Ramah is proud to offer vocational training for people with disabilities through our camps and our National Ramah Tikvah Network. In honor of National Disability Employment Awareness Month 2020, we present the final profile in our series of profiles of Ramah vocational education program participants.

(We spoke with Quinn in February 2020. Although he is no longer interning at the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, Quinn works with his job coach daily to practice his job skills and appropriate office behavior. In addition, Quinn participated as the Torah reader in the Pico Union Project's virtual High Holiday services.)

Since December 2019, Quinn Lohmann has been working as a paid intern at the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles thanks to Camp Ramah in California’s Ezra Ba’Ir program. The program matches graduates of the camp’s Ezra vocational education summer program with employers in the LA Jewish community. Interns work in a variety of settings, including synagogues, schools and communal organizations.

Quinn’s job involves inputting and organizing data. “I am most proud of my spreadsheet and other computer skills,” he said. His speed and accuracy are reportedly excellent.

Quinn, 27, initially honed his data entry skills while working for three and a half years for an organization that provided Head Start early childhood education services. He has received additional training on the job at Federation.

“Federation is a good environment to work in. I know some people at work from before, and I like working in the Jewish community. The people are friendly. I have a lot of nice coworkers to talk to,” said Quinn.

Quinn’s mother Kathy Finn credits his five summers in Ramah’s Ezra program with preparing him for attending the Pathway program at UCLA, a two-year certificate program for students with intellectual and other developmental disabilities, offering a blend of educational, social, and vocational experiences. As an Ezra participant, Quinn did songleading at camp and also worked at the public library in Ojai, California, where he sorted books alphabetically and got to interact with local residents.

“Through the Ezra program I learned how to socialize with coworkers, be punctual, and get jobs done on time,” Quinn said.

According to Kathy, camp is the best experience for all kids to learn independence, and that this is especially so for young people with disabilities. Quinn, who commutes to the Federation building by taking two buses, lives independently in a guest house on his family’s property.

“I am so proud of how responsible and independent Quinn has become. When he was young, I didn’t know if he could be like this,” Kathy said.

Quinn’s Ezra Ba’Ir internship will last six months. It isn’t clear what he will do next. He has a lot to offer employers, but finding work is not easy.

“The job search is the hardest part of all this,” said his mother. “He can’t just go onto a job website because 99 percent of employers have no concept about special needs.”

Kathy would like to see more education of employers on this subject, and more programs like Ezra Ba’Ir to connect employers with potential employees of diverse abilities.

“There is a source of very good employees out there. We just need more organizations to do the outreach and make the connections,” she said.

- Renee Ghert-Zand

Quinn Lohmann: Benefiting From a Ramah-LA Federation Partnership