Intersect for Ability

Direct service personnel (DSP) are front-line professionals who interact directly and daily with people with I/DD assisting with the activities of daily living, serving as advocates for those in their care, and enabling these individuals to have the highest quality of life possible. Over the past serval decades, a high turnover rate in the number … More Building Supportive Workplace Cultures (BSWC) – Partnered with PHI International

June 2020 – March 2021 The coronavirus pandemic and other structural changes in the I/DD community have significantly altered how the Intersect for Ability organizations will work now and in the future. Agencies want and need a method of providing quality, individualized, daily activities for participants, no matter where they spend their day. In 2020, … More CURRENT

A quality of life (QOL) measure that helps articulate an individual’s, wishes, hopes and dreams is a critically needed tool to help service providers move away from a deficit based assessment system that creates goals, perhaps unimportant to the individual, towards a person-centered planning system that helps to truly understand what is important to individuals … More Quality of Life Training Project

Clearbrook, Park Lawn and UCP Seguin of Greater Chicago, members of Intersect for Ability’s network of agencies in the northern Illinois area, have successfully collaborated on projects funded by The Coleman Foundation in the past. These projects include Building Bridges to the Future, The GRACE Project, FIIVE, and Employment First: Bridges to Work Initiative. Each … More CHOICE Program

The GRACE Program was developed to meet the needs of our aging adults with developmental disabilities by allowing them to age in place as they enjoy the company of their peers and staff in an enriched and dynamic – yet slower-paced – lifestyle. … More The GRACE Project

The recruitment and retention of qualified staff, particularly with Direct Support Professionals (DSP), has become a significant issue for human service agencies in Illinois and across the country. Attracting and retaining a competent workforce is the number one, common priority among partner agencies. As such, brainstorming creative strategies and finding innovative solutions is an identified … More DSP Recognition Week

Building Bridges to the Future is an initiative program to assist families and professionals in transitioning students with developmental disabilities to the world of adult services. … More Building Bridges to the Future

Full Partner Agencies: Barbara Olson Center of Hope, Clearbrook, Easter Seals Metropolitan Chicago, Elim Christian Services, Little Friends Inc, Misericordia Heart of Mercy, PACTT Learning Center, and UCP Seguin of Greater Chicago. For individuals with developmental disabilities, processing a conversation, understanding a request or demand, communicating basic needs or wants, coping with day to day … More Applied Behavior Analyst Practicum Program

Full Partner Agencies: Elim Christian Services The Autism Believing, Living, and Employing (ABLE) Program was funded by The Coleman Foundation during the first grant cycle (August 2009 – August 2010) and addressed all 3 of the focal areas (Staff Training and Retention, Life Stage Transitions, and Employment). Elim (lead agency for the program) realized tremendous … More ABLE Program

Full Partner Agencies: Little Friends, Inc In the traditional education system much of the training and development focus is on teachers and service providers; what is lacking is a core training model for adult service providers. Recently, the Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities convened a task force, the Illinois Direct Service Professional Workforce Initiative Steering … More Adult Core Autism Training