Advocacy & Resources

Our newest and most popular advocacy effort is our Community Navigation Team.  We support a team of highly trained people and their staff to navigate the community and provide education to help local businesses and healthcare providers meet the unique needs of all their community members.  The team is a diverse group of people, called Community Navigators, who may have difficulty seeing, walking, or communicating. The Team received specialized training on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), National Culturally Linguistically Appropriate Service Standards (CLAS Standards) and customer-service best practices.

As they engage in their daily routines of shopping, going to doctor appointments and riding the metro, the Community Navigators assess their experiences. The assessment includes the physical environment, staff and implementation of ADA and CLAS Standards. Each business receives a score based on our rating system.  Businesses are later contacted and given their rating. If a business has great ratings, we send them a “thank you” and promote the business on our website, social media and within the community. If the business struggles,  we work with the business to make improvements. After changes are made, the Community Navigators visit again to congratulate them!

Advocacy

Making sure people have what they want and need to be safe, happy and healthy is our goal. We provide the highest quality services to ensure we meet this goal. There are times, however, when  people may experience challenges.  Professionals, like social workers or teachers, may not always listen to the interests and needs of people we support.  If this happens, we speak up. We don’t advocate alone, however. Advocacy training and resources are provided to those we support. Regardless of need, all people can advocate for themselves and for others.  Our approach to advocacy creates the confidence, knowledge and skill necessary for safety, happiness and health. Check out our Advocacy Through the Arts Program .

We also advocate to improve the system. By working with the people we support, their families (link to parents and caregivers section on other page) and other providers, as a team we might testify at a public hearing or write letters to city council to create new services or increase funding for existing services.

For more information about the Community Navigation Team or our other advocacy efforts, please let us know .

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