, visit