Your Next Star Employment Academy

A centerpiece of the new YNS Employment Center is our Your Next Star Academies, hands-on training programs that help participants become workforce-ready, explore new careers, and gain real-world experience through post-academy internships.

The inaugural Your Next Star Academy was piloted in June 2019 at the site of Collettey’s Cookies, serving 12 young adults with Down syndrome, each at a pivotal point in their career.

Since 2019, the bedrock YNS Employment Academy has worked with trainees ages 18+ to sharpen their employment seeking skills, boost their confidence, and strengthen interpersonal and “people” skills to enable them to interact effectively and professionally with supervisors, co-workers, and clients. Participants receive hands-on practice in three areas: soft skills (e.g. communication, creative thinking, work ethic, teamwork, positivity, time management, problem-solving, etc.), financial literacy (e.g. budgeting, planning for the future, comparing prices, etc.), and job skills. Upon graduation, Academy trainees will be prepared for a real-world experience in a field that interests them.

Upcoming YNS Employment Academies

The 2023-2024 Employment Academy is a semester-long program with our second semester begining March 9 at the MDSC office in Burlington. This Employment Academy will take place from 9am to 2pm on the following dates:

Saturday, March 9th in Burlington MA, at the MDSC Offices
Saturday, April 6th in Burlington MA, at the MDSC Offices
Saturday, May 4th in Burlington MA, at the MDSC Offices
Saturday, June 1st in Boston, MA, at the Revere Hotel.

Thank you so much for your interest! Our YNS Academy is fully enrolled. We look forward to sharing more updates about our 2024-2025 program year in the near future. For inquiries, please contact us at ynsacademy@mdsc.org.