Project SEARCH NIH is an initiative within the SEEC organization. It was established in 2010 to create unpaid internship opportunities for young adults with developmental disabilities. The program aims to help these individuals gain knowledge and skills that can lead to paid employment. This 10-month school-to-work transition program targets job seekers who benefit from total immersion in a business setting. The Project SEARCH model was founded in 1996 at the Cincinnati Children's Medical Center and has been replicated more than 400 times throughout the U.S. and internationally. Project SEARCH NIH interns participate in daily classroom instruction and gain hands-on work experiences by rotating among three 10-week unique, unpaid internships. Interns can be found working throughout the NIH performing tasks that are valuable to their coworkers and visitors.
Anna Mariani, the Eurest Mid-Atlantic District Marketing and Communications Manager, and Project SEARCH NIH-Eurest liaison, has been instrumental in fostering the Project SEARCH NIH partnership to be stronger than it was pre-pandemic. Since August 2022, Anna has managed this partnership and expanded the Project SEARCH NIH support in Eurest kitchens at NIH. This expansion has resulted in more internship-funded labor for Eurest and more internship opportunities, with four of seven interns for the 2022-2023 Project SEARCH NIH cohort hosted by Eurest.
Eurest's partnership with Project SEARCH and NIH has provided 17 internships over the years. These opportunities give people with disabilities, independence and skills they can use in other jobs, and they have managers and colleagues to offer guidance to help them succeed. The philosophy is that everyone deserves a chance to feel fulfilled in sharing their talents and doing work they enjoy. Anna believes disabilities should never stop anyone from reaching their full potential - that's why she leads Eurest's collaboration with NIH and Project SEARCH.
Supporting Anna in this collaboration are Chefs Robert McCutchen and Luz Orellana, who provided on-the-job training to the 2022-2023 intern cohort in the Eurest kitchens at NIH. Robert supervised three of the four interns whom Eurest hosted this past year, and Luz supervised two of the four interns whom Eurest hosted this past year (the overlap being one intern who had two internship rotations with Eurest). Eurest ended up hiring one of the graduates for a paid position, and another graduate was able to secure a paid position in a restaurant in the DC Metro area as a result of the skills learned through this program.
Anna's passion and hard work recently earned her two distinct honors:
- Being the Project SEARCH NIH 2023 graduation keynote speaker.
- Earning the National SEEC Ambassador Award for 2023. This award is given to champions who spend a year working towards SEEC's mission of helping people with disabilities find jobs. It is awarded to those who support job projects, make new connections and speak up for people trying to start their careers.
