To assist people in becoming active community members through our person-centered program of goal development and skill acquisition.
To provide people the opportunity to reach their fullest potential.
We believe each person we serve has unique gifts. It is through this belief that we fulfill our mission.
We advocate for increased integration into the neighborhoods in which they live, areas in which they shop, and places in which they worship. We also support people in finding employment options and pursuing recreation and leisure activities. We also encourage people to research community resources and try diverse activities in order to determine personal interests. Each person served is encouraged to fully participate in community activities, thus increasing their social capital in the process. As an agency, we strive to be ambassadors to all individuals with disabilities and we actively participate in the development of inclusionary philosophy at the state and local levels.
Such choices include where to live, work, recreate, and associate. We encourage individuals to make choices that are personally relevant because we feel that the choices people make cultivate their unique personalities and identities. We allow people within our programs to experience the “dignity of risk” that people take when making choices. We encourage each person to make substantial choices that improve the quality of their life through self-advocacy. We embolden individuals to advocate for themselves through skill development and connection with state and local self-advocacy groups. We understand that self-advocacy is vital to the process of helping people achieve their fullest potential. We also know that every staff member at every level of our agency must serve as an advocate and offer the training and support necessary to help employees comprehend the enormity and importance of the advocate role.
We strongly adhere to the principle that we are privileged to serve each person participating in our programs. Their personal goals and desires are always our primary concern. We also understand that the service delivery system is under constant change and augmentation; therefore, we remain devoted to transforming our services to meet the needs of the individuals we serve. We ensure that our resources are dedicated to the transformation of those systems to meet the needs of the people in our programs both now and in the future.
We continually strive to follow local, state, and national evidence-based best practice trends and utilize this information when reviewing internal outcomes. Our goal is to ensure that the development of individuals served always comes first. As an agency, we utilize a quality assurance and improvement system that measures our success in the transformation of our organization. We want to ensure individuals served are growing in the areas of their lives most important to them.
