At PQC Trains, their goal is simple — break down barriers to employment.
Working with individuals with disabilities, the organization provides training, job-seeking assistance, and continued support as clients explore potential career paths and secure employment.
A large portion of their work involves assisting high school students in rural areas to determine their career paths. This includes vocational training, visiting workplaces, and meeting other individuals who currently hold careers of interest. They also provide support to adults in a similar capacity.
While most organizations offering to address employment barriers typically provide tracks that route people into predetermined career paths, PQC Trains lets its clients guide the process. Alesandre Relue, PQC Trains’ social media coordinator, says it’s about giving people the autonomy to decide what job they want.
![]()
As part of a week-long Pre-Employment Transition Services project, students clean at the YWCA's new facility.“I think what really sets us apart is we want to give people the option to do the jobs that they actually want to do, instead of throwing them in easy jobs that people know that they can do,” Relue says.
Elizabeth Dodson, PQC Trains community coordinator, says they do have training modules for common career choices, like working in kitchens or operating a register. Still, their team doesn’t shy away from new possibilities. If a client wants to pursue a career path PQC Trains hasn’t explored before, they work to develop a new training program tailored to that career path.
“We have one girl, she wants to be a nail tech, so we're in the process of creating a program just for her to learn how to be a nail tech,” Dodson provides as an example. “We have another girl who wants to do CSI crime scene kind of stuff. She got to go on the crime scene bus, do fingerprints, and learn how they do blood analysis.”
In one particular case, this willingness to explore, adapt, and create has led to opening up opportunities in animation.
Five years ago, they encountered a high school student who wanted to be an animator. As is normal for Dodson and her coworkers, she went to work, figuring out how to make this career path accessible.
![]()
Makayla, one of the first PQC Trains students to earn a Toon Boom certification, works on the digital drawing pad.She discovered that across the state, individuals interested in animation did not have a lot of options. At the time, Dodson was only able to find two animation studios based in Indiana — neither returned her calls. She discovered that one of the only routes available was to attend college.
“Not everybody is a go-to-college kind of person,” Dodson says, with her co-worker Relue adding that in today’s world, a college degree is not a necessity to enter the creative field, either.
Eventually, Dodson found a company out of Canada,
Toon Boom, that had created an education program for high schoolers interested in animation.
“I called them up, met with them, and talked with them,” she explains. “They loved the idea of breaking that program down into more doable segments, more manageable for our students.”
Teaching the exact programs and techniques they’d learn at institutions like Huntington University, University of St. Francis, and Ball State, PQC Trains’ Toon Boom Animation Classes offer students the opportunity to learn and earn certifications in animation, without having to attend formal classes.
The virtual 12-week program allows students to work one-on-one with the instructor and is split into two sections: storyboarding and Harmony, the industry standard software that makes the drawings move. At the end of the course, students take an exam, which, if they pass, earns them a nationally-recognized certification.
The cost of the program is $12,000, half of which is the cost of equipment, Dodson explains. Students are provided with the equipment needed, like a laptop and a drawing screen. As long as they complete the program, they get to keep that equipment too. The other half of the cost covers the instructor's time. For individuals with disabilities, or if vocational rehabilitation deems it helpful, the cost of the program is taken care of.
![]()
Courtesy PQC TrainsPQC Trains Student Makayla works on the digital drawing pad.Dodson adds that if the price tag is holding someone back from joining the program, they should reach out anyway. As an organization with the mission to help eliminate barriers to employment, she says they’re willing to help tackle that barrier with payment plans.
Providing training, pathways, and certifications was only the first step for animation students. After all, PQC Trains is there to support individuals as they secure and maintain employment.
“After I got to looking at everything that’s involved in it, I’m like, ‘these kids need to be getting credit for this, because it’s a lot,’” Dodson says. Working with the Department of Education, she was able to create a graduation pathway and give students the ability to earn credits for their participation in the Toon Boom course.
Much like other career paths, it pays for students to have work experience, and especially in creative careers, it’s helpful to have a portfolio of work. Dodson set out to find internship opportunities for animation students.
“I’ve spent the last couple of years trying to find internships and things like that,” she explains. “We had one of our employment specialists here in town, who was at a career fair and met a guy from Fun Farm Studios in Hew Haven.”
Fun Farm Studios, founded by Troy Ganser and Rod Ovitt, creates children’s content specifically designed for low stimulation and featuring TJ the Turtle and Mr. G (Ganser), among other animations.
“We’ve created a partnership with Fun Farm Studios and PQC Trains, where our people, once they graduate and become certified, they can do a virtual internship with Fun Farm Studios,” Dodson says.
![]()
Makayla, one of the first PQC Trains students to earn a Toon Boom certification, works on the digital drawing pad.With certifications and experience, students can leave the program ready to work, but Dodson stresses the experience is very individualized and creates more routes.
“They can either finish, become certified, and go directly to work because they’ve got the credentials, or they can go to college or do an internship,” she says, adding that many schools in the area have expressed appreciation for the program, as it prepares students to jump ahead in the curriculum.
For clients who are ready to enter the workforce, they also host workshops to help craft portfolios, demo reels, resumes, and other professional materials. Dodson herself spends time scouring job postings to share with clients that match their interests and style.
With the program now in full swing, Dodson says they’ve had success over the previous year with their first animation cohort.
“‘How many people go through the program and become certified and become employed?’ That’s how we measure the success,” she explains. “Right now, anyone that’s been through the program that wants to work is working in the capacity they want to work.”
Relue and Dodson point to the flexibility of a career in the creative field as an unintended perk. Their team works with clients on a case-by-case basis to determine how many hours can be worked before it affects their benefits. In animation and many other creative careers, there are many opportunities for freelance or remote work. This can be beneficial for people who rely on disability, allowing them to work freelance and maintain benefits.
“This gives them the ability to get on Fiverr, find small odd jobs, or things like that,” Relue says of the remote and freelance opportunities. “It is huge because I feel like there are not a lot of opportunities for people with job barriers to work from home.”
![]()
Courtesy PQC TrainsPQC Trains Student Makayla works on the digital drawing pad.As the program proves to be of value, interest is growing outside of their typical clientele.
Data from
the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the field of animation as one projected to continue growing over the next decade. Dodson says she’s seen more animation studios open up across the state and locally in Fort Wayne. To support that growth in Indiana, PQC Trains decided to open its Toon Boom Program to the public, allowing anyone interested in learning animation or earning a certificate to enroll.
Their next round kicks off in August, and they’ll continue to run the program every three months. Each round has room for 10 students. Dodson says they’re trying to generate more buzz around this opportunity.
“We did all of our homework, and now we just need people to know that we’ve got this great program,” she adds. “It’s a win-win for everyone.”
Learn more about
PQC Trains here, and explore its
Toon Boon Class here.