| History |
In 1975, Bobbie Knopf was chair of the Department of Special Education at Northside High School in Atlanta. At that time she began a needs assessment dialogue with Joyce Slaughter, the parent of one of her students. They realized that the options available in North Atlanta for students with special needs after they completed high school were limited.As a result of the strategic needs assessment, they formed an Advisory Board. Having heard of Tommy Nobis' commitment to Special Olympics and persons with disabilities, the board approached the Atlanta Falcons All Pro Linebacker for support and named the project the Tommy Nobis Center.
In 1977, the Tommy Nobis Center hired President/CEO Connie Kirk. Once incorporated, contracted with the Georgia Department of Labor's Vocational Rehabilitation Program to provide vocational/work evaluations, social, personal, work adjustment services, job placement, and job coaching for area clients. In the 1980s, the Tommy Nobis Center expanded its mission to include employment opportunities. To accommodate this expansion, the Center moved twice in the next decade, settling in 1992 in a 52,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art facility in Marietta, Ga. funded by public and private donations. In 2006, the Center began to concentrate on today's model of community based training sites. The Center still provides training and employment services onsite, and at 18 community based locations around Metro Atlanta & the South. 
With the recent economic downturn, the Center sought ways to diversify funding while creating jobs. Recycletronics...at Tommy Nobis Center, an electronics recycling business, was created in 2009. This social enterprise helps protect the planet, while creating jobs for people with disabilities and other barriers, and provides a potential tax deduction. Corporations and consumers may donate TVs, computers, cell phones, copiers, stereos and more at the Center in Marietta or at the Recycletronics site in Kennesaw. Since 2009, the program has created 71 jobs from 2000-2011 and processed more than 1 million pounds of electronics destined for landfills per month. |
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Ray Simms is one of the Center's most motivated warehouse workers. And his attitude is contagious. When new clients (job trainees) come to the Tommy Nobis Center, Ray makes them feel welcomed, keeps them excited, and helps them too to find confidence and success. View Employment Opportunities.
