Sunflower Bakery in Rockville is a nonprofit organization with a unique twist, serving beloved baked goods and kosher products while providing inclusive workforce training for adults with learning differences to prepare and assist them in finding jobs.
The bakery was founded in 2008 by three women: Laurie Wexler, Sara Portman Milner and Dina Leener, who were among many parents in the area concerned about the lack of meaningful employment opportunities for people with learning differences.
The organization achieved its nonprofit status in 2009 and has spent the last 15 years creating an inclusive workspace with the training and experience needed for progression once the adults complete the 26-week programs.
“The Sunflower experience is transformational. A student who starts with us at the beginning of their six-month training, they’re not the same people who graduate. The growth and independence and self-esteem and self-confidence is almost palpable,” said Jody Tick, the executive director at Sunflower.
Tick said that the goal of Sunflower is to find these students jobs that meet their skill sets and interests after graduation and keep taking in more, as it’s clear to her that there are not enough similar programs in the area.
Sunflower has provided training to over 550 teens and young adults with learning differences since 2010, according to the website.
The students help the production process that produces the brownies, cookies, cakes, pies, freshly-cooked challah on Thursdays and Fridays and sufganiyot for Chanukah.
The organization has continued to grow each year since its inception with the goal of reaching more students and providing a wider range of educational opportunities.
In 2022, the organization added job development preparation, job development and job coaching to its services provided to program graduates, and it has committed between 2023 and 2025 to increase enrollment in its programs by 50%.
Tick invites people to come check out the bakery at either their bakery in Rockville or their café in Bethesda inside the Jewish Federation building to see their mission in action and purchase some of those highly-touted products.
“People understand who we are and what we do, and when they come to support our work, every purchase goes back into supporting our students and our workers’ development training programs,” Tick said.
