Long Island's neurodiverse workers find purpose with job programs

Anthony Garcia wields a handheld machine with a head that spins like the inside of a blender. It spits water as the 26-year-old from Bayside smooths and polishes the raw edge of a slab of granite that could one day be someone’s fancy kitchen counter.

Garcia is part of a new Long Island-based training program called Collaboration Station meant to help adults who have autism or other developmental disabilities learn administrative or vocational skills that can lead to paying jobs. He spent a recent morning at E&S Marble and Granite Corp. in Farmingdale while course-mates fanned out to sites such as a Plainview assisted living facility, Habitat for Humanity’s warehouse in Ronkonkoma and a Bellmore print shop. The first group of 10 participants, ages 22 to 28, completes the two-year program in July, said Collaboration Station president Richard Luft.

“I just started practicing using a machine to polish stone,” said Garcia, dressed in a protective rubber apron, rubber boots and an N95 mask. “So far it’s going good.”

Until they reach age 22, young people who have autism are entitled to stay in high school, where they learn life skills, have some job training and are part of a daily community.

But what happens after they graduate?

“We call it a scary time,” Luft said. “You come into the adult world. You have to find things yourself; they’re not legally mandated. The [number of] people on the spectrum who get independent, paying jobs is super low.”

But, he added, “We don’t think it needs to be that way.”

Collaboration Station isn’t the only effort to help Long Islanders with autism find fulfilling purpose through work. Training programs and organizations that hire workers with autism exist across Long Island, and Newsday is highlighting their work in honor of Autism Acceptance Month in April.

FINDING PURPOSE

Kristine Riggio opened Sweet Clementine’s Cafe in Amityville in February with the goal of employing young adults with autism and other differing abilities. She launched it because her stepson, Joey, 18, is on the autism spectrum and she wants him to have a place he can work.

Since 2023, Sid Jacobson JCC in East Hills has employed five young adults who identify as neurodiverse, including those with autism, to work in the building’s cafe.

And Mark X. Cronin — who with his son, John, 30, has owned John’s Crazy Socks for 10 years — said he plans to launch a job training academy in a new space in Huntington village for adults with differing abilities to learn to work in warehouses and in retail. While John has Down syndrome, John’s Crazy Socks has long employed people with autism to work shipping socks, the elder Cronin said. “We’re kind of evangelists for hiring people with differing abilities,” he said. “It’s very important for people with different abilities to see other people like themselves working.”

The point of helping adults with autism gain employment isn’t even always primarily the money — some with autism, depending on the severity, can earn only a capped amount before they risk losing benefits such as Medicaid, some employers said. The goal is sometimes less about earning an income than it is about building a sense of independence in daily life, as employees may need some level of continued support such as living with their parents, they said.

Jordan McCaw, an assistant superintendent in the Massapequa school district, applauded the efforts when he stopped by Sweet Clementine’s one recent morning to support the cafe. “So much of our self-esteem is from work,” he said.

MONEY IN THEIR WALLET

Joey Riggio brings a spoon to patron Rosa Ryan at Sweet Clementine’s so she can eat her banana pudding dessert after having avocado toast and a latte. Riggio has a checklist of tasks that includes cleaning and organizing the refrigerator, taking orders behind the counter and making his signature drink — orange soda mixed with Italian sweet cream and topped with whipped cream and an orange slice. He wears a Sweet Clementine’s T-shirt.

“I like seeing everyone. I like making drinks for everyone,” he said. The hardest part of working at the cafe? “Sometimes taking orders when there’s a lot of orders at a time,” he said. The best part, in addition to the cheeseburgers? Putting money in his wallet, he said.

The Riggios’ foray into Sweet Clementine’s evolved organically, said Kristine Riggio. Joey kept asking Kristine why he couldn’t get a job, which led her to start a mobile food truck trailer named Sweet Clementine’s after the family’s dachshund. It offers refreshments at Massapequa school events, staffed by students with special needs and general education students. When the operation started to outgrow the trailer, Riggio’s husband, Nick, told her, “ ‘You need a cafe,’ ” he said. “From there, the rest is history.”

