Agency Details:

CVE's mission is to provide opportunities, training, and support to individuals with mental health disabilities, empowering them to fulfill their employment potential.

Description:
Community Vocational Enterprises (CVE), a non-profit social enterprise was founded to address the issues of unemployment and underemployment of individuals with psychiatric disabilities living in the city and county of San Francisco. A social enterprise describes any non-profit, for-profit or hybrid corporate form that utilizes market based strategies to advance a social mission. Through the years, CVE has expanded their programs to include other disenfranchised populations including bilingual/monolingual Spanish speakers, youth ages 16 and older, and ex-offenders. CVE goes beyond the diagnosis and labels to see their clients as people with potential who are entitled to recognize and realize their possibilities.

CVE utilizes a unique and successful model, which combines training and paid transitional employment in their social enterprises. We own and operate three businesses including:

Industrial Maintenance Engineers (IME) - a professional, green, and licensed janitorial service which cleans 43 buildings in San Francisco
Clerical Business-which is an administrative placement service.
Food service-two coffee bars that provide individuals with food and customer service training including preparation and testing to become Servsafe certified.

All of these businesses act as transitional training sites for our clients and help contribute revenue to cover operating expenses of the agency as a whole.

CVE offers a wide range of job training, placement and retention services including the support of staff that are Occupational Therapists, a computer-training program, a career center for independent skills development and job search, community job placement, and a job retention program including job-coaching opportunities.

CVE has grown to serve over 400 clients per year and currently employs over 100 individuals with disabilities. CVE is also proud to report that over 30% of their staff are former clients working at CVE. Many of these individuals are providing direct service to other clients and act as mentors for those receiving CVE services.

History:
CVE began in 1986 and has continued to grow and improve in its 20 years in existence.

Contact people:

Allen Merritt, Volunteer Coordinator, (phone), (email) Patrick Regan, Vice President Of Community Relations, (phone), (email) Lorna Jones, CEO, (phone), (email)

Address:

1425 Folsom St. San Francisco, CA 94103 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.cve.org

Directions:

Located on Folsom St. between 10th and 11th St.   Nearest Metro/Subway Stop: Van Ness Station,   Walk distance (in minutes): 5   Nearest Bus Stop: 12 Folsom , 5 minute walk

Miscellaneous Information

Besides English, which languages are spoken at your agency?
	Spanish
What is the minimum age for volunteers at your agency?
	18
Is your agency wheelchair accessible?
	Yes
Does your agency have the capacity to host groups of more than 10?
	Yes
Does your agency have the capacity to host groups of more than 20?
	Yes

Last updated on October 22, 2009