Imagine Film Festival Returns!

Dear Imagine friends and family,

This year, I am especially excited for our film festival. This is the first year I haven't chosen the films or seen them. I haven't been involved very much in the planning.

The Film Festival continues as a celebration of people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities whose stories and voices are central, not marginal, to the life of our community. This year's also celebrates Imagine's maturity.

To date, Imagine has been a scrappy organization that pulled people back and forth between their assigned roles and our broad aspirations to make Santa Cruz County more inclusive and our culture more appreciative of the people we serve. HR put on the film festival, facilitators organized events, administrators made our parties.

For the last year and a half or so, I keep noticing how skilled we've become. I and many others will be there for the event, helping to set up, making sure our guests enjoy themselves and cleaning up after. But the organization of this year's film festival has happened professionally and we're so much readier for the event today than we were 30 days ahead in almost any year I can think of (Exception: the Lockdown Drive-in Film Festival year.)

By nature, I enjoy being part of a small, scrappy organization that achieves what a larger, more professional organization cannot. Against my self-image and preference, though, I have to appreciate what our developing professionalism brings our community. A platform of skills and effort is slowly replacing our foundation of enthusiasm. I worry about whether that's an improvement but our capacity to serve keeps getting better and we're serving better.

We still argue with conservators and disappoint clients and annoy coworkers, but we are seldom understaffed and we remove people from positions that don't seem to suit them. Person-centered thinking and planning have alloyed into all of our processes. Things generally run smoother for the people we serve and we expect. I feel a little alienated from the new, professional Imagine and a little nostalgic for the striving one but I'm also very proud of all the new ways we manifest our mission.

So please come to our film festival for the films and the fun and the food but also come to find out how maturity can make life richer, smoother and more constuctively connected. I expