Community Integrated Services

Give it up for the Aramark team at the Philadelphia Zoo and Michael Handelman, our two CIS-nominated award winners at last Friday's Brighter Futures ceremony!

The annual awards ceremony is hosted by the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services and celebrates individuals and organizations making extraordinary efforts to assist people with Intellectual disAbilities in their community.

It was a fantastic, celebratory day: Michael Handelman, a classroom instructor in our Project SEARCH programs, received the Educational and Intellectual Award. The award citation recognized Michael's extraordinary teaching and mentorship, which has helped nearly 100 School District of Philadelphia students transition from school to employment.

The Employment & Career Development Award went to the Aramark team at the Philadelphia Zoo for their outstanding partnership in helping over 30 CIS participants find and thrive in meaningful employment at the zoo. Aramark's Lauren Abruzzese, Michael Toussaint, Haley Evans, and Whitney Standish were on hand to accept the award.

The program included speeches by Valerie Arkoosh, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services; former PA State Representative Stephen Kinsey; and Kathryn Ott Lovell, President and CEO of PHILADELPHIA250.

And the surprise of the day came when Amira Heep was presented with a Special Recognition Award. Amira works ballgames and events at all of Philly's stadiums and receives services from CIS, but Friday was her turn in the spotlight as she was invited to open and close the day's festivities: the morning began with Amira's beautiful rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner and the afternoon closed with Amira performing a song of her own composition. It was *awesome*, to say the least, and we'll share more in the coming days.

Our great thanks to the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services for putting on such an incredible event, and to ceremony host Loraine Ballard Morrill for always leading the way and doing justice to the awardees, nominees, and everyone in the city of Philadelphia working to create more inclusive and accessible communities.

We can't wait to celebrate our two CIS-nominated Award Winners at TODAY'S Brighter Futures Awards, hosted by Philadelphia's Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services 🙌

Enormous congratulations to the Aramark team at the Philadelphia Zoo, and to Michael Handelman. Each of these award winners has helped expand opportunity and access for people with disabilities in enormously impactful ways.

Stay tuned for more from today's celebrations, and learn more about our work at cisworks.org!

The 2026 Brighter Futures Awards from Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services are coming up *this Friday*, and we are thrilled to be celebrating TWO CIS-nominated award winners!

The Aramark team at the Philadelphia Zoo will receive the 2026 Employment & Career Development Award for their amazing partnership and advocacy in helping over 30 CIS participants find and thrive in employment at the Zoo.

And the incredible Michael Handelman will receive the 2026 Educational & Intellectual Award. Through his teaching and mentorship as a Project Career Launch Instructor (a partnership of CIS, the School District of Philadelphia, the AJ Drexel Autism Institute and Community College of Philadelphia), Michael has made a transformative impact in the lives of nearly 100 students with disabilities and helped them make a successful transition from school to employment.

We can't wait to celebrate our outstanding award winners, and we hope to see you there!

We’re throwing it back to two weeks ago at POLYTECH High School, where our staff was on hand for their end-of-year college and career fair!

Alyssa, Alan, and Michael had a great time chatting about CIS’s services and employment opportunities with POLYTECH students getting ready to exit school, and it was wonderful to see so many people come out to the event.

Our great thanks to the school for putting on such a great event—it was wonderful to share our work with students as they weigh different possibilities for life after high school!

For more on our services and job opportunities, head to CISworks.org 💫