It is our goal to simulate the work place so our students
will be fully prepared for work in the community. 

What is the Workshop?

In the Workshop students have the opportunity to learn and earn money at the same time. We partner with employers in the community to provide our students with a very real work experience within the classroom.  The students come to class, clock in on an IPad either with a time card or a four digit code, receive their assignment, and go to their work station to begin working.

Our Partners

Local businesses and manufacturers provide the Workshop with a variety of different products and tasks:

– Manufacturers provide light assembly work requiring the use of pneumatic tools, cutting product to specific lengths using both a rotary cutter and a hot knife, quality control, and product packaging.

– Local businesses provide marketing and promotional kit assembly, mailings that require envelope stuffing, labeling, and stamping.

We are constantly looking for new partners within the community to provide our students with a variety of learning opportunities. 

How can we support your business?

We have a variety of resources in the Workshop to offer to the community.  Our students bring a very diverse set of skills to the workshop.  Some examples of our abilities include:

• Assembly

• Packaging

• Mailings/Marketing – stuffing, sealing, labeling, stamping envelopes

• Collating/Sorting

• Print and affix braille labels to business cards or marketing materials

• Value Added Services – cutting to length, material preparation

We are always looking for new jobs requiring different skill sets to challenge and appeal to the variety of students who attend the Conklin Center.  We ask for community support through outsourcing.  Let the students in our workshop complete your small, nuisance jobs.  We are not a high production setting but more of a classroom setting.  We use the jobs we do for businesses in the community to teach competitive employment, quality control, work ethics and behaviors.  In exchange, the businesses receive a quality service at a competitive rate. We do not mark up or earn a profit on any job that we do.  Our focus is to teach and let the students earn money for their hard work.

While we can support your business, your business can help improve the lives of our students and influence our community. The work you provide teaches our students new skills, work ethic, the pride that comes from a productive day’s work and so much more. They then take these skills into the community as they look for jobs. You are giving them the chance to discover their true capability. At least 80% of our graduates become employed.

 Testimonials:

“Our company, Sales & Marketing Strategies, Inc. , has been using the Conklin Center’s Workshop since 2012 for braille labeling our signature guides that we sell to non-profit organizations, government agencies, schools, and talking book libraries who serve people with visual impairments or blindness. The Workshop is run so professionally and their work is so consistently good that we return with each order confident that they will do an excellent job. We look for other aspects of our business to utilize the Workshop. It is a great learning environment for those with vision impairments and blindness. We are pleased to be able to support the Conklin Center with ongoing projects.” – Leta Roberts, President

If you have a small job that you would like us to consider
completing for you, please contact the workshop supervisor
at 386-258-3441 ext 330 Monday – Friday 8:00-5:00.