Forum Activity for @toni-brinegar

Working in the Gap: What does it mean to you?

Working in the Gap

I agree with Deb that learning about ABCD andalso working for a government body islike being in the Mob--you know too much and therefore you can't ever go back. The biggest barrier that I encounter is the idea thatABCD expertswant citizens to define what project or goal that they should work on within their community, however, the government then might set tightparameters effectively defining the project area which makes it the antithesis of organic. And often times after the citizens do a lot of great, really in-depth work, the governmental body steps in and says, "Great work! But, we want you to work on this project because we think that this is really what is right for your community," effectively destroying all of the work that the citizens have done and destroying trust. Educating funding entities about the flexibility of ABCD projects becoming what they are and not putting constraints around them is something that needs to happen, however, I'm not sure whether it's realistic to think that funders will allow projects to grow and develop on their own. But, I'm often times wrong and look forward to hearing what others think.

Working in the Gap: What does it mean to you?

Working in the Gap

I think that most DD Council staff members are 'gappers' because our federal law requires us to bring people with disabilities and families with children with disabilities to the table to talk with institutions in order to effect change that will directly relate to services. We work hard to educate our Council members about the integral part they play in their home communities. Here in Idaho, we are working with the Councils in the surrounding states to see how/whether we can develop our 5-year plan(s) using asset-based strategies instead of needs-based strategies. This will be tricky because our federal funders don't recognize asset-based strategies as an effective measurement of the work that we should be doing, but we are collaborating to see how we can do it!