Spotlight on the Siskiyou Opportunity Center – Uniquely Us

Here in the North State, we are fortunate to have several programs that provide services for individuals with special needs. For those over the age of 18, there are day programs and organizations that teach life skills and tools for independent living. The Siskiyou Opportunity Center, with locations in Mt. Shasta and Yreka, is one such organization.

Siskiyou Opportunity Center was established in 1970 and today serves approximately 74 clients. According to Executive Director Dan Chianello, the Center’s purpose is to provide job training and services for the developmentally disabled.

Clients obtain job training in several areas, including woodworking, where they produce wood products such as:

• picnic tables
• kindling bundles
• fencing
• firewood bundles

The Center has a state-certified recycling center that is open year-round. Clients can learn how to operate:

• bailers
• crushers
• conveyor belts
• forklifts

Additionally, they are taught customer service skills.

The Center’s supported employment services consist of small crews that maintain a couple of Caltrans rest areas, several classrooms at county schools, and the Dunsmuir Grade Station; and provide janitorial services for the Forest Services in McCloud and Mt. Shasta.

Mailing and confidential shredding services are provided from the office location in Yreka. This site also focuses on teaching clients computer skills, customer service and sales.

Along with the job training services, Siskiyou Opportunity Center has a day program that concentrates on volunteer work and integrating the clients into the community, teaching what Dan describes as “basic soft skills.” These can range from learning how to communicate more effectively to help minimize frustration, to learning necessary activities of daily living such as meal prep and cooking, and personal hygiene: “The simplest of skills that we take for granted,” he explains.

Although Dan says many of the clients rotate in and out, there are a few clients who have been with them for 20, 30 or 40 years.

Although some of the clients’ priority is finding full-time employment, Dan explains, “When developmentally disabled people come to a program, their number one desire is not money. It’s not work. It’s to be around others like themselves.” He states that a lot of their clients are frightened of working in the community. They are aware of their challenges, and the idea of putting themselves out there can be daunting.

Dan is adamant that one thing he would like the community to know is that the program needs their support when it comes to his clients’ difficulty in finding employment. He says, “It’s not always easy to find employers that are willing to give them a chance.”

For more information on the Siskiyou Opportunity Center and the services they provide, please call Mt. Shasta (530) 926-4698 or Yreka (530) 842-4110.