37 Years of Community

1983

Dr. Phyllis A. Meighen established Winners’ at Work predecessor (COMTEP) Community Training and employment Project as part of her graduating thesis.

1988

COMTEP became Winners’ at Work 501c(3) a non profit organization through the encouragement of Patrick W. Dahler, the President of McDonald’s of Hawaii.

1991

The Mohala Like Program was created as the first program that addressed the needs of the Native Hawaiians with learning and physical challenges.

1993

The Transitional Employment Program was initiated to serve individuals with a diversity of challenges to finding employment, especially mental illness.

1995

Winners’ developed Aloha Begins with a Smile, a training program on how to provide customer service to individuals with disabilities that is courteous, safe, and in compliance with the American with Disabilities Act (ADA).

1996

Became a part of DiverseAbilities, a collaboration of four non-profit 502(c)3 organizations to maximize service delivery, technology and research, and decrease expenses.

1997

Awarded a federally funded grant known as Ke Ala Holomua which expanded Winners’ services statewide. Ke Ala Holomua provided information training to more than 2,000 participants, family members, and professionals statewide.

1998

Piloting a new School-to-Work transition project with the Department of Education through the support from the Leslie King and Tai Up Yang Fund.

2009

SMART class was created in 2009 to address the specific needs of recent high school graduates with disabilities looking to build the soft skills and motivation to pursue college, vocational training, and permanent competitive employment.

2010

Abilities Unlimited participated in the first Youth Employment Summer (YES) Program in partnership with the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation.

2012

Initially, Abilities Unlimited coordinated and executed the Jump Start Program for 80 public high school students throughout 7 public high schools. Over the past few years, the Jump Start program has successfully been in 19 public high schools.

2014

The inaugural Abilities Unlimited Film Festival (AUFF) was started in 2014 to showcase a day in the life of various individuals with disabilities in our community. There were over 200 guests in attendance at Consolidated Theaters.

2015

Inspired by the success of the first AUFF, we held our second film festival at the Consolidated Theaters. We welcomed over 300 attendees.

2017

Project SEARCH is a unique 9 month internship that teaches individuals with disabilities in a real-life and fully supported work setting. 2017 was our first year working Project SEARCH.

Abilities Unlimited and United Cerebral Palsy Association of Hawaii launched Project Worthy – a collection of oral histories representing individuals with disabilities.

2018

Abilities Unlimited offered the Medicaid waiver participants the opportunity to participate in a Friendship and Dating Program designed to teach individuals with disabilities how to develop and maintain healthy relationships.

2018

The Medicaid Waiver Department added employment services: Discovery & Career Planning (DCPO), and Individual Employment Supports (IES).