Project SEARCH in New Hampshire: High School Internship-to-Employment for Disabilities

What Project SEARCH Is

Project SEARCH is a one-year, school-to-work transition program for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities in their last year of high school eligibility. The model, originally developed at Cincinnati Children's Hospital in 1996, places students directly inside a host business — a hospital, hotel, government building, or large employer — for an entire school year. Students rotate through three different internship placements within that business, each lasting roughly 10-12 weeks, while receiving daily classroom instruction on-site from a special education teacher and job coaching from VR or a Community Rehabilitation Provider.

The goal is competitive integrated employment — a real job, at or above minimum wage, in the community — by the end of the program year.

How Project SEARCH Operates in New Hampshire

New Hampshire has a small but growing number of Project SEARCH sites. The program operates as a partnership between the host business, the local school district, VR New Hampshire, and typically a Community Rehabilitation Provider like Easterseals New Hampshire or a BDS Area Agency.

Each partner contributes a specific piece:

• The host business provides the physical workspace, identifies departments for internship rotations, and assigns on-site mentors
• The school district provides the special education teacher who delivers daily instruction (employability skills, workplace literacy, social communication) in an on-site classroom
• VR New Hampshire funds job coaching services and provides vocational counseling — often through a VR Transition Counselor assigned to the student
• The Community Rehabilitation Provider supplies the job coaches who work directly alongside interns during rotations

Students attend the host business site every school day, typically from 8 or 9 AM through the early afternoon. The structure mirrors a workday, not a school day. There are no bells, no passing periods, no cafeteria. Students learn workplace norms by being embedded in them.

Who's Eligible

Project SEARCH targets students who are:

• In their final year of special education eligibility (age 18-21, or, for an eligible student who has not earned a regular high school diploma, until the day before their 22nd birthday under New Hampshire's SB 394-FN extension)
• Have an IEP with transition goals related to competitive integrated employment
• Have an intellectual or developmental disability (the program was designed for this population, though some sites accept students with other significant disabilities)
• Demonstrate a desire to work in the community
• Are eligible for or receiving VR New Hampshire services

The student doesn't need to be "job-ready" at enrollment. The whole point of the three-rotation model is progressive skill building — the first rotation might focus on basic workplace behaviors (showing up on time, following multi-step directions, interacting with coworkers), while the third rotation involves more complex tasks with greater independence.

Families should discuss Project SEARCH at the transition IEP meeting, ideally two years before the student's expected exit. If the student is interested in employment and the IEP team agrees the model is appropriate, the school district and VR New Hampshire coordinate the placement.

The Three-Rotation Structure

Each rotation places the student in a different department within the host business. A hospital site might rotate a student through the cafeteria/food service, the mail room, and the patient transport department. A hotel might use housekeeping, front desk support, and the laundry facility.

The rotations serve several purposes:

1. Skills sampling — the student discovers which types of work they prefer and which they're good at
2. Progressive complexity — each rotation builds on the skills developed in the previous one
3. Employment audition — host businesses frequently hire program completers into the department where they performed best

Between rotations, the special education teacher provides targeted instruction based on what the job coaches observe during work. If a student struggles with multi-step directions on the floor, the classroom time addresses sequencing and task checklists. If social communication with coworkers is the barrier, the instruction focuses on workplace conversation and self-advocacy.

How Project SEARCH Connects to VR and Adult Services

For New Hampshire students, Project SEARCH typically operates under the student's VR case. The VR Transition Counselor writes the internship into the student's Individual Plan for Employment (IPE), and VR funds the job coaching hours through a contracted Community Rehabilitation Provider.

This matters for what happens after the program year:

• If the student is hired by the host business (or another employer), VR can continue funding job coaching during the stabilization period to help ensure the placement sticks
• If the student needs ongoing support beyond what VR provides, the handoff goes to the student's BDS Area Agency, which can fund long-term supported employment services under the DD Waiver
• If the student isn't hired at the host site, VR continues providing job placement services and the student's IEP team may extend transition services (the student remains eligible for FAPE until the day before their 22nd birthday if they haven't earned a regular diploma)

The key coordination point is timing. Families should ensure the student's Area Agency intake and Wait List Registry placement happen well before the Project SEARCH year — ideally by age 16. If the student finishes Project SEARCH, gets a job, but then loses it six months later, the Area Agency is the long-term safety net. Being on the Wait List already means services can activate faster.

Finding a Project SEARCH Site

Project SEARCH availability in New Hampshire depends on which host businesses and school districts have active partnerships. Because New Hampshire is a small state with many rural areas, not every region has a site. The program tends to operate near population centers — the Seacoast, Manchester-Nashua, and the Concord area — where host businesses with sufficient department diversity exist.

To find out whether a site is available in your area:

• Ask your school district's transition coordinator or special education director
• Contact VR New Hampshire's School Transition Services division
• Reach out to Easterseals New Hampshire, which operates as a Community Rehabilitation Provider for multiple sites

If no Project SEARCH site exists near you, similar (though less structured) work-based learning opportunities may be available through your school district's transition program or through VR-funded community-based work experiences. The New Hampshire IEP Transition to Adulthood Guide covers both Project SEARCH and alternative work-based learning pathways, with timelines for coordinating VR referrals and Area Agency intake alongside the school IEP process.

See more New Hampshire guides →