Today I took a short ride down to Woodbridge, VA for a visit with my friends and neighbors at The Arc of Prince William. Thanks to Executive Director Karen Smith and Assistant Executive Director Susan Rudolph for taking over three hours from their busy day to share with me how their chapter is working towards “A Life Like Yours” in their community. After our meeting, I also had the opportunity to visit with their fantastic management team (many of whom have been with the chapter for over 20 years) for some great homemade lasagna in celebration of Susan’s birthday. Over lunch, the team shared with me how dedication, vision, and commitment has helped this chapter recruit and retain a committed team of supervisors.
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The Arc of Prince William’s office is located at the Muriel Humphrey Center, in the same building as one of the two day care programs offered to children with developmental disabilities. This program, in addition to the Robert Day Developmental Day Care Center, provides parents of children with special needs with some respite hours for after-school or summertime programs which include therapy, education, recreation and friendship. Services are offered on the sliding scale basis, which is dependent upon the family’s income. These programs are a great example of the many ways that The Arc of Prince William works to support individuals with developmental disabilities and their families across the lifespan.

Another example of the “A Life Like Yours” supports that The Arc of Prince William provides across the lifespan is their famous annual Circle of Support Conference which is famous across the state. The Circle of Support Conference draws huge numbers of individuals with developmental disabilities and their families from all over the Commonwealth for information and trainings. This year, The Circle of Support Conference will be held on November 3, 2007 from 8:30am through 3:30pm. They will be hosting over 30 workshops, exhibitors and vendors, on-site child-care, and sibshops. Sponsors of the event include Potomac Hospital, Prince William County Schools Special Education Department, Progeny Systems Corporation, and the Wal-Mart on Liberia. The key note speaker will be Rick Lavoie (www.ricklavoie.com) , author of the book “It’s So Much Work to Be Your Friend”.

The Arc of Prince William provides support to individuals and their families on through the adult part of the lifespan through vocational support, recreational opportunities, and residential supports. The Vocational and Skill Advancement Center, Little Creek Services, and Spinaweb offer a spectrum of choices for individuals with developmental disabilities who are seeking community-based opportunities after high school. The Vocational and Skill Advancement Center offers opportunities for volunteer work, recreation, and community integration. Little Creek Services is a janitorial services, grounds maintenance, and lawn care. Spinaweb is a weaver shop that makes crafts such as placemats, rugs, baby blankets, bears and holiday gifts in Occoquan. Another piece of “A Life Like Yours” is being part of the community not only through employment, but also about where you live. The Arc of Prince William helps people with developmental disabilities through the provision of residential services. There are a number of group homes, as well as supported living services.

Many thanks to The Arc of Prince William for sharing your commitment to the mission and vision of “A Life Like Yours”. I am looking forward to returning and seeing some of these wonderful programs first-hand!