The Riggios took over the former Amityville Cafe on Merrick Road, in a strip mall with an ice cream shop and a laundromat. They kept the chef who already worked there and are staffing it with people with different abilities as well as neurotypical people — three staff members are neurodiverse.

Kristine Riggio said she wants her employees to do more than menial tasks. “To me it’s important that they serve in leadership positions,” she said. Staffers earn $17.50 an hour. Riggio said she’s starting a nonprofit she plans to call “Sips for Success” so she can apply for grants that would enable her to hire more people of all abilities.

“I’m the marketing and communications manager,” said Jimmy Ryan, 27, of East Meadow, who has cerebral palsy. “That means I run the social media pages and facilitate different relationships with the cafe.” The cafe is on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. “For now, I’m part time. Eventually, I hope that grows to more of a full-time role,” Ryan said.

Cynthia and Michael O’Lear, of Amityville, saw Sweet Clementine’s advertised online and came in recently for lunch. “I thought it was great,” said Cynthia, 70, as she and Michael, 71, ordered a grilled chicken Caesar wrap and a Monte Cristo sandwich, respectively. She added she had family members with disabilities.

THE WORLD OF TRADES

Collaboration Station participants meet at the organization’s center in Wantagh on Tuesdays to focus on resume building and interview skills. They learn about dealing with different colleagues’ personalities, like a challenging boss, and how to fit into an organization, said vice president Amanda Caliendo. “The goal is for them to be independent on a job site. Be professional. Gain friendships. Get along with colleagues,” Caliendo said.

On Thursdays, the students are training in the field at partner businesses such as E&S Marble & Granite Corp., Sunrise Senior Living in Plainview, Habitat for Humanity of Long Island in Ronkonkoma, Stitch This Print That in Bellmore, St. Francis Church’s farm cooperative in Bellmore and the Law Office of Dean Mastrangelo in Syosset. Collaboration Station is also planning to launch its own coffee brand this year to provide further opportunities for work.

The program matches participants according to their individual capabilities. The two-year program costs $9,600 per year, although Luft said Medicaid covers the cost for most participants. “Not every student is capable or able to be back here with machinery,” said Stephanie Apostolidis, co-owner of E&S Marble and Granite. “There’s a lot of sensory overload.”

But they can learn other skills as well at E&S, such as taking inventory or answering phones, Caliendo said. “We bring our students here to expose them to the world of trades. There’s more than just the library or grocery store to work,” she said.

Garcia said he liked working at Habitat for Humanity the best. “One time a customer was asking me about something, and I was helping the customer out,” he said. He also worked moving furniture on the shipping and loading docks.

 

‘DO SOMETHING WITH MY LIFE’

Placards on tables at The Cafe at Sid Jacobson JCC explain its mission to employ neurodiverse workers. “For the five employees we have working with us, it has been their first paid job opportunity,” said Heather Schulz, director of the JCC’s Irene and Ronald Cohen Life Skills Training Center. Private grant funding allows the JCC to pay employees minimum wage, she said.

Schulz called the neurodiverse employees “the face of the cafe.” They work in tandem with the kitchen staff, who are neurotypical. “Our customers understand they are doing a good deed coming to our cafe and contributing to the growth of this population who have lower levels of employment,” Schulz said.

Brandon Okowsky, 25, of Mineola, a cafe assistant who has autism, works three four-hour shifts a week. “I just felt I wanted to do a little something with my life,” Okowsky said. “I’m out of my home for a little while.”

Sometimes Okowsky works the cash register; other times he takes care of the dining area. “I try to keep it as clean as I possibly can. I clean the tables whenever they look dirty; I take the garbage out if I have to.” He’ll help serve sandwiches, smoothies, coffee, salads.

Okowsky’s father, Evan, 69, a retired New York City bus operator, said it’s a “thrill” to see his son working. “He enjoys getting ready to go to work. He feels very productive,” Evan said.

“I think that everybody deserves the chance to work, no matter what their abilities are,” said Sarah Fecht, vocational coordinator at the JCC, who works with the cafe employees. “A lot of them just need the opportunity and the place for their skills to be shown.”