Message From the Chair
Behind the Scenes . . .
Our Board of Directors team has been busy working with our team of consultants to clearly define our Strategic Goals and how to accomplish them. The result will clarify and validate our approach to build communities for adults with diverse abilities in inclusive housing. As we continue to partner with affordable housing developers for set aside units in future locations, our vision of being affordable, inclusive ‘City Center NOVA’ communities is becoming a reality.
Team Meeting Strategic Planning
We have also spent a lot of time reaching out to the community speaking about our mission, giving hope to our members and their families. We spoke with a small group of parents at POAC (Parents of Autistic Children) as well as at the parent support group run by our partner, Social Grace, where the featured speaker was from DARS (Department of Aging and Rehabilitative Services). There were many questions and concerns raised by the attendees regarding the difficulty of accessing services within the DARS system where our kids age up to at 21. Donna and I had a chance to offer hope and share the City Center NOVA mission.
Social Grace Gathering space in Arlington (left), Donna Budway and Paula Manion (right)
We had a full room with 25 participants at The Arc of NoVA for a Waiver information session last month. Special thanks to Lucy Beadnell and The Arc for hosting this fabulous, informative event and for all they do for our families!
Lucy Beadnell Arc of NoVA (left), CC NOVA participants at Arc waiver session (right)
Finally, my husband Joe, who serves as our President, and I were invited to present the City Center NOVA mission to other experts at the 2020 Pacific Rim Disability and Diversity Conference. We fielded plenty of questions from interested scholars, social workers, parents, and self-advocates on what we are doing and how. CC NOVA’s mission resonates wherever we go as cities around the world all have the same concerns about the future for our adults with disabilities. There is a lot of positive energy around creative solutions!
Joe (second from left) and I with others from the Housing Forum Panel
City Center NOVA wishes all our families well during this Covid-19 pandemic. Please be safe and follow the important recommendations for social distancing so that we can all continue to enjoy time together going forward as our mission continues to grow and thrive.
Sincerely,
Paula Manion, Chair