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Home  /  Community Participation & Training Center

Coming soon · Accepting inquiries

The Vet Fixer Community Participation & Training Center.

Building Skills. Creating Opportunities. Our CPS Hub and training facility is in development: a home base where adults build practical skills, and a launch point into the wider Chester County community where those skills get used.

In development · licensing and zoning underway The facility is the hub, the community is the classroom Support our zoning hearing

What we are building

An adult day program, expanded.

Vet Fixer builds on everything a good adult day program already does, and extends it in two directions: structured, hands-on skill development inside the facility, and genuine community participation outside it.

The center is the hub. It is where someone learns to plan a meal, build a resume, use a spreadsheet, throw a pot or set a table. Then those same skills get practiced in the places people actually live their lives, across Chester County and the surrounding communities.

The result is a day with structure and purpose behind it, and skills that hold up once the day is over.

Purpose. Creating Possibilities.

How it works

Half the program happens outside the building.

Vet Fixer is not a building-based program. The facility is the home base. Chester County and the surrounding communities are where the learning gets real.

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Where participants spend their time

Community destinations are chosen with each person, around their goals and interests, and revisited as those change.

  • Libraries, parks and museums
  • Recreational facilities and fitness centres
  • Restaurants, cafes and local businesses
  • Farmers markets, food banks and community events
  • Volunteer locations and workplace visits
  • Other destinations that matter to the individual

Skills taught at the hub are reinforced in these settings, which is where confidence actually gets built.

Program areas

Seven program areas, chosen around the person.

Nobody is placed in a program area because it fills a slot on a timetable. Participation is built around individual goals and interests, and it changes as those change.

Independent Living & Life Skills

Cooking, meal preparation, grocery shopping, budgeting, laundry, cleaning, personal organization, household safety, scheduling and transportation skills.

Career Readiness & Employment Exploration

Resume and job application assistance, interview preparation, workplace etiquette, time management, computer and employment skills, job-interest exploration, workplace and business visits, volunteering and entrepreneurship exposure.

Community Connections

Libraries, parks, museums, recreational facilities, restaurants, community events, volunteer locations, local businesses, farmers markets, food banks and other meaningful community destinations.

Creative Arts & Entrepreneurship Studio

Painting, crafts, sewing, Cricut and vinyl projects, jewellery, music, dance, photography, video creation and other creative projects.

Includes our Marketplace Program: product creation, packaging, inventory, pricing, displays, customer service, and eventually community pop-up markets and showcases.

Technology & Digital Skills Lab

Basic computer skills, email, typing, internet safety, tablets and smartphones, online job searching, Microsoft Office, Canva and basic design, photography and video, navigation and transportation apps, and assistive technology.

Health, Wellness & Fitness

Walking, chair exercise, dance, stretching, nutrition education, healthy meal planning, personal wellness, and recreation and fitness activities.

Hospitality & Cafe Training

A simulated training environment, not a public cafe. Participants practice food preparation, customer service, table setup, cleaning and sanitation, taking simulated orders, register and POS skills, and hospitality workplace behavior.

To be clear about the Cafe

Hospitality & Cafe Training is a simulated training area inside the center. It is designed for practice and skill building. It is not a currently operating public cafe, and no food is sold to the public through it.

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Planned

The Independent Living Apartment Lab.

We plan to create a simulated apartment-style training area inside the center: a real kitchen, a real bedroom, a real living area, set up so people can practice running a home before they have to do it for real.

This is a training environment, not residential housing. Nobody lives here. It exists so that somebody can get it wrong safely, as many times as they need to, before it counts.

  • Making beds, vacuuming, dusting and mopping
  • Laundry from sorting through to putting away
  • Cooking and meal planning
  • Household organization, and cleaning a bedroom and living area
  • Home safety
  • Simulated budgeting and simulated bill paying

Part of every program area

Three things that run through everything.

These are not timetabled in a corner. They are how the whole center operates, taught at the hub and reinforced during real community participation.

Communication & Social Skills

Conversation skills, friendship and relationship building, self-advocacy, conflict resolution, personal boundaries, recognizing social cues, workplace communication, asking for assistance, and communication supports when needed.

Community Safety & Independence

Pedestrian safety, emergency preparedness, calling 911, fire safety, community navigation, recognizing signs, transportation safety, what to do if lost, and personal safety. Taught at the center and reinforced out in the community.

Self-Advocacy & Leadership

Participant councils, choosing activities and outings, personal goal setting, leadership opportunities, learning rights and responsibilities, helping welcome new participants, and taking part in community presentations and events.

Where we are right now

In development, and we could use your voice.

The Community Participation & Training Center is not yet open. We are working through the licensure process with Pennsylvania’s Office of Developmental Programs, alongside a local zoning hearing for the center’s location. We will not be enrolling participants until those approvals are complete.

Zoning hearings are decided in a room. What moves them is people showing up, or writing in, to say a service is needed. If you are an individual, a family member, a supports coordinator, a neighbor, or simply someone who thinks Chester County should have this, we would be grateful for your support.

How you can help

Any one of these makes a difference, and none of them commits you to anything.

  • Attend the zoning hearing and be counted in the room
  • Send a short letter of support we can submit on the record
  • Tell us how a training center would change things for your family
  • Share this page with anyone in Chester County who would agree

Contact us for the hearing date, location and a letter template. We will keep everyone who asks updated as dates are confirmed.

Our current services are unaffected

Community Participation Supports, In-Home & Community Supports, Companion Services and Respite Services are all authorized and available today, independently of the Training Center.

Be first to know

Join our interest list.

We are not taking enrolments yet. Tell us who you are planning for and which program areas matter most, and we will contact you as soon as the center is approved to open.

Step 01

Register your interest

This form, or a phone call. No paperwork needed.

Step 02

We keep you posted

Honest updates on licensing, zoning and timing as they happen.

Step 03

Visit, then decide

Once approved, come and see the center with the person who would attend.

Join the interest list

Available today

Four Vet Fixer services are running right now.

While the Training Center is in development, Community Participation Supports, In-Home & Community Supports, Companion Services and Respite Services are all available.