TAMPA, Fla. — There’s a special group of young adults living in our community who are using the holidays to promote their mission of inclusivity.
The nonprofit Project Focus has launched the program Focus Forward, which works with adults with developmental disabilities.
They have recently teamed up with Crossfit Hyde Park to provide their clients with real-life work and workout experience.
Once a month, Clayton Clemens leads the group through a series of exercises.
“My nephew, he’s eight. He had a stroke when he was born, and he’s been my guiding light, but I joined this organization about a year ago, and now I have 160 guiding lights, and it changes the way I think about life. I’m very grateful for that,” said Clemens.
He said, unfortunately, many of these participants are used to only watching from the sidelines.
“This program changes that. It gives them an opportunity to go out into the community to work out, to be seen,” said Clemens.
Half of the program is getting in shape, and the other half is learning how to keep the gym clean, as in job skills training, that will hopefully lead to consistent, paid, employment.
“For some of our clients, this is that next step to a job or a volunteer opportunity,” said Clemens. “They get to do a little bit of cleaning and jobs around the gym beautifying the campus, learning what it is to run a small business; those persistent skills to really develop what’s necessary to be on the job or live independently.”
This month, Focus Forward added a holiday touch to the gym: Christmas cards designed by the participants, for sale, with all proceeds going back to the non-profit.
“It really gives the community an opportunity to see the unique abilities of our students and clients, and it gives our clients the opportunity to develop that purpose to come into a place and see something that they’ve done, that they’ve created, and now it’s out in the public, and people are buying it,” said Clemens.
There are ten unique cards per pack, and on the back are signatures of all the young men and women who designed them.
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