Fall 2018 officially arrives tomorrow – and it is certainly shaping up to be a busy season at Integrated Living Opportunities (ILO). Grab your calendars: we have a full roster of fundraising and social events lined up over the next few weeks, and we hope that we can count on your support!
ILO Welcomes Six New Families
We kicked off September by hosting another ILO training session, welcoming six new families into the ILO network. These families, from Maryland and Virginia, came together to participate in the ILO training on September 7 and 8 2018. Jenn Knapp, who has facilitated all the ILO trainings since ILO was created at CIF in 2014, facilitated the session. Founder and Executive Director Maedi Tanham Carney, founding member Debbie Fickenscher, Gaithersburg Pod Chair Donna White, Community Group Leader Owoade Ayorinde, Community Builder Sherita Mason, Life Coach JJ Staton, and self-advocates also attended.
Over the two days of training, the new families received their ILO Handbook, attended interactive learning activities, and were able to visit and share personal stories with ILO self advocates that live independently in their own communities. The new families were also introduced to ILO philosophies and guiding principles.
The training weekend was a huge success for all involved, and on behalf of the ILO community we would like to extend a heartfelt welcome to all new self-advocates and participating family members. If you are interested in learning more or viewing photos of this event, please contact us to receive a copy of ILO’s Family Training Newsletter.
Intelligent Lives: Attend a Screening and Support ILO
“Can any attempt to measure intelligence predict a person’s value, or potential to contribute meaningfully to the world?”
This question, posed by Chris Cooper (father of a young adult with disabilities, Academy Award winner and film narrator) sets the stage for an explorative new documentary, titled Intelligent Lives. The documentary “challenges what it means to be intelligent”, while exploring ways in which adults with disabilities – people of all abilities – can “fully participate in higher education, meaningful employment, and intimate relationships.”
Intelligent Lives stars three pioneering young American adults with intellectual disabilities – Micah, Naieer, and Naomie – who challenge perceptions of intelligence as they navigate high school, college, and the workforce. Cooper, as narrator, contextualizes the lives of these central characters through the emotional story of his son Jesse, as the film unpacks the shameful and on going track record of intelligence testing in the U.S.
Two ILO sponsored screenings of this film will take place next month (October 2018). See the below for details of these events, and for information on how to purchase tickets. Please note that ILO is committed to selling 34 tickets for each screening, so consider purchasing some tickets for your family and friends.
October 10th, 2018: Rockville, Maryland
Rockville Center Stadium 13, 7:30
Purchase Tickets
October 17th, 2018: Fairfax,
Virginia Fairfax Towne Center 10, 7:30
Purchase Tickets
Support ILO’s Latest GoFundMe Campaign
Last fall, 2017, ILO launched our very first GoFundMe campaign. This incredibly successful campaign helped ILO raise funds to hire staff members that provide support to self-advocates that are either living independently in their communities, or transitioning to independent living.
Since our last fundraising campaign, ILO has helped 6 more self-advocates move into their own place. We now support a total of 17 self-advocates in their communities. With this growth, ILO has added 5 new staff members. Our staff works with the self-advocates to get ready for supportive living and makes sure the self-advocates who are in the community are successful, and have a full life.
We need your help to raise $25,000 to help keep this incredible momentum going. This money will help fund another staff position called the Community Life Coordinator. This person supervises all staff and provides case management.
Please help us raise $25,000 by November 10th so we can this staff member to our team. If you are interested in donating, please follow this link. We would appreciate it if you would also share this campaign with your family and friends.
Thank You for Supporting ILO
Thank you all for visiting our blog today and catching up on ILO’s latest news and upcoming events. We appreciate your continued support. If you would like to stay in the loop with everything happening at ILO, please take a moment and subscribe to our blog. We hope to see you at one of these events!
