Looking Back at 2008: LOV-Dane and Community Organizing in Dane County
What is LOV-Dane?
Living Our Visions
How can we find the “good life” for our loved ones with disabilities? Everyone wants to be valued members of a community with employment, recreation and meaningful relationships. As family members, we have been isolated in pursuit of this vision- so began LOV- Dane. Two years ago a group of families from across Dane County began meeting to share our common issues and think about what we could do collectively. Mike Green, an expert in Asset Based Community Development, has supported us to develop a strong sense of community through focused relationship building. Now, with a strong family network in place, LOV is acting together to solve our common problems.
It sounds so simple, building relationships—yet learning to intentionally have conversations that share deeper meaning has opened new doors for us. Deliberate relationship building has been a powerful tool to determine what we want, are motivated to work on and willing to share with others.
LOV- Dane is committed to supporting adults with disabilities to have fulfilling, community-based lives full of family, friends and choices. To reach our goal, we are developing a county-wide family network as well as a network of community partners to work on common priorities to reach our goals.
LOV-Dane gathers monthly to share fellowship, hope, and wisdom. A smaller group, LOV- Oregon, also meets to address needs of local members. In addition, smaller action teams form with specific goals such as developing long term supports, transportation in rural areas or to host a learning event. Finally, our leadership team is the guardian of LOV’s values and the ABCD principles. We all encourage relationship building, determine priorities for action and increase LOV’s capacity by supporting members to engage actively in the work of LOV.
Photo: holiday party
LOV- YAA (young adults and adults group) hosted a holiday party in December. Over 80 people came for dinner, games and most importantly to share time with each other. Families brought food items to benefit the Goodman Atwood Food Pantry. The YAA group feels it is very important for families and individuals with disabilities to gather together, so they host gatherings several times a year.
What is LOV-YAA??
As their families began working together, young adults and adults with disabilities came together as a group to address issues they shared. These issues included a need for support, deep friendships and an opportunity to give back to others in their community. We have found that organizing individuals and their families simultaneously but separately created deeper engagement and helped us to see that we all really wanted the same things.
Support and Relationships
Photo: Evan and Friends
Evan’s birthday with buddies: Evan had the same birthday party/bowling tournament every year for nine years. Until last year, only his family attended the party. Last year, he made many friends at the YAA activities and had a birthday party with five new friends.
Photo: Max and A.J. split
Max and A.J.: Max had been living with A.J. for over a year when A.J. died suddenly while in his sleep. A.J.’s friends came together to support one another at a YAA support circle the week after A.J. passed away. Both A.J. and Max had been attending the support circle regularly and the gathering was bittersweet for everyone who knew A.J.
Giving Back
Photo: Megan and Sarah
Megan: Megan hated high school and especially gym class. The YAA group was asked to speak at a conference of Gay-Straight Alliances, high school groups that promote tolerance and acceptance of differences. Megan and others from the YAA group spoke as part of GSA’s “Finding New Allies” initiative. Megan hopes that her words can change the way high school feels to students with disabilities in Wisconsin.
Photo: Same as above
Sarah: One tool that has been incredibly helpful in connecting the YAA’s to opportunities to give back is the Dane County Timebank. Sarah and others helped the Timebank host an Open House to showcase what the Timebank offers. Sarah played games with others, laughing and smiling the whole time.
Moving Out!!
Many of us share the goal of helping our loved ones with disabilities move out. Through relationships and sharing information, seven LOV members have made this a reality with no additional county funding. More to come in 2009!
Photo: Sadler and Steve @ Clown Attack
Sadler and Steve: After Sadler, Steve and their families got to know each other through LOV-Dane, the men moved into a house together in spring 2008. Through development of community relationship and family support, they do not access any county residential supports. They build relationships in their community through participation in the neighborhood association and community activities such as CLOWN ATTACK.
Photo Emily hoola hoop
Emily: Emily moved into the Edgewood College dorms in January as a participant in the Cutting Edge program. She is excited to have a stepping stone to independence.
Dream, Create, Cooperate
In July of 2008, LOV hosted a series of learning opportunities across the state. By partnering with Pathways to Independence, UW-Extension and USDA Cooperative Development, LOV demonstrated our commitment to working collaboratively. The conference included organizations and individuals from the United States and Canada who have utilized cooperative and networking strategies to build innovative support structures for individuals with disabilities and their families. Consistent with our commitment to grassroots organizing, participants collectively determined topics for further exploration and created breakout sessions to meet those needs.
Photo: Young Adult Collage
Young Adult Collage: Individuals with disabilities also attended the conference and created a collective collage of their dreams and goals for a full life.
Photo: Learning Conversation at Conference
Learning Conversation at Conference: Opportunities for relationship building among conference participants were an essential part of the experience.
Relationships encourage shared support:
Photo: Evan and friends
Evan and friends: Relationships have also led to the sharing of residential supports between families with and without individual funding. When Evan attends UW Basketball games, he takes a friend. He meets up with Daniel to take walks. This makes the experiences more fun for Evan and also allows someone who does not have paid supports to participate in the community.
Photo: Jeremy and Charles
Jeremy and Charles: LOV members support each other and their loved ones. Jeremy’s sister no longer has to interrupt her work day to remind him to take his medication. Two LOV parents with more flexible schedules take turns calling Jeremy each morning.
Photo: bingo
Azalea: Emily supported Azalea to play bingo once a week in her senior apartment. Emily learned how to help Azalea if she had a seizure and helped her connect to the other bingo players.
Photo: Mike and Steve
Mike and Steve: Mike and Steve live near each other on the east side of Madison, and are part of a bowling league on the west side. Their families helped out with rides for a while, but since neither live with their family it made more sense to use the bus. Steve and Mike supported each other to learn to use the bus and ride together to bowling each week.
Long Term Support Action Team
As a follow up of the conference a LOV action team, made up of family members and creative system supporters, formed to create concrete opportunities in Dane County. Through systematic learning and collective analysis, the group is designing an individual and family centered support model which can be used to prototype alternatives to traditional agencies. This model will an emphasize sustainability, community participation and unpaid supports for individuals with disabilities as well as a collaborative structure which ensures ownership and participation by individuals, families, direct care providers and community partners. Over the next several months, we expect the work of this action team to crystallize into a concrete work plan.
Sustainable support models require collaboration from multiple sectors. However, by increasing the capacity of individuals with disabilities, their families and the larger Dane County community, the system plays a different and smaller role in the lives of individuals with disabilities.
Circles of Support Action Team
As part of our commitment of continuous learning, two LOV members embarked upon a learning journey to Toronto, Ontario. This group spent time with two groups of families who created family-centered long term support networks. The most important realization from that trip was the need for circles of support around individuals with disabilities so that “The Good Life” could be created and maintained over the lifetime of a person as the capacity of the family changes. A circle of support is a group of people that come together regularly to support a person to achieve their goals and is made of family, friends, community members and in some cases paid supporters. This action team is learning to facilitate circles of support and has started three circles so far. Rather than have circles which operate separately, LOV is committed to nurturing relationships between circles which furthers our commitment to relationships and collective action.
Photo: Lynette
Lynette’s Circle: As her parents age, Lynette needs others around her to ensure she is well supported and spends time with people she cares about. Her circle will include family, church members and former support workers who have maintained a relationship with Lynette.
Photo: Circle for Steve
Steven’s Circle: Steven lives at home and wants to have more opportunities to be a part of community, whether he’s cheering on the Badgers or helping out with community clean-ups. Because Steven is always on the go and needs significant support, Steven’s circle will be not only around him, but also around his family. They will support Steven to be more active and increase the quality of life for the rest of his family as well.
Community Connections
Strong communities thrive on the gifts and contributions of all members. However, individuals with disabilities need support to locate ways to share their gifts and build relationships. In order to strengthen our community and increase the inclusion of individuals with disabilities, LOV-Dane is building a citizen group to assist individuals to join local organizations and associations. For example, Jim loves to do gardening of any kind. The citizen group would brainstorm the many community groups he could connect to: Friends of Olbrich Gardens, Friends of UW arboretum, Community Gardens, Madison Area Water Garden Society. After working with Jim to identify a good fit, a member of the citizen group would approach the organization and assist Jim to make the initial connection.
LOV-Dane has already been making community connections, but we have found that it is difficult and time consuming to make cold calls to organizations. Using the networks of a citizen group will allow us to make many more sustainable connections. A similar “citizen connector” project in Nova Scotia has connected and maintained over one hundred connections over the last 13 years. If they can do it in Nova Scotia, we can do it in Madison!
Kate at First Methodist Church: Kate has been attending First Methodist Church for a while, but she doesn’t feel very connected to church activities. She now has church members looking for her every Sunday, and is looking to join a women’s circle and the church stamping club.
Photo: First Methodist Church
Sadler: Sadler’s goal was to teach children to cook. With a little help from LOV-Dane, Sadler has connected with the Madison Children’s Museum and found a way to use his talents regularly at his church. In his words, “Now I have achieved my dream!”
Photo: Sadler at Timebank
Steven and the Knights of Columbus: Steven is Catholic and starting to get involved with a new church. He is also joining the Knights of Columbus service club because there are service projects that he is interested in helping out with, such as the Pancake Breakfast and Roadside Clean-Up.
Photo: Steven on right
Sharing the LOV
Through out the past year, LOV has shared our story internationally. At the Toronto Inclusion Institute, LOV organizers presented to approximately 200 people from across the world. A brief version of that presentation is available on YOUTUBE. In addition, LOV organizers have presented in Illinois and Alabama. LOV also hosted a group from Georgia who wanted to learn about our methods and successes and will travel to Georgia in June to continue this work.
Check us out on YOU TUBE: www.youtube.com (search for LOV-Dane)
Photo: Mike in Toronto
Stefanie, Amanda, mentor Mike Green and his daughter Annie in Toronto. Mike’s training and mentorship in Asset Based Community Development has been essential to the development of LOV-Dane.
Choices Newsletter
Choices newsletter is a newsletter for consumers and agencies in Dane County’s developmental disabilities system. Until 2008, a majority of the content was written by service providers. In a year, I have recruited 15 individuals with disabilities who now write most of the newsletter content and enrich their own lives in the process.
Emily has taken a lot of writing classes and dreamed of being a journalist when I first met her. She enjoys being a part of a team of reporters and making contributions to the newsletter.
Catherine has been conducting interviews and writing about them as a Choices reporter for a year. Writing for the newsletter gave her the confidence she needed to write to her distant family and express her feelings of sadness at being so far away. Her family responded by working harder to make her feel a part of their lives, including bringing her for visits and buying her a cell phone for Christmas.
Dora created Dora’s Pet Corner for Choices several years ago with the help of a previous editor, though Dora needed support to fully participate in the writing process. Now, a volunteer from the Dane County Timebank supports Dora to develop better writing skills and participate in the while process of writing an article.