1.Tell me more about your programming.

The Community Externship Model serves individuals ages 18-25 with developmental disabilities; some sessions are only for applicants from our specific school partnerships, while some sessions are for individuals that have already graduated high school and are opened up to the broader community. The specifics of each session and required applicant criteria (e.g., age, in HS or graduated, session length) will all be announced on our social media accounts, along with an active call for applications whenever a new application window opens. These programs have been on pause since COVID and as we have focused on the opening of the Bakery.

Each program day consists of job training in an area business and our VA-DOE endorsed curriculum – focusing on workplace readiness, social, and independent living skills. The entire program day occurs out in an area business and is facilitated fully by our team of certified special educators onsite. Sessions are either 6-weeks or 12-weeks in length. The classroom portion is typically 3 hours daily and the job site portion is typically 2 hours daily. Each student is placed into their own department within the hosting organization. Some sessions have fees (though most are funded by grants) and some sessions are paid positions for interns based on the host business’ policies. All applicants are invited to interview with our team, assuming that they meet our criteria, and typically six students are selected for each session.

At Tablespoons Bakery, we offer internship programs to high school age students between the ages of 18-22. Some sessions during the school year are only open to specific school system partnerships; referrals must come in through the transition or special education departments connected to those partnerships. Again, all session details will be shared out on our social media channels whenever new sessions are available, along with any related details about specific applicant criteria. We do typically offer summer sessions at the Bakery that are still for high school youth, between the ages of 18-22, but the applicants can come from any school or school system and not from any specific partnership. The Tablespoons program is largely the same model that we run in the Community Externship Program, just within our own space at the Bakery. Each day consists of both job training and on-site education lead by our team of special educators. All applicants are invited to interview with our team, assuming that they meet our criteria, and typically six students are selected for each session. Students are either placed with our service team in the restaurant space or with our kitchen team in our commercial kitchen. These programs are always 6-weeks in length.

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2. What is your general applicant criteria?

Each session and program type will have specific age requirements. Some sessions will also be reserved for a specific school system partnership and others will be open to the broader community.

Besides these factors, which will always be included in the social media post about the upcoming session, we do have some consistent applicant criteria that apply across all programs.

The applicant must:

-have a developmental disability (e.g., autism, intellectual disability)

-have a desire to work in the community

-demonstrate a positive attitude and is invested in learning new skills

-have reliable transportation (with school system partnerships, the schools often provide this)

-not require one-to-one support for behavioral or medical support needs

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3. How do I or how would my student/child/client get involved with your internship programming?

Please check out the information posted on our social media platforms about upcoming sessions and application windows. We are not able to receive and process applications outside of these windows. We also cannot keep a general waitlist for programs.

For school partnered sessions (they will be noted as such), there must be a referral from that connected school/school system team.

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4. Could someone from your team call me so I can learn more about your services?

Our small non-profit, including the Tablespoons Bakery program, is actively managing our inclusive internships and supported employment programs daily, in addition to a working restaurant. The team that is providing these direct services also manages all forms of incoming inquiries from the community.

We encourage you first to check our website for general information and our social media accounts for the latest updates. If you would like specific additional information, please drop us a note through the contact form on our website. We will respond via email. If a call is needed, we will schedule a call with you around our program day with our students.

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5. Are you currently hiring for your Education Team?

Our non-profit was founded by two special educators. The team that leads our educational programming and manages the operational needs of our non-profit to this day is still staffed by certified special educators and vocational job coaches.

When we have positions available, we will share those opportunities on our website and social media accounts. We always look to hire from within the special education and human services sectors and we look for individuals with a passion for our inclusive mission.

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6. Are you currently hiring Bakers for the supported employment program?

The Bakers that we have hired at Tablespoons are permanent, paid team members who all once participated in either a Next Move Externship or Tablespoons Bakery Internship Program. We are not able to hire all of our graduates. Our goal is to prepare our students for competitive employment once they leave our doors.

As we do have openings with our team and there is a fit, we will always look to hire from our Alumni base before opening up those supported employment opportunities to the broader disability community.

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7. Are you still offering Community Externship Programs?

