To honor this important milestone, each week I am publicly thanking and recognizing Labor Source’s many local business partners.
Supported employment offers people who have a disability the opportunity to develop vital job skills and become active participants in their communities. The benefits extend far beyond helping individuals served by Imagine!, however. Businesses using our services are able to reduce recruitment and training expenses as they benefit from a diversified employee pool. Partnering with CORE/Labor Source is a “win-win” situation that is beneficial all around.
We are very grateful to our business partners who have demonstrated their commitment to Imagine!’s mission by employing CORE/Labor Source participants.
Today’s Labor Source 30 for 30 partner highlight: Naropa Community Art Studio.
One week after 9/11, the Naropa Community Art Studio (NCAS), which is housed in the Naropa Art Therapy program, was created by Michael A. Franklin PhD, ATR-BC. The overall goal of this long term, curriculum-driven project, is to cultivate the socially engaged art therapist. During a studio practicum in the first year, students learn how to design, create and finance a community-based studio.
The guiding vision behind the NCAS project is to provide a space for diverse groups to gather and create art together. Equal access for our studio members is stressed, particularly people who are marginalized and unlikely to have access to the humanizing practice of engaging in artistic behavior in community. Respect for cultural, ethnic, gender, and spiritual diversity is a founding principal of the NCAS. Unity in diversity, the birthright to pursue creative expression, and the capacity of visual art to contain and communicate the full range of human experiences comprise the essence of the NCAS mission and focus.
Thank you, Naropa Community Art Studio, for your commitment to providing employment opportunities for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
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