We have made the world more inclusive for those with sensory needs. 1 in 5 individuals has a sensory need which equates to 20% of the US population. On a larger scale, 15-18% of the world’s population has a disability, and only 16% of those have a visible disability; the remaining 84% have an invisible disability. And regardless of whether the disability is invisible or visible, the common challenge for these individuals is sensory processing issues. That’s where KultureCity comes in; we provide sensory inclusion to solve for these limitations. We have made over 350 venues inclusive, several music festivals and special events. Because of this, those with sensory needs are able to enjoy a game, event, concert, etc rather than facing social isolation. And children with sensory needs are given the opportunity to meet their full potentials, and employees are given the best chance at succeeding at their employment. We have pushed the boundaries of accessibility for those with an invisible disability, and moved the needle for acceptance and inclusion. However, more still needs to be done so that our entire world can be inclusive to everyone.

We constantly innovate in order to better meet the need of the community. For instance, in years past, our focused have been on individual units, and families. Thus, we provided lifeBOKS kit to families in order to prevent wandering and near drowning, and therefore make it a little easier for these families to go to community events. We have also created specific camps (such as art or music camps) for special needs children and their typical siblings. While we still have these smaller directed efforts, we realized that unless the mindset of the community changes, and they become aware of the social isolation and injustice that exist, these children, and their family will never be truly included in the community. We responded to this need via strategic partnership with local venues (for instance zoo, museums etc) and provided training/education in order to allow for the places to know how to accommodate these individuals at all times. We receive feedback from users of the initiative, and based in the feedback given, improve components of the program. We also constantly collaborate with key stakeholders within the community

We ensure that we have the voice of those personally affected by sensory needs by always engaging the individuals and families in the pre-development phase in order to fully understand the needs. The families are engaged via different platforms including small group meetings and via social media. We also have individuals on our board who have autism, and sensory needs, giving them to have a voice at the table. In addition, our board also consist of parents of children with autism and other special needs.

We define reach via the number of unique locations trained to be sensory inclusive. We also track the number of direct program usage, and participation as well as via website/social media impressions. For instance, to date, we have made more than 350 unique locations sensory inclusive via training and education. For each of these locations (varies depending on location), we have approximately 50-100 families use the sensory room and check out sensory bags within a day. In fact, just this weekend, we participated in a music festival and provided the S.A.V.E (Sensory Activation Vehicle), our mobile sensory room. Within a 6 hour period, the S.A.V.E was used 50 times. This has allowed for individuals with a sensory crisis to have a safe place to decompress, regulate and calm, and then return to the music festival. We have also mailed out more than 5340 lifeBOKs, which to date have prevented countless wandering events, and 35 near drowning events. We have delivered at no cost 4227 tables to children who are non-verbal, to be used as their communication device. On our social media platform, we have 152K, 98.7K, and 14K followers on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter respectively. Our social media followers are highly engaged, and we have used this platform to raise the level of awareness for inclusion and accessibility, as well as to disseminate information on sensory inclusive locations

Accomplishment 1 : Our sensory initiative that has made more than 350 unique locations inclusive. Because of this initiative, children and family can participate in community events, for instance go to a ball game, attend a concert or go to a zoo at any time because their needs are understood and met. This has allowed for many 'first' outings for many individuals, which is a priceless impact to be a part of. Accomplishment 2: Our lifeBOKs program that has prevented countless wandering and 35 near drowning events. Accomplishment 3: Our KultureCity app that has allowed for integration of community and families, via sharing of sensory inclusive locations nationally, and easy access to story boards (that are unique to a particular location, and have been shown to decrease anxiety).