News
Lindsey Street has fond childhood memories of gardening with her family. Sunflowers often provided a bright backdrop of yellow in their yard in the summers. They also grew raspberries, strawberries, beans, tomatoes, and hot peppers.
Read more: Gardening Promotes Community and Healthy Living
The Board of Directors of Starbridge elected its officers for 2016 – 2017 at the organization’s annual meeting on June 22, 2016. Matt Perdue will serve as Chair, with Mary Richardson as Chair Elect, George Gray as Vice Chair, Lori Barnard-Northrup as Secretary, Paul Visca as Treasurer, and Stephen Schwarz as At-large Member. At the meeting, President/CEO Colin Garwood thanked Stephen Schwarz for his exemplary leadership as Board President over the last four years.
Early May is “Serve with Liberty” time for employees of Liberty Mutual Insurance. During that period, teams from offices around the world contribute their time to nonprofit agencies in their home communities. A group from the Greece, NY, office spent one day repainting the common areas of one of Starbridge’s homes.
Read more: Liberty Mutual Volunteers Put a Fresh Coat of Paint on Residence
"How people live should be determined by how they wish to live, not by their diagnosis." – Thomas Pomeranz, Ed.D.
On Thursday, May 19, 2016, Starbridge kicked off its new conference series, Building Our Community: Principles and Practices of Inclusion and Self-Direction. The series is a way to invite experts to the table to engage in meaningful conversation about inclusion and self-direction. From these conversations, we will cultivate the practical tools and steps needed to achieve positive outcomes in individual lives and to transform our communities.
Dr. Thomas Pomeranz was the featured presenter at the full-day conference, held at Staybridge Suites Rochester University. More than 100 people attended the conference, and the audience included professionals in a variety of fields, self-advocates, and family members of people with disabilities.
Read more: Starbridge Holds Inaugural Conference in Self-Direction Series
Just one year ago, Starbridge was launched through the merger of The Advocacy Center and LDA Life and Learning Services. Today, we celebrate the journey that we have been on together and look forward to a bright future.
Our vision is that every person leads a fulfilling life in their community. We appreciate the opportunity to work with you to make this vision a reality.
All the best,
Colin Garwood
President/CEO
The Rochester chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA) recently recognized Starbridge with a Pinnacle Award for its branding campaign to launch the new organization. The judges praised Starbridge for its clear communication objectives and strategy and described the campaign as “consistent and heartfelt.” The branding campaign included development of a new name and logo, extensive communications with audiences to establish Starbridge, and a continued commitment to living the brand through strategic planning and decision-making.
Read more: Starbridge Wins Pinnacle Award for Branding Campaign
Hello Friends:
I hope you are enjoying spring, with its warmer weather and buzz of activities available in our communities.
The vision of Starbridge is that every person will lead a fulfilling life in their community. Every person should be able to direct their own future and have the community support they need to realize their dreams. Most people would agree with us, but the next question we all ask is: how do we make this happen?
Click to read Message from President/CEOMessage from the President/CEO - April 2016
The New York State Developmental Disabilities Planning Council (NYS DDPC) is inviting the public to review their five-year State Plan and provide comments. They gathered data from “over 1,000 diverse New Yorkers with intellectual and developmental disabilities, family members, staff, service providers, and others”, according to the DDPC’s news release.
Read more: NYS DDPC Inviting Public Review of Five-Year Plan
By the fall of 2014, Don Schofield was struggling to meet his basic needs: “I was living couch to couch.” He had been unemployed for five years, largely because of untreated mental health disorders, and he was unable to maintain relationships with his five children and his grandchildren. As he said, “They got tired of taking care of me.”
A counselor referred Don to Starbridge’s LASR (Learning to Achieve Self Reliance) program. Shlynn Hodkinson, a Starbridge service navigator, credits Don for his hard work. Shlynn said, “He was willing to do anything but needed support to know what to do.”
Read more: “Now I have everything I need”
Developmental Disabilities Awareness month promotes understanding of developmental disabilities and inclusion of people who have developmental disabilities. Increased awareness leads to greater access to education, health care, employment, and community living opportunities for everyone.
During the month of March, Starbridge encourages you to check out the following resources –
Read more: March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month