2019 Disability Mentoring Day: Disability Mentoring Day is an international event hosted by the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) in collaboration with the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) to promote career development for students and job-seekers and make employers aware of an available pool of qualified candidates. This year’s DMD Celebration Banquet will once again be held at the Double Tree …
Lawrence Citizen Survey on the Lawrence Kansas Police Department
Get involved, use your influence and help make a difference! Allegro Training & Consulting is conducting an independent study commissioned through the City of Lawrence, to determine Lawrence citizen’s sense of engagement/interaction, safety, and support with their local Lawrence Kansas Police Department Follow the link to take an anonymous, 10-20 minute survey designed as a tool to generate ideas and …
Self Direction Information and Toolkit – be your own advocate!
Manage your care through choosing, hiring, training and scheduling your own personal care assistant! The best advocate for you is YOU! Need help getting started in self-directed care, or encouragement and information along the way? Check out these valuable resources! Self-Direction Toolkit – “The purpose of the Kansas Self-Direction Toolkit is to provide people with disabilities the information and tools they …
Lawrence City Commission honors the 27th Anniversary of the ADA
Lawrence City Commission honors the 27th Anniversary of the ADA with reading and signing of proclamation The Lawrence City Commission, to a packed City Hall, read and signed a proclamation regarding the 27th Anniversary of the American’s with Disabilities Act, thanking the community for their support and progress and pledging ongoing support for continued and much needed improvements and compliance. …
It’s almost our 100-iversary!
In June, Ranita enrolled youth #92 in our Youth Employment Program (YEP). Since it is a pretty big number, Ranita decided to do some math… Since 2008, YEP has invested $53,360 in paid, community-based work opportunities for 92 youth with cross-disabilities representing Douglas County. To clarify, Indpendence, Inc. and it's generous supporters have paid $53,360 in wages to the kids in our program. Here is one …
TJ Lavin, Living Life to the Fullest (and speaking about Independence, Inc.!)
TJ Lavin is not only a BMX Champion and host of MTV's "The Challenge," he is also a person with a disability living life to the fullest. Check out this video to learn more about TJ's incredible story. (Closed Captioning is available for this video when watched via YouTube.) And here is a video of TJ talking Independence, Inc.! (Closed …
Another Youth Employment Program Success Story!
One of our Youth Employment Program (YEP) participants is now gainfully employed at Hy-Vee! Congratulations, Tia Barta! We asked Tia: II: What did you like most about your YEP experience? TB: I liked how friendly everyone was and how much they were willing to help. II: How has your life changed since you were in the program? TB: …
A New Man
When you donate to Independence, Inc., you help local community members change their lives. Recently we funded and facilitated the building of a ramp with Kingdom Builders for the home of Lloyd Brooks. In Lloyd's daughter's own words: "Life before the ramp was difficult. Dad has a paralyzing genetic disorder that has progressively gotten worse over the last couple years. …