Bender Leadership Academy

Mission Statement

Our goal is to increase long-term competitive employment for youth with disabilities. The Bender Leadership Academy delivers competency-building programs that enable students with disabilities to engage in educational, empowerment, and work opportunities, celebrate successes, and set and achieve career journey goals.

About Bender Leadership Academy

Bender Leadership Academy is committed to expanding opportunities for employment of people with disabilities from youth through adulthood. Established in 2018, Bender Leadership Academy is founded on over two decades of commitment to serving the disability community. Beginning as a volunteer mentoring program with the single purpose of helping youth transitioning into the workforce, the organization is now multi-faceted with programming that provides a comprehensive approach to addressing barriers to employment. At Bender Leadership Academy, our vision is to create sustainable programs that can be adopted as a part of national curriculum for educators and community organizations interested in advancing pathways to success for the community of people with disabilities. Our focus is on providing work readiness competencies that focus on the value and abilities each person can contribute to the workforce. Bender Leadership Academy has a well-established network that spans across many sectors, including public, private and non-profit entities. These partnerships allow us to develop curriculum that lead to opportunity for program alumni to participate in and gain real-world, work experiences.