Integrate for Good Inc

Integrate for Good has five major goals with associated outcomes:

Major Goals:

1. People of all ages and abilities will increase opportunities to build social capital which is linked to positive outcomes around physical and mental health, safe housing, employment, and quality of life.

2. Social barriers to community connection will be reduced.

3. Social isolation and loneliness will be diminished.

4. Communities will be strengthened through inclusion by capturing the untapped talent of people with disabilities.

5. The stigma around disability will be reduced, and the ability in disability will be celebrated.

Associated Outcomes:

a. Students and adults with disabilities will assume leadership roles for the first time in their lives. (Goals 1,2)
b. Students and adults with disabilities will create and share digital portfolios with potential employers and other community members to showcase their talents and abilities. (Goals 1,2)
c. At least 100 Community members of all ages and abilities will participate in Integrate for Good inclusive volunteer programming each week. (Goals 2,3,4)
d. 10,000 volunteer hours will be performed by Integrate for Good participants each year. (Goals 2,3,4)
e. Messaging about seeing disability as a valued kind of diversity will reach at least 1,000 people per year through Integrate for Good speaking engagements. (Goal 5)
f. More than 90% of program participants will report that their perception of people with disabilities has changed as a direct result of their Integrate for Good experience. (Goal 5)

Integrate for Good achieves its mission through three channels: Empowerment, Connection and Education.

In the domain of Empowerment, Integrate for Good expands opportunities for people with disabilities to share their time and talent as providers of service to others. We offer individual and small group workshops and seminars to build work-related skills and identify abilities, areas of passion and environmental work preferences. After learning about individual strengths and preferences, we help to match students and adults with volunteer opportunities where their abilities and contributions will be valued and celebrated.

Our innovative digital portfolios include photography, videography and written content to highlight strengths and abilities. More engaging than a traditional paper resume, our digital portfolios are incredibly powerful tools for self-advocacy. These portfolios address the problem of people with disabilities being underestimated and not seen for their talents and intelligence.

In the area of Connection, Integrate for Good strengthens local communities in three key ways:
• Each week, Integrate for Good designs and offers our own inclusive volunteer opportunities throughout the community. We offer both liv and virtual events.
• We offer training and support to other nonprofit organizations to help expand the diversity of their volunteer staff.
• We offer innovative team building and corporate engagement events led by our own neuro-diverse teams to support businesses in putting their corporate values into action.

While Integrate for Good engages people in a variety of volunteer activities, all of our efforts share one common goal: to build social capital and community connection. Research has established loneliness and social isolation to be public health concerns. People with disabilities experience these significant risks to physical and mental health at a disproportionate rate. By bringing diverse people together to do good work, we all benefit.

Integrate for Good sponsors weekly, community-based events where individuals of all ages, abilities and backgrounds volunteer side-by-side on projects of shared interest, thereby reducing stigma, increasing community connection and expanding opportunities for social capital building.

Education is our third channel. Integrate for Good is deeply committed to continuing education for people of all ages and abilities. We inform our practice with the latest research. Integrate for Good offers in-service presentations and staff training for organizations, conference sessions, lunch and learn programs, guest lectures and training sessions to share about empowerment, ability and inclusion. We are always eager to share resources, research and knowledge.

We encourage you to learn more by watching our impact video filmed and edited by a Nick Welsh, a talented young man with autism: https://vimeo.com/365055949.

Integrate for Good distinguishes itself in five key ways:
• We embrace a strength-based approach, rather than a more traditional deficit-based perspective on disability.
• We support students and adults along the lifespan. Our involvement doesn’t end when a young person graduates high school. We bridge the gap between the school and adult-based systems where many young people “fall through the cracks.”
• We embrace a social model of disability, seeing people as being disabled by barriers in society, not by their impairment or difference.
• We bring innovative technology-based solutions to people with disabilities. Many people with disabilities have experienced a historical lack of access to digital media.
• Integrate for Good is not a service for people with disabilities created and led by people without disabilities. Students and adults with lived experience with disabilities are valued members of our Board of Directors and hold valued and esteemed positions of leadership. Their expertise informs and guides our work.

