About

Meet our Founder

As the mom to a 13-year old daughter born with developmental disabilities, Annette Jett has spent years learning how to navigate the resources that are available to support individuals with disabilities access educational, employment and independent living opportunities in the community. These things, which many of us take for granted as natural sequential events in our lives, are very often denied to people with disabilities. In order to facilitate her daughter’s success, Annette began to uncover the systemic gaps in local, state and federal programming, by working with people with disabilities, schools, community leaders, educational cooperatives and universities, disability ‘service’ providers, government agencies and both for and non-profit entities.

By gleaning information from these opportunities, she has positioned herself to be part of the solution to fill in these gaps and improve services in her own state of Kentucky and beyond.

Years after earning her Master’s in Business Administration from the Loyola University in Chicago, Jett went back to school in 2011 in pursuit of a Graduate Certificate from Kentucky’s University Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD), the Human Development Institute (HDI). This in turn catapulted her into a new community of like-minded thought leaders dedicated to improving the lives of individuals with disabilities.

She has advocated on a city, state and national level for improvements to access and opportunity for individuals with disabilities and is often called on to contribute to projects that do just that.

RESULTS

Feet on the Ground

Jett’s proprietary curriculum, Take Flight – Launchpad to Success™ has a history of success, being delivered to over 5,000 students in more than 30 counties Central, Western, Eastern, Northern and Southern parts of Kentucky.

Truly a ‘Launchpad to Success’, this curriculum is offered in phased modules so that a student or young adult can build on their success from where they currently are, whether they are just beginning on their journey or they are ready to Take Flight!

Jett has been a trailblazer for Pre-Employment Transition Services in Kentucky testing her curriculum with a local advocacy organization and students with vision impairments as early as Spring of 2016, even before the final regulations were passed down in Kentucky. She urged the non-profit she helped found and still works with to move in the direction of employment and become a Community Rehabilitation Provider (CRP) after seeking guidance from some of Kentucky’s leaders in the field.

“By now I was a member of the Commonwealth Council for Developmental Disabilities, part of Kentucky’s DD Network, and I was learning about policy and systemic barriers in KY. I knew employment was an issue that was not likely to change before my daughter graduated high school, and I knew that I had something to offer to that field.

In 2015, HDI’s coordinator for Supported Employment set up a meeting for me with fellow council member and branch manager of Office of Vocational Rehabilitation. They told me about Pre-ETS and I began to realize the impact it could have. I built a curriculum based around self-determination and goal setting by adjusting marketing tools I used to use to help businesses outline and reach their destinations. Take Flight- Launchpad to Success™ captures and reinforces the 5 required Pre-ETS topics throughout the phased modules. I continue to innovate and improve upon it, and am proud of the impact in has had on so many Kentucky students; it is my hope that we can reach even more students around the nation.”

– Annette Jett, MBA

at home

Family…

Founder, Annette Jett, MBA, has a unique blend of professional, educational and personal experiences to help others navigate the transition process. Her daughter was born with developmental disabilities in 2005. New to parenthood and the disability community she dove in to learn everything she could about resources that could help her daughter live her best life ever.

Starting with an MBA and and entrepreneurial spirit, she went back to school at 44 to pursue her Graduate Certificate in Developmental Disabilities at the Human Development Institute, Kentucky’s UCEDD.

She then pursued a long line of other educational opportunities, including topics around disability health, education and employment. She recently became certified in enhanced Discovery through the Marc Gold & Associates and is working toward earning her Job Development certification.

She resides in Lexington, KY, with her husband, Frank Bickel and their two children, Gracie, 13, and Charlie, 11. Jett pushes for true community inclusion and self-determination for her kids and others. As for her daughter, she began working on self-determination skills at the early age of 6, and got her first registered volunteer job at her church at the age of 12 working in the Kids Club with 2 and 3 year olds.

Our Services

We believe that the key to success in delivering Pre-ETS is understanding not only ‘WHAT’ needs to be taught, but ‘WHY’ we are teaching it, and “HOW” to reach students regardless of their capacities or learning styles. Take Flight – Launchpad to Success™ is engaging and interactive, making learning fun for all students.

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