About Us
Our Mission
The mission of Our Place of New Trier Township is to support teens and adults with developmental disabilities so they can live meaningful, productive lives in their home community with family and friends.
Why We Exist
Most teens with developmental disabilities in New Trier Township remain in their family homes well into their adult years. They experience a rich, full life until their 22nd birthday because the high school and transition programs are run with the same standards of excellence that residents experience in all the schools and recreational facilities in the township. However, when these young adults reach 22 all services by the schools, including the transition programs, stop. Many parents attempt to cobble together activities for their adult children with park district service programs and the few centers serving the disabled. However, these programs are limited and spread over a wide area throughout the northern and western suburbs of Chicago. It isn’t unusual to drive two hours for an hour program.
There are not enough opportunities in sheltered workshops to meet the needs of this group and the waiting lists are long. If opportunities appear, the travel to the sites is burdensome for the families. Group homes are few and vacancies are seldom available; and if the person with developmental disabilities also has a health problem then he/she usually isn’t a candidate for the group home. The lack of sheltered workshops and group homes isn’t surprising when you learn that these adults aren’t a priority in Illinois, which ranks according to the 2008 “State of the States in Developmental Disabilities”:
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47th (including District of Columbia) in home and community based services spending per capita.
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42nd in percentage of people with developmental disabilities in supportive or competitive work.
While reaching your child’s 22nd birthday is a day of celebration for most families, for those whose children have developmental disabilities it is the beginning of uncertainty. Those families where both parents have been working find that one parent must quit his/her job to care for their child. This loss of income can be crippling. While these young adults have learned life skills that can be used in the work and volunteer sectors, those skills are quickly lost as he/she becomes more isolated because of lack of programs in their communities.
Who We Serve
Since there was no program in New Trier Township that provided a community base, or center, from which families could help their members with developmental disabilities establish ongoing social relationships, re-enforce the social skills necessary to remain successful in a job and provide lifelong learning programs, Our Place of New Trier Township was established to meet this need. The primary target population is adults over 22 years old who have aged out of mandated services. The secondary target is teens and young adults over age 16. It is important to include the second group so that they naturally transition into programming upon completion of their school provided services. The teens and adults we serve include, but are not limited to those with autism, Down syndrome, seizure disorder, developmental disabilities, Costello syndrome and Lowe syndrome.
Our History
Our Place was conceived in March 2008 when a parent’s son was approaching 22. This parent, Jane Gallery, organized fellow parents and they formed a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization and began organizing social gatherings at a local community center for their adult children who no longer had a place in the community. It seemed appropriate to call their group, Our Place.
In July 2009 Our Place received a start-up grant from New Trier Township. Within a month we hired a part-time Program Director to design and execute programming; in September we rented space in a community church; and in October we began offering programs. Our community building efforts of the first year paid off: we enrolled 26 participants in our first 10-week session. We ran a holiday program in December, which was well attended, and registration for our Winter Session is now occurring. Our Program Director became full-time on January 1, 2010.
We are governed by a Board of Directors and Ms. Gallery serves as President and Executive Director. Reporting to the Board is the Management Committee composed of three volunteers who are retired executives with more than 50 years management experience. In addition, our Program Director serves on the Management Committee.
Our Place is funded by program fees, grants and fundraising events.
Programming at Our Place
We focus on improving social skills so that participants can build and sustain friendships, function appropriately in jobs and volunteer positions and integrate in meaningful and natural ways in our community. We operate our programs in the center of our community at The Community Church of Wilmette. In addition to programming, Our Place is establishing a model to coordinate volunteer opportunities in the community for our adults.
Our Place is holding its 2009-2010 programs in its main location at the Community Church of Wilmette, 1020 Forest Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois. Our daytime programs take place in Room 207, and our Saturday Socials are held in the basement. (Our Place is not affiliated with the church.)
[Dec. 2009]