Santa Fe Construction Update

We are continuing to make solid progress on our new Santa Fe Group Home in Broomfield.  Our project is starting to look like a home!  Check out the photos below to see for yourself.

Congratulations, Isaac!

Every year, Alliance (a nonprofit, statewide association of Community Centered Boards (CCBs) and Service Provider Organizations (SPOs) holds an event for Developmental Disabilities Awareness Day.  Yesterday, Alliance celebrated and honored some of the Direct Support Professionals that have helped make a positive impact in the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  This year, one of the five finalists for this prestigious award was one of our own Innovations employees, Isaac Marin!

Isaac is the Residential Assistant Site Supervisor for the Charles Family SmartHome in Longmont, and has been a Direct Support Professional with Imagine! since 2008.  In his tenure at Innovations, Isaac has demonstrated time and again his dedication to supporting others, even giving up his own time and interests to selflessly help meet the needs of the people we serve.  Please read the post on Imagine! CEO Mark Emery's blog detailing some of Isaac's accomplishments (click here to link to that post).  Congratulations, Isaac, on this well-deserved honor!

When you see Issac, please congratulate him on his excellent work with Innovations!

Imagine!'s Annual Community Forum

Do you have questions about how State funding for intellectual and developmental disabilities is impacting our community?  Do you have input into how Imagine! should be addressing these challenges?  If so, then this is the event for you!

Imagine! will be hosting its Annual Community Forum on Tuesday, February 25, 2014 from 5:30-6:30 PM, in the John M. Taylor Conference Center, located at 1665 Coal Creek Dr. in Lafayette, CO.

Representatives from Imagine!’s staff and Board of Directors will be on hand to answer questions and receive input from families and local community members. Join us in person or online! Topics to be discussed include:

• The State of the State 
• Governor Hickenlooper’s Budget Proposal 
• Community Capacity Issues 
• Imagine!’s New Home for Seniors in Broomfield 

To attend in person: 

R.S.V.P. @ (303) 665-7789

To attend online: 

http://www.imaginecolorado.org/online-multimedia-events 

To email your questions/comments in advance: 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ImagineForum

Please share with anyone you think may be interested in attending!

Colorado Gives Day!

Colorado Gives Day is today, and we encourage you to participate! Donations made online at www.coloradogives.org/Imagine today will be eligible for partial matching funds. Donating through Colorado Gives eliminates all processing fees for Imagine! for donations totaling up to $50,000 per year. If you are thinking about making a gift to Imagine! before the end of the calendar year, please consider doing it online on Colorado Gives Day. You may also designate a particular Imagine! program, including Innovations, in the “Any comments or special instructions” box if you would like.  Thanks for your support!

More Construction Photos for our new Group Home in Broomfield

We are continuing to make progress on the new Group Home we are building in Broomfield!  This home is designed to meet the growing need for individuals to continue to receive community services as they age and their needs change.  Check out the photos below to see the progress on the home, which is slated to open in April/May of 2014.

Santa Fe Group Home Site Progress!

Below are the latest pictures of the progress we are making on our new Santa Fe Group Home in Broomfield.  Due to the location of our property, we needed to build an asphalt road to our property to allow for construction and fire trucks to access the land.  Now that this phase is complete, we can move full steam ahead on going vertical with our building.  We will continue to update the blog with pictures as we go forward with our construction through the winter.

Our new driveway, looking out towards our property

Our new driveway, looking back towards the main street

The parking area and ramps for the home

Excavation for the foundation and basement

Waterline trench for the home

The Rights of People with Cognitive Disabilities to Technology and Information Access

Technology benefits people with disabilities in numerous ways.  Advances in wheelchair technology such as power chairs and standing wheelchairs have given people with disabilities more mobility and a more normalized experience.  Communication devices such as DynaVoxes and various Apps have helped people with disabilities communicate in ways they never could before.  Technology such as remote monitoring and systems that allow individuals to track their task completion reduce the need for staff support, and allow individuals to live more independently.  Our SmartHomes are a testament to our passion about the power of technology to improve the lives of people with disabilities.  The two SmartHomes function as a living lab to develop and personalize new technologies that directly benefit the people living in these homes, and have the potential to benefit many other people in the future.

This week, the Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities at the University of Colorado issued a declaration titled The Rights of People with Cognitive Disabilities to Technology and Information Access.  The purpose of this declaration is to publicly state that we believe that access to technology and information should be a right for all people with disabilities.  Please click here to read the declaration, and consider endorsing it yourself to show your support on this important issue!