A perhaps-unknown jewel located in Muncie is The Arc of Indiana Foundation’s Erskine Green Training Institute (EGTI). The Arc of Indiana, established in 1956 by families of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), is Indiana’s leading advocacy organization for people with IDD and their families. The Arc has 44 chapters covering 68 counties across Indiana, including Hillcroft Services.
Housed within the Courtyard Muncie at Horizon Convention Center, owned by The Arc’s for-profit corporation, EGTI was founded in 2016 with the mission to provide opportunities for postsecondary vocational training for people with disabilities that empower and lead to meaningful employment.
The idea for EGTI was imagined over a late-night dinner as leaders of The Arc, including the father of a son with Down syndrome, envisioned a hotel where people with disabilities could receive job training and go on to provide staffing at the hotel.
EGTI is named in honor of two families who represent the first generations of The Arc movement. Carl Erskine, renowned for his baseball career with the Brooklyn Dodgers, and Steve Green, Bobby Knight’s first recruit at Indiana University, share more than their connection as athletes. Carl and his wife, Betty, began their advocacy for people with disabilities in the 1950s when their son, Jim, was born with Down syndrome. Steve and his wife, Lana, began their journey in the 1970s when their first child was also born with Down syndrome. Both families advocated for their children to be fully included in their school, community and workplace.
EGTI Director Megan Stevenson, a Ball State graduate, was hired in 2014 to develop EGTI’s training programs, using her background in special education and transition planning for young adults. Today EGTI provides training in hospitality, food service, health care and inventory distribution. During 10- and 12-week training sessions, students attend class, master key job skills and gain valuable work experience through internships at Courtyard Muncie, 1925 PubHouse and IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital.
In addition to hands-on job training, the curriculum addresses critical soft skills like appropriate workplace etiquette, teamwork, taking direction, and effective communication skills.
To date, EGTI has graduated 311 students, and over 80% of EGTI graduates have secured employment in communities throughout Indiana.
One example of EGTI’s success is a graduate who completed the inventory distribution program in the fall of 2018, and went on to secure employment at an Indianapolis-area hospital making $13.65 an hour. Over the next three years she received three promotions and is now a shift supervisor, supervising 16 staff members and making over $45,000 a year.
Prospective students and their families are encouraged to visit EGTI by registering for one of their monthly general tours, and/or registering for Career Sampling Sessions – two-day opportunities for potential students to observe and try the various training programs offered by EGTI.
EGTI is excited to be expanding their training programs to Indianapolis later this year, where students will receive training in manufacturing at Allison Transmission, as well as food service, health care, and inventory distribution at Riley Hospital for Children.
To learn more about EGTI, visit egti.org, or contact info@egti.org.
