Community Outreach

The Smithsonian Ceremonial Honor Guard attends civic functions and ceremonies to demonstrate support shown by the Smithsonian Institution (SI) and to recognize the sacrifices made by law enforcement officers. Members selected must successfully complete the prerequisite training course to become voluntary members of the OPS Ceremonial Honor Guard. For over a decade, the OPS Honor Guard has served the Washington, DC, community by mentoring children, holding an annual toy and clothing drive, and touring students around Smithsonian museums. Additionally, the Honor Guard often works closely with a local school to support their students throughout the academic year.

This is a school-to-work transition program for young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The goal of the program is to help participating interns develop knowledge and skills that will lead to success in the workplace, and long-lasting paid employment. During the course of a typical school year, Project SEARCH interns will be immersed in the Smithsonian workplace, receiving classroom instruction and rotating among three distinct 10-week internships in positions that are meaningful to the mission of the unit to which they are assigned and are based on each jobseeker’s strengths and interests. The Project SEARCH model involves an extensive period of training and career exploration, innovative adaptations, long-term job coaching, and continuous feedback from teachers, job coaches, and employers. As a result, at the completion of the training program, students with significant intellectual disabilities are employed in nontraditional, complex, and rewarding jobs.

Compensated Work Therapy (CWT) is a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) vocational rehabilitation program that seeks to match and support work-ready veterans in competitive jobs, and to consult with business and industry regarding their specific employment needs. Through the VA, their professional CWT staff provides:

• State of the art vocational rehabilitation services
• Job matching and employment supports
• Vocational Case Management
• Work site and job analysis
• Consultation regarding assistive technology
• Reasonable accommodation
• Guidance in addressing ADA regulations compliance

Since 2015, OPS has employed 64 veterans under the CWT program. Of that 64, we have hired 33 veterans to become OPS Security Officers and Administrators.

This is an on-demand service to enhance communications between Smithsonian employees and visitors who are deaf or hard of hearing. The VRI service utilizes a tablet-driven interpreter to provide communication between deaf or hard of hearing persons and hearing persons.