Meet Our Honorees
This year, Alpine Learning Group celebrates three distinct honorees, learn more about each of them below.
BD - Corporate Honoree
Bergen Community College - Community Honoree
The Josif Family - Family Honoree
We are pleased to recognize BD as this year’s Corporate Honoree. Alpine Learning Group’s corporate partnerships come in many shapes and sizes. They often involve financial support, volunteerism, or vocational experiences for our learners. Rarely, though, do they involve all three.
BD seeks to build meaningful, long-term and strategic partnerships and programs to help advance the health of employees and communities and provide equitable opportunities for all. BD and previously, Bard, has a history of engagement and financial support to Alpine. This year, the company’s commitment to building an inclusive work environment that values, appreciates, and leverages diversity opened the door for expanded partnerships. In collaboration with Alpine staff, BD and its Limitless Associate Resource Group (ARG), launched a range of Autism Awareness Month initiatives and paid internship opportunities for Alpine learners.
In April of 2022, BD welcomed Alpine learners to its corporate headquarters in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, where Alpine learners worked alongside chefs in the Café to craft and sell smoothies to BD associates. Young adults from Alpine’s transition program also visited BD throughout the month to facilitate an information table and share more about Alpine Learning Group with BD associates. Additionally, Alpine co-founder and CEO Dr. Bridget A. Taylor was invited to serve on a panel discussion focused on Neurodivergence in the Workplace that was hosted by the Limitless ARG and open to all BD associates. Dr. Taylor and other guest panelists offered their expertise on how to build an inclusive workplace that is supportive and provides opportunities for people with autism.
Continuing its partnership with Alpine, BD launched its first summer internship program for people with diverse abilities in July. This program provides learners in Alpine’s transition program with paid work opportunities in various roles and assigns BD peer mentors to help ensure a smooth and successful experience. BD will launch the second cohort of learners from Alpine this fall.
BD was recently recognized by Disability:IN as a Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion, earning a 100% score — up from 90% — on the 2022 Disability Equality Index. This is the fourth consecutive year that BD has earned the award. This recognition, along with the work BD is doing with Alpine, is a testament to the company’s continued progress in delivering on its long-term goals of fostering a culture of inclusion and providing the support and resources that promote a healthy and enabled workforce and community.
BD has eight Associate Resource Groups (ARGs), which are associate-led, company-supported, executive-sponsored groups that share a common interest in fostering inclusion, diversity and equity. Many of the ARGs are focused on marginalized communities. The Limitless ARG helps enable an environment of inclusion that drives innovative thinking while eliminating obstacles for those with diverse abilities and implementing inclusive workplace measures and resources.
BD is one of the largest global medical technology companies in the world and is advancing the world of health by improving medical discovery, diagnostics and the delivery of care. With 75,000 associates, BD has a presence in virtually every country. The company partners with organizations around the world to address some of the most challenging global health issues to help enhance outcomes, lower costs, increase efficiencies, improve safety and expand access to health care.
We are grateful for BD’s past support, excited to see what is yet to come, and pleased to recognize them as this year’s Fall Affair Corporate Honoree.
For more information about BD, visit BD.com or follow on their social channels:
LinkedIn: @BD
Twitter: @BDandCO
Instagram: @becton_dickinson
Facebook: @BectonDickinsonandCo
We celebrate Bergen Community College as our Community Partner Honoree, gratefully acknowledging their long-standing, wide-ranging support of Alpine Learning Group (Alpine). The College has partnered with Alpine over the years by offering employment opportunities to our adult learners and through their dental hygiene program. The College has also hosted one of Alpine’s primary fundraising events.
As one of Alpine’s first community employment sites, our relationship with the College started nearly a decade ago! They offered ongoing, paid employment for some of Alpine’s adult learners in the Records & Information Management department.
Through a partnership with the College’s dental hygienist program, college students visit Alpine and demonstrate routine dental hygiene procedures to Alpine learners to desensitize them to the experience of regular dental check-up visits. The partnership also gives the Bergen students first-hand experience in working with and relating to individuals with autism. Alpine learners also visit the Bergen campus to practice generalizing these skills in a new environment.
Additionally, the College has served as a supportive host for Go the Distance for Autism, an annual fundraising event benefiting Alpine Learning Group Foundation, EPIC Foundation, and REED Foundation for Autism.
Furthermore, Bergen Community College serves as a pillar in the disability community — especially through the inclusive programming offered through their Turning Point Program. The Turning Point Program is a two-year postsecondary experience for young adults with intellectual disabilities interested in academic, vocational, and social enrichment. Students participate in a career pathway credentialing course and can graduate with professional industry recognized credentials as well as a Certificate of Achievement through the Division of Continuing Education.
We are grateful for Bergen Community College’s partnership throughout the years, and we are pleased to recognize them as this year’s Fall Affair Community Partner Honoree.
This year, we celebrate the Josif family for their continued commitment to Alpine Learning Group (Alpine). The Josif family has been a part of the Alpine community since 2010 when their oldest daughter, Melanie, began receiving services in Alpine’s education program.
To know Melanie is to love her. Now 22, she is a kind, free-spirited, and dedicated participant in Alpine’s Success Academy, a transition program that allows her to complete academic requirements for graduation and explore a range of community-based employment opportunities.
During her time at Alpine, Melanie has developed many skills which have enabled her to become a independent and interdependent member of her community, including time management, shopping, safety in the community, and how to articulate her likes and dislikes. Alpine provides services to Melanie and her family that foster her leisure hobbies and provide her with experiences working at community-based employment sites including BD, Apple Spice, and CHEER.
The Josif family: Marvin, Suzette, and their three children, Melanie, Eli, and Sydney, have been supporting Alpine Learning Group in a multitude of ways since they were first introduced to the organization almost 15 years ago. Marvin served on the Board of Directors for 12 years as both a member and as Vice President, and Suzette has served on the planning committee for Alpine’s fall event in past years. The family also generously supports and participates in our annual Go the Distance for Autism event each year. Melanie’s brother, Eli, and sister, Sydney, remain connected to Alpine through participation in Alpine events throughout the years.
The Josif family has been an invaluable part of the Alpine community. We are grateful for the joy Melanie brings to our program each day, and the partnership and leadership that the Josif family has offered. We celebrate their long history with Alpine, their many accomplishments over the years, and opportunities that lie ahead.