About Us

 ​Fenton is a beautiful, growing place. My husband, Will, and I moved here after college in 2018, where we then found an amazing church on its first Sunday open. We found our best friends and our church family! We later bought a house a few doors down. Soon after we had completed our family with the addition of our daughter, Ember. This program partnering with The Way Church allows us to provide outreach to our Fenton community, and aid in the Church's mission to find those in need of the Gospel and follow them through this journey.

The equally important pillar of this mission is the opportunity it will provide for families and young adults in the area. In the State of Michigan, there are many programs and special education services, up to the age of 26. I see the value in the accountability, accessibility, and funding that can be found within government programs. The problem with many of these programs is that a student needs to have a certain level of cognitive impairment to qualify. This leaves many students with mild to moderate learning disabilities and differences in a unique situation after high school, not quite ready to join the workforce with limited grace, but not grasping the vocational skills needed to move forward in many positions. Sharing this vision and speaking with various parents has only cemented the knowledge of this unique need.

This program is not simply a company open to hiring young adults with disabilities and letting them work, this is a goal-oriented, organized process that meets people where they are and focuses on what they need to work on.

The process of IEPs in our school system mandates certain steps and goals to be set. When implemented and written correctly, they are powerful, and meaningful, and exist to serve the students. After working 5 years as a special education teacher, consulting teachers, and developing a math resource room curriculum, I am confident this program will take the best parts of transition IEPs and allow them to be applied in a unique small group setting. The flexibility of this new program growth means that parents, students, and stakeholders all have far more input on what this process looks like, and what it will need to adapt from our original vision. 

If you are in the area, please share support, and definitely visit once we are open! If you are not local, please still join us in prayer, funding, and referrals. It is going to take a village, but I am so very excited about this adventure! 

Much love,
Olivia Sanders