These programs have been on pause since COVID and while we have focused on the opening of the Bakery. In the future, we envision having high school age youth participate in our Tablespoons Bakery Internships with some being invited back to participate in our Community Externship Program upon graduation. This would allow for a more intensive and longer service offering for our graduates.

1.Can you bring the Cookie Camper out to my event?

Our Cookie Camper is available for an added fee to add on to larger custom event orders. Due to the staffing lift on our team to take the Cookie Camper out on the road, we do not use it for general community appearances.

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2. Do you make gluten free cookies?

We lease our commercial kitchen space. It is technically set up as a commissary kitchen outside of our lease hours. For this reason, we are not able to fully prevent cross-contamination. Elizabeth, our Executive Director & Co-Founder, along with many of our students are gluten free. We really would love to offer GF options on our menu but we do not feel that we can do this safely at present.

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3. Do you make dairy free cookies?

We lease our commercial kitchen space. It is technically set up as a commissary kitchen outside of our lease hours. For this reason, we are not able to fully prevent cross-contamination. Elizabeth, our Executive Director & Co-Founder, along with many of our students are dairy free. We really would love to offer DF options on our menu but we do not feel that we can do this safely at present.

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4. I want to place a custom order. What is the process?

Custom orders include any order requests for a specific quantity of a flavor/dessert type being picked up on a specific day. These can also include any special packaging requests (e.g., individually wrapping each cookie, printing custom tags, mailing out your order). We require at least a 2-week window from the time that all of the details are finalized via email (and not just from the time of the initial contact with our team) to get your order on our baking schedule.

Because each order is unique and we want to ensure that we meet your expectations, we require all details to be worked out in email. We cannot take custom orders over the phone or at our sales counter during service hours.

Orders must be picked up during our typical restaurant hours: Tuesday-Friday from 8am-2pm and Saturday from 8am-12pm.

We cannot offer local delivery for custom orders. Our students and supported employment teammates typically do not drive. Deliveries would fall on our Education Team, who are responsible for running the Bakery itself and implementing disability services.

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5. I am in the Cookie Club and need to update my address or credit card information. How do I do this?

We are not able to edit a customer’s contact or payment information. This is a safety feature to protect customers that is in place by Squarespace, the platform we use for our e-commerce shop. You will need to login to your account and update this information.

If you are changing how you receive your cookies each month (e.g., changing from pick-up to mail order), you will need to cancel your subscription and re-enroll under the new type of order. These changes might impact the price of the monthly subscription. We also cannot change anything about a customer’s subscription type that will impact the cost to them. While we can cancel your subscription, we cannot change the terms of it.

If you received a note from our team that your card on file could not be charged and it’s time to update your payment information, but you’ve already done so, please disregard our separate email. Unfortunately, Squarespace will not notify us once you’ve updated this information in their system.

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6. I am in the Cookie Club and can’t remember my password. Can you send it to me?

In order to protect customers, we are not able to access passwords. This is a security setting from Squarespace. You will need to request on the login screen to reset it through their system.

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7. I am out of town and cannot pick-up or receive my Cookie Club box this month. What are the options?

If you aren’t able to swing by during our regular hours to pick-up your Cookie Club monthly box, drop us a note to find a time to swing by the following week or we can always place your box in the after hours pick-up bin (with a lid) on our covered side porch. This all also applies for delivery folks that are planning to be out of town during their delivery window.

We are also always happy to donate your box that month to someone in the community that could use a sweet treat.

We have limited regular volunteer opportunities, unless someone has a specific skill set that would support our supported employment or internship programming for students – like a background in special education or professional experience baking. Due to the population that we work with, we have a more lengthy interview, background check, and ServeSafe training process to work with us as a regular volunteer in the kitchen. We also require that regular volunteers commit to joining us weekly for a 6 month commitment or more, as our students need consistency.

We do periodically share about “one and done” volunteer opportunities for the general community on our social media accounts and through our newsletters – like a yard clean-up day or helping out at a community fundraiser for our non-profit. You will want to follow us on social media and sign up for the volunteer newsletter on our website to stay up to date.