Opportunity provides the chance for individuals’ abilities to shine. That’s what Kent-Sussex Industries, Inc. (KSI) endeavors to give Delawareans with disabilities every day. KSI is a private, not-for-profit organization serving residents of Kent and Sussex Counties, Delaware. KSI is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors and staffed with trained Direct Support Professionals and Management focused on positive outcomes. The mission of KSI is to create opportunities for individuals with disabilities to learn and grow. Through training, education and supportive programs and services, we enable individuals to accomplish their personal and work-related goals. We do that by providing individualized supports to assist people with disabilities in reaching for their potential in employment and meaningful participation in their communities.
Originally known as the Golden Opportunity Center, Inc., KSI was founded in 1962 with a grant from Delaware Foundation Reaching Citizens with Intellectual disABILITIES (DFRC). What began in a small facility just south of Dover, Delaware grew over the next decade to include four satellite facilities. In 1985, programs in Woodside, Bridgeville, Dover and Milford were consolidated and moved to KSI's Skill Development Center located at 301 N. Rehoboth Blvd., Milford, Delaware.
KSI partners with the individuals it serves, families, providers and state agencies to create supports that help people with disabilities live their best lives. Approximately 200 individuals receive KSI services per year. Programs available to participants include:
• Pre-Vocational Training Program
As part of its Pre-Vocational Training Program, KSI creates partnerships with area businesses in Kent and Sussex County, Delaware. They’ve resulted in contract production and staffing opportunities to help program participants learn real-world work skills that prepare them for employment. These experiences include large-scale production at KSI’s Milford Center and community-based work crews onsite at customers locations. Companies find solutions to difficult staffing and production issues while KSI program participants prepare for community employment. Currently, KSI has community-based crews at Procter & Gamble Dover Wipes plant, Dover Air Force Base and Merck Animal Health in Millsboro.
KSI’s programs reach beyond Pre-Vocational Training and encompass a non-work Life Enrichment Program to help individuals increase their skills in community participation and inclusion. The organization also offers the KSI Explore Program to individuals with a wide range of disabilities to provide peer support and community reintroduction activities.
The organization has an extensive transportation fleet to ensure participants consistent and dependable access to all of the opportunities available to them. KSI also provides Nutritional Services at its Milford Skill Development Center and select community sites, offering free breakfasts and lunches to each participant to ensure their physical well-being as part of their program experience.
Recently, KSI expanded day services beyond the Milford Skill Development Center to its Southern Campus at 5 Academy St. in Georgetown, Delaware, as well as specialized summer programs for children with disabilities at Kamp Lenape on Midstate Road in Felton, Delaware.
Accreditation
KSI is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF), an international, nonprofit organization founded in 1966 to provide accreditation standards and surveyors for organizations working in the human-services field worldwide. Every three years, CARF surveyors do an audit of all KSI’s programs, policies and procedures to ensure industry-compliant principles and practices are being applied in everything the organization does. CARF accreditation is evidence that KSI strives to improve efficiency, fiscal health, and service delivery to best serve and protect Delawareans with disabilities participating in its programs.