Career Buds includes educators and creative individuals whose experience in thinking out of the box has engineered growth in their own lives. Now our job developers and mentors are prepared to advocate and find positions for people who can be an asset to an organization. We work to help you develop your career and support you along the way.

A note from Executive Director Nancy Doherty:

My husband and I are fortunate to have three sons.  As every parent knows, each child comes with his or her own unique set of personality traits and skills.  

From a very early age, I noticed that my middle son, Luke, saw the world around him in an unconventional way. One afternoon, we were playing with the shape matching box -- the goal is to fit the plastic shapes (triangles, stars, squares) through their corresponding holes. I thought it would be helpful if I demonstrated what to do with a couple shapes.   Luke took a long look at the box, glanced at me, then simply popped the top open and scooped all the shapes inside with one smooth move and a triumphant smile.  His look to me clearly suggested that he wondered why I was doing things the hard way when he could accomplish the same task so much faster his way!  

With my background in teaching, I realized that it would be difficult to find the right fit for his education. He could test as an average student but he clearly didn’t match the average student’s template. Over the years, many wonderful educators and dedicated social workers helped Luke to develop a range of abilities from math to music and video editing.  At the beginning of each school year, a skeptical teacher would question my plans for him.  Yet each year, Luke was able to quickly demonstrate his abilities as well as charm his teachers who became his strongest allies.

Only one piece was missing -- a pathway to a real career where he could use his skills to the fullest extent.  While some social workers think the simplest solution is to live off Social Security Disability payments, Luke does not want to settle for that.  He has more to contribute.  Now that he is moving out of the education system with all its attendant programs we see a gap – a chasm – for my son to move into participating fully in the work world. Moreover, Luke is not the only young person labelled with a disability but with actual strengths in this community.  We have met many families in a similar situation. These young people would be real assets to a variety of organizations with someone ready to advocate on their behalf. Career Buds was formed to help bridge that gap for Luke and those like him who have a dream of achieving their career goals.  We all benefit when each member of the community can contribute.​