Coastal Opportunities Work Services provide meaningful employment placements for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. These jobs—which are chosen to suit the individual’s abilities—contribute to enhanced self-esteem, increased consumer empowerment, development of new skills, increased community inclusion, enhanced quality of life, and the chance to earn equitable wages.

Assisted by support staff, Coastal Opportunities participants have worked in such local venues as Rite-Aid, Lincoln’s Store, the Penobscot Bay YMCA, West Bay Rotary Breakfast, Maine Coast Construction, Rankin’s Hardware, and the Coastal Redemption Center. A personal job coach accompanies each person to work, and the workers all enjoy having a job, take great pride in the quality of their work, and always appreciate receiving a regular paycheck in return.

For the participants, another benefit of working is the chance to interact on a daily basis with other members of the community. The decades-long presence of Coastal Opportunities in Knox County has elevated the profile of the organization as an agency that provides valuable services to dozens of clients and assists them to become participating members in the social and economic community.