High school volunteers with autism receive career training at Swinging Sixties Older Adult Center
For the past couple of years, high school students from P.S. M226 have been volunteering at Swinging Sixties Older Adult Center (OAC) (211 Ainslie Street). Students aged 18–22 years old with autism and other disabilities serve breakfast to the seniors and set up for lunch service a few days a week.
P.S. M226 has a special education focus. As stated in the school’s DOE School Quality Report for 2025–2026 one priority is that all students on graduation “are college and career ready and have a strong plan and pathway to economic security.”
Sarah Aiken is a special education teacher for P.S. M226. She is also a resident of the neighborhood and lives near Jennings Hall (260 Powers Street), a building with senior housing and an Assisted Living Program. She went in to inquire if there was an opportunity for her students to volunteer with the seniors. She was directed to Swinging Sixties OAC.
“We are a transition program for students who are 18–22 years old with disabilities. So our students are in more of a traditional academic program and then once they turn eighteen its more of a vocational and functional academic program. Preparing them to be more independent for when they exit the school system. We spend four days a week at community-based worksites with them volunteering in the community,” said Aiken.
There are different types of worksites: retail, food service, etc. “At these sites we are working on the hard skills of them completing the task, but also all the soft skills that go into having a job: greeting your supervisor, asking for help. Our goal is for them to be pretty much completely independent. For a lot of our students they have an interest in working in kitchens so an opportunity like this is so amazing, because they basically get to run the kitchen and we really can’t find that anywhere else. They’ve really grown in so many of their skills as a result of this,” added Aiken.
It’s a win-win proposition. The OAC gets much needed help serving the seniors breakfast and preparation for lunch service. For some of students this is their first work experience. The seniors enjoy interacting with the students, and in early April they held an event to celebrate Autism Awareness month with them.
Rashida Rouias, program director at Swinging Sixties OAC, explains that the center doesn’t have funding to staff breakfast and there is only one person to serve lunch. “The students come at 9 a.m. when the center opens and they stay until almost 12 p.m. They are a great help. [In addition to breakfast] they set up the bowls for soup or salad, and silverware, and sometimes have to add bread and butter. They wash dishes and clean. They do a lot,” said Rouias.
Sometimes the students do other things like help to put up decorations.
Adela, one of the students, was asked what she enjoys most about her work at the center. She answered, “I do customer service, help them carry their breakfast, bring it to the table, and seeing them enjoy the breakfast I made for them makes me happy.”
When Adela was asked how she meets a challenge, she said, “Keep on trying, instead of giving up I keep telling myself, ‘I can do this, I got this, and never let people down.”
Aiken offered, “This volunteer work helps our students learn vocational skills, social skills, problem solving skills and more! Our school is so grateful to Swinging Sixties and the staff and clients there.”
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