Provide Scholarships for Adults with Disabilities

On October 21,l 2021, SPARC, the nonprofit that provides day programs for adults with disabilities, held its ribbon-curring ceremony and talent show as it celebrated its new adminsitrative office at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Vienna, VA. 

"This partnership, along with our public private partnerships with Fairfax and Arlington Counties is a win-win," said SPARC Executive Director Debi Alexander.    By providing space for SPARC to serve the most unserved and invisible population in our commjunity, the county government and church are able to meet their mission of providing part of the social safety net.  SPARC provides the staff and programming in space that is not utilized during the day," she explained.

SPARC operates at five locations:  The Church of Good Shepherd, Cathy Hudgins Community Center in Reston, Virginia, The McLean Community Center, The Providence Community Center in Fairfax, Virginia and The Arlington Mill Community Center.  

SPARC also offers virtual club for participants who are unable to wear a mask and a social club for young adults developing the skills to transition from their parents home to other housing such as a group home.

Alexander shared the challenges faced by SPARC participants:

"As a nation, we pour billions into K-12 special education, but then services almost disappear after graduation. This phenomenon is referred to as “falling off of the cliff.”  The “cliff” is something that all parents of teenagers with developmental disabilities worry about. When they age out of special education—usually at 22—young adults with developmental disabilities

are thrown into an underfunded and uncoordinated system in which few services are available as a matter of right. They must now contend with services from a variety of providers, financed by a multitude of agencies, most of which are not sufficiently funded to cover everyone, and many of which are far too bureaucratic and insufficiently focused on ensuring that their clients can spend meaningful days integrated in community life.  They fall, in other words, off the cliff.

 Our participants are no longer entitled to public education programs after high school graduation, nor are they eligible for other community-based programs that serve individuals with disabilities in Northern Virginia for the following reasons. They are:

 1)too old for similar programs serving younger persons, 

2)not successful in vocational training in the Medicaid-sponsored supported employment programs or sheltered workshops because of the complexity of their disabilities, or;

3)do not meet eligibility requirements for nursing home care under Medicaid.

 That is where SPARC steps in.  Our participants thrive, learn and grow every day!  

However, SPARC only charges one-third of the actual cost of the program as our participants have limited resources.  We also provide spots for participants who have no resources at no cost.

SPARC must raise $11,000 per month to close the gap.

Your monthly gift enables us to operate and provide for the 1% of our population who would waste away from socia isolation but for our program.

One of our participants, Maureen, spoke using assistsive technology.  She shared that before SPARC she sat in bed or her wheel chair in front of a tv listenting to game shows all day.  Maureen was born with a degenrative disease and is not confined to a wheel chair with out the use of her hands and is blind.  She explained that because of SPARC she is out in the community, enjoying friends and learning new things every day. 

Your gift enables our participants to experience what you and I experience every day and likely take for granted:  engaging activities in the communitiy with friends and colleagues learning new skills!

Thank you for your support. 

The Standord Social Information Review, a scholarly journal dedicated to thought leaders committed to social change has run many thoughtful articles that posit the command to non-profits the importantce of listening to their beneficiaries. "The views and experiences of the people who benefit from social programs are often overlooked and underappreciated, even though they are an invaluable source of insight into a program’s effectiveness."  Specially Adapted Resource Clubs (SPARC) does more than listen to our club members, we place them in positions of leadership to ensure that their club is implementing programs and policies that meet their needs. Many of our most vocal and community advocates are the members who rely on your investment in their daily life because they are shcolarship recipeints.  Without your donations, they do not have the resources to participate.

Katherine is a member of our Board of Directors.  Her voice provides vital insight into how we can best perform as her observations are grounded in the day-to-day experiences of the very people SPARC was created to serve.  At our monthly board meetings Katherine is able to provide instant feedback at every stage of our program.  This was especially useful as we pivoted from in person to virtual due to the pandemic.  And now we are gently treading into new territory, re-opening in cautious phases to ensure the health and safety of the most vulnerable of an already fragile population.  

At the beginning of 2021, SPARC hired a new Executive Director who launched the Advocates Advisory Council.  This board of  four club members who serve one year terms is self-directed and created their own mission, bylaws and objectives for their inagural year.  The council voted on their leader -- and the chairman is Justin, one of our original five members and also a scholarship recipient.  

The council has taken on the topic of barriers to transportation as their year long project.  We meet weekly and have developed large and small goals which include guest speakers, group and invidicual trainings, the production of a video and a planned community conversation.

Your investment enables these leaders to be members of SPARC.  Their conribution is invaluable and only possible through the generous support of donors like you.