Donna Jarmusz, senior vice president of business development with Alter+Care, a national business and facility development firm, saw a need in her own family. So she started We Grow Dreams, a not-for-profit greenhouse that helps young adults with disabilities get job training, a little more than three years ago. "It's a whole different level of interaction with people," Jarmusz says. "You're really getting more involved with people's personal lives. And it helps you to become a better listener, a better communicator." Consulting spoke with Jarmusz about her work. Consulting: Tell me about your organization.
Jarmusz: I've always been very entrepreneurial. And I have a son who is 24 years old now, Justin. [As] most people with disabilities…leave their academic setting, there really aren't a lot of opportunities for them. There are limited job opportunities. So I talked to a group of parents and I said, "You know, for us to really provide for our own children, we need to either buy a business, start a business or do something where we can employ people with disabilities." So I did a lot of research and found that the greenhouse industry was still very labor intensive and very low tech. So I founded a non-for-profit organization called We Grow Dreams, and we purchased an old mom-and-pop greenhouse and garden center in the suburbs of Chicago. And really the whole premise behind this is to help people learn skills that are transferable.
Consulting: How do you balance everything?
Jarmusz: Well how I balance everything is I don't sleep very much! What's interesting is that because I have been working in the corporate world and in the healthcare world for so many years, all of those skills that I use with my clients are all transferable and that has helped us develop this business.
Consulting: What has been the most rewarding part?
Jarmusz: The most rewarding part for me is when you see the faces of these young adults who really feel so good about themselves. We have such wonderful stories about young adults who are nonverbal and who are now trying to be more social as a result of their interactions with the community. Just to see how happy the families of these young adults and the young adults themselves are has been really gratifying.
Consulting: Any plans for expansion?
Jarmusz: We really want to fine tune this model, [but] our long-term goal would be to have We Grow Dreams greenhouses all over the country.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.