As an organization, we identified the following internal strengths:
• A diverse committed board
• Our strength-based approach to disabilities for individuals
• Reliable community volunteers
• Collaboration with other non-profits
• Positive relationships with local business, government agencies and Chambers of Commerce
• Diverse funding sources
• Activities that focus on the needs and concerns of the organization client
• Meaningful and valuable opportunities for community members who want to volunteer
• A very energetic and experienced Executive Director
• Partnerships with local colleges
• Good relationships with federal grant agencies
• Donated professional services and shared expertise from community members

Our Founder and Executive Director, Dr. Bev Weinberg brings considerable background knowledge, experience and passion to Integrate for Good. Here is a brief bio:

Dr. Bev Weinberg is an Occupational Therapist with a passion for changing the game for people of diverse abilities. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies from the University of Pittsburgh, and her Master’s degree in Occupational Therapy from Temple University. Dr. Weinberg returned to Temple and received her Clinical Doctoral degree in Occupational Therapy in May of 2016, along with a Certificate in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from the Temple University Fox School of Business. Dr. Weinberg has over twenty-five years of experience in service delivery, research, training, and program development. She has partnered with corporations and local, national, and international organizations to create innovative opportunities for individuals of all abilities to build social capital and community connection.

Our dedicated and active Board of Directors, in partnership with Dr. Weinberg, our individual and corporate donors, self-advocates, community partners, and funders empower this important work to move forward.

Since our launch in July of 2017, Integrate for Good volunteers donated more than 7,000 hours of their time to strengthen local communities. 40 students and adults with disabilities living in Montgomery County created digital portfolios to showcase their strengths and abilities to local nonprofit leaders, potential employers, and community members. Integrate for Good leadership team members conducted more than 50 training sessions, in-service presentations, speaking engagements, conference sessions, and guest lectures and 6 individuals with intellectual disabilities assume ongoing leadership roles as teachers and experts in the field.

We attribute our early and continued success to our interdisciplinary, interagency and diverse collaboration with multiple partners including individuals of all abilities, family members, support staff, school districts and their personnel, agencies and their staff, governmental entities, for-profit businesses, and colleges and universities.

We are proud of our numbers but even more proud of the relationships behind them. Our research teaches us that people who are connected to other people are more likely to be housed, healthy, hired and happy. Integrate for Good is excited to contribute to these positive outcomes!

Meet Bob. Every week, for more than a year, Bob has volunteered with Integrate for Good at the Indian Valley Public Library. He sets up tables and welcomes new volunteers. He teaches people of all ages how to weave plastic bags into sleeping mats for people experiencing homelessness.

Bob is friendly, outgoing, and engaging. He solves problems and energizes the room. Bob is strong and eager to help. He also happens to live with an intellectual disability.

Integrate for Good’s programs did more than open up avenues for Bob to connect with people and give back to the community. They enabled him to take on leadership roles that might not have been possible elsewhere.

Last November, Bob helped Integrate for Good launch a new volunteer site at Ursinus College. There, he taught volunteers all the steps of the Sleeping Mat Project. The following week, he led a corporate social engagement event at Northwestern Mutual. One of the firm’s financial planners mentioned that he graduated from Ursinus. Bob proudly shared, “I teach there!”

They had a wonderful conversation about what they both loved about the campus. How rare, yet exciting, it is that a man with a significant intellectual disability had college in common with a financial planner. Bob was excited to say, ‘You can call me Professor Bob!’” Since that day, when Bob makes his name tags at our weekly volunteer events, he writes "Bob," and asks for help writing "Professor" above it.

Being a leader doesn't necessarily mean you need to be able to read or write. Being a leader means that you show others what is possible. We look forward to empowering more leaders and highlighting the ability in every disability.