Toward an Agri-Food Social and Professional Pathway for Young Adults with Employment Limitations in the Arthabaska RCM

Context

The lack of continuity in social and professional integration services for young adults with employment limitations can create major barriers to their entry into the workforce. This can, in turn, negatively impact their financial independence. Over the past three years, the Ausiris Project, led by CISA, brought together various stakeholders in the Arthabaska RCM and surrounding areas around a shared vision: to work collaboratively to create a training and evaluation environment at the National Institute of Organic Agriculture (Institut national d’agriculture biologique - INAB) for young adults with employment limitations.

While the first phase of this project focused mainly on identifying the factors that support the short- and medium-term integration of autistic young adults in the agri-food sector, this second phase expands the scope to include people with diverse types of limitations, such as autism, mild intellectual disabilities, dyspraxia, and dysphasia.

Project Objectives

The project’s main objective is to establish a structured social and professional pathway in the agri-food sector for young adults with employment limitations in the Arthabaska RCM and the surrounding region.

More specifically, the project will test, document, assess, and summarize the implementation of:

1. A local social and professional hub in the Arthabaska RCM.
2. An adapted training and work environment (MFTA) in the agri-food sector within a post-secondary institutional setting at INAB.

The project also aims to support the advancement of best practices in social and professional integration with an intersectoral and inclusive approach in post-secondary institutions.

Finally, the project aims to identify—and eventually secure—the conditions needed to ensure the long-term sustainability of both the social and professional hub and the adapted training and work environment. From there, the goal will be to design a transfer plan and strategy to hand off to a long-term host organization.