The Jo Brighton Skills Center has prepared moderately impaired students for adult life one cookie at a time during its 50-year history.

Jo Brighton Bakery (JoB) is a one-year class for students, 18 to 26 years old. Jo Brighton Center draws students from all 17 Downriver school districts.


Delicious opportunity

“It’s a special place and we play a big role in the Downriver community to support our students and provide a work experience,” said Jo Brighton Center Principal Katie Bradd.

JoB students bake cookies, cheesecakes and strudels that are sold to the general public. Orders are taken for the cheesecakes, cinnamon rolls, strudels and big batches of cookies. If you smell something wonderful coming from the center, it’s probably the cookies students sell from a walkup window at 4460 18th Street in Wyandotte from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

The sliding window was added about five years ago. Customers ring a bell, a student responds and sells the cookies, or fills a previously placed baked goods order. The window gives customers access without entering the building.

The cookies range in price from $8 to $10 a dozen.

“We have repeat customers who have been coming back to us for years,” Bradd said. “The cookies are 100 percent made and baked by our students.”


Community comes together

One of JoB’s biggest customers is the City of Trenton, which orders hundreds of cookies annually for their holiday parade. Center staff, families of students and people in the community also support the bakery with a cause.

“People get a great deal of joy to give back to students, and they get a great product in return,” Bradd said.

The center also has a dining room that’s open by reservation only for lunch. Students work in all aspects of preparing and serving the food, as well as baking and selling the sweet treats.

“The center is a story about all of our students who find a way to contribute to the world in a way they haven’t experienced before,” Bradd said.

The money that’s made goes back into running the bakery. Money that’s left over goes back into the school’s other programs.


Other choices

The bakery is one of five vocational classes at the center, including building trades, kitchen work, computers, business technology and maintenance.

Students are employed throughout the Downriver area, including Southland Mall and Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital. Ideally, center students learn about what employers are looking for in the jobs they may apply to in the future.

“It’s a fantastic program,” said Superintendent James E. Anderson. “I see students really shining when they have a task and a job. They feel valued in the community, and for our special education students that’s especially important. They’re proud of their work and they like sharing their joy.”

Students are also exposed to independent living skills, apartment living, social skills instruction, physical education, reproductive health, extracurricular activities, and many more opportunities. Students also have access to technology, including SMART Boards, Chromebooks and iPads in every classroom.

Speech, occupational and physical therapists work with center teachers and students to help students become as independent as possible. They also give students information about resources that may help them in the future.

Jo Brighton students often begin with center classes at Wilson Middle School and Roosevelt High School, where staff focuses on helping students understand how to live, work and find entertainment in the community; social and emotional learning; physical education as well as peer mentor programs, and many more opportunities.

The center is celebrating its 50-year anniversary with 18 classrooms that typically have about 15 students in each.


Planted a seed

Jo Brighton Skills Center was inspired by Josephine Marie Brighton, a pioneer for special education Downriver and throughout Michigan.

Michigan is the only state in the U.S. that offers special education students state-mandated services until they’re 26 years old.

“We work hard to set them up with opportunities to get jobs,” Bradd said.

“Other students volunteer and others stay with their family. It all depends on each student and their situations.”



CURRENT LOCAL BUSINESSES PARTNERING WITH JO BRIGHTON

Wyandotte Businesses

Daybreak Salon & Spa
The Detail Shop
The Golden Leash
Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital
Indian Lanes
Joe's Hamburgers
Roosevelt High School
Trinity Church
White Furniture
Wilson Middle School
Wyandotte Children Development Center
Wyandotte DPS
Yack Arena

Southgate Businesses

Applebee's
Big Lots
Biggby's Coffee
Crunch Fitness
Downriver Gymnastics
HomeBuys
Mexican Gardens
Red Robin
Southgate Ice Arena
Staybridge Suites

Riverview Businesses

Rivergate Health Care Center
Walgreens

Taylor Businesses

Best Buy
Kudos Taproom & Fieldhouse
Macy's
Olga's