BC Ideas Award – Inclusive Research Project: Community Mapping

Thank you B.C. Ideas and Community Living Innovation Venture!

We are thrilled to have our “Inclusive Research Project: Community Mapping” chosen by BC Ideas and Community Living Innovation Venture as a recipient of an “Inclusion Investment” award in the amount of $15,000!   This idea, generated by a self advocate group and their leader, Ted Decker, was “selected as the recipient out of 466 entries because of your entry’s outstanding demonstration of innovation, impact, and sustainability.”  The only thing more fun that trying out some new ideas with self advocate partner-leaders is working with (and knowing) that others are also excited about innovation in small projects.

“The Venture will provide a $15,000-investment to an innovation that advances inclusion and belonging for people with disabilities. The winning entry will have a solution that is delivered and supported by a collaborative partnership, which includes any combination of people with disabilities, families, service providers, community organizations, government and businesses. The Venture has a particular interest in entries that are in the growth, established or scaling phases.”

In this project, through an appreciative inquiry lens, we’re hoping that people with intellectual disabilities will get more holistic access to their communities, and particularly to places and situations in which they are perceived as valued collaborators and community members, simply by talking to their peers and having their discussions facilitated and documented.  We would hope that this mapping process would be seized by community members, service organizations and self advocates as a way to demonstrate and build on strengths to expand community capacity.

To see the original proposal, check out the Ashoka Changemakers site here.   We’re hoping to get to Vancouver, Victoria and Vernon and to document our work through social media and blogging.   We’re looking for (even more) partners in each of these areas to work with (you might even be from a different field!) and we’re also open to talking to other communities about coming to do this in your neck of the woods.   Feel free to email us: aaron@spectrumsociety.org or shelley@spectrumsociety.org

Here’s a slideshow of a fun planning day with our friends Barb Goode and Cheryl Fryfield, who added so many great ideas to this initial stage.  Really looking forward to getting started – the first Community Mapping will be done by May!   We’ll keep you posted about where and when and how it turns out.   Many thanks to Maggie Vilvang, from the Venture, and Alex and Sonia from Ashoka!  And thanks to Ted and his group (see you soon!), to Gary Arbuckle for his support, and to Barb and Cheryl for coming out to help us map out some first steps.   Congratulations to all the projects who won awards – all of them who entered had great ideas and we love being part of something where people can put their concepts forward for discussion and growing 🙂

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