Good News Friday!

Assisting persons with developmental disabilities is essentially a community building endeavor. That is why Imagine! is always looking for opportunities to collaborate with other organizations to find for ways to improve our ability to serve some of the most vulnerable among us.

Today I’d like to share one example of the sort of collaboration that Imagine! is involved in that has the potential to positively impact many lives.

Boulder-based Moving to End Sexual Assault (MESA) currently holds a three-year grant from the Office on Violence Against Women. Imagine! is serving as a collaborative community partner on the grant. The ultimate goals of the grant are to facilitate sustainable system change at both MESA and Imagine!, and to help MESA as well as Imagine! staff and volunteers improve both organizations’ ability to serve people with disabilities who have experienced sexual assault. Two MESA staff members, Audrey Reich and Marti Hopper, serve as core collaboration team members along with Julie Hartman from Imagine!.

Here’s an update on grant activity that was featured in MESA’s Summer Newsletter:

The project is now in the middle of conducting a major needs assessment of both organizations to help us assess how we can best serve sexual assault survivors with disabilities. The core team has been working vigorously during July, conducting individual interviews and focus groups with people throughout both organizations. The data gathering is scheduled to be completed in August. Once the data is collated, the findings will guide us and the leadership teams of both MESA and Imagine! in creating a strategic plan.

We would like to extend our most sincere thanks to everyone who has graciously given us their time and the richness of your thoughts and feedback during this needs assessment process.

Congratulations to all involved in this worthy project, and thank you for your hard work.