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Donnell Evans is a busy man with clear goals for his future. "I would like to go back to school and finish my degree in Communications and Media Studies at MCC. In five years, my goal is to have a job. I haven’t found a girlfriend yet, but I’m working on that now," Donnell says with a smile. In ten years, Donnell would like to be married, start a family, and hopefully have a good career.

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When Maria Vazquez first came to The Advocacy Center, now Starbridge, she needed help for her son, Jose. As she recalls, "He wasn’t learning. I needed help for him due to his medical needs, and he needed supports for learning." Jose has Type 1 Diabetes, seizure disorder, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Maria began working with Maritza Cubi, Bilingual Family Education Specialist. They discussed all of Maria’s options, starting with asking staff at Jose’s school to communicate with Maria in her native language.

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Action for a Better Community (ABC) held a press conference on August 11, 2016, to announce the start of ROC-HPOG (Health Professions Opportunity Grants), a new program designed to prepare individuals with low incomes for careers in health care. ABC was awarded 1.6 million dollars over a five-year period, with the goal of helping 1,000 people regionally prepare for and find employment in the health care field.

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Hello Friends:

Thank you to all of you who participated in Starbridge's survey earlier this summer. We received over 600 responses, and we are now in the process of reviewing the data. Your input is valuable to us, and I look forward to learning more about how we can better serve you and keep you informed about Starbridge's role in helping people lead fulfilling lives in their communities.

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Lindsey Street has fond childhood memories of gardening with her family. Sunflowers often provided a bright backdrop of yellow in their yard in the summers. They also grew raspberries, strawberries, beans, tomatoes, and hot peppers.

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Early May is “Serve with Liberty” time for employees of Liberty Mutual Insurance. During that period, teams from offices around the world contribute their time to nonprofit agencies in their home communities. A group from the Greece, NY, office spent one day repainting the common areas of one of Starbridge’s homes.

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"How people live should be determined by how they wish to live, not by their diagnosis."  – Thomas Pomeranz, Ed.D.

On Thursday, May 19, 2016, Starbridge kicked off its new conference series, Building Our Community: Principles and Practices of Inclusion and Self-Direction. The series is a way to invite experts to the table to engage in meaningful conversation about inclusion and self-direction. From these conversations, we will cultivate the practical tools and steps needed to achieve positive outcomes in individual lives and to transform our communities.

Dr. Thomas Pomeranz was the featured presenter at the full-day conference, held at Staybridge Suites Rochester University. More than 100 people attended the conference, and the audience included professionals in a variety of fields, self-advocates, and family members of people with disabilities.

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Just one year ago, Starbridge was launched through the merger of The Advocacy Center and LDA Life and Learning Services. Today, we celebrate the journey that we have been on together and look forward to a bright future.

Our vision is that every person leads a fulfilling life in their community. We appreciate the opportunity to work with you to make this vision a reality.

All the best,

colin transparent
Colin Garwood
President/CEO

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The Rochester chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA) recently recognized Starbridge with a Pinnacle Award for its branding campaign to launch the new organization. The judges praised Starbridge for its clear communication objectives and strategy and described the campaign as “consistent and heartfelt.” The branding campaign included development of a new name and logo, extensive communications with audiences to establish Starbridge, and a continued commitment to living the brand through strategic planning and decision-making.

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Hello Friends:

I hope you are enjoying spring, with its warmer weather and buzz of activities available in our communities.

The vision of Starbridge is that every person will lead a fulfilling life in their community. Every person should be able to direct their own future and have the community support they need to realize their dreams. Most people would agree with us, but the next question we all ask is: how do we make this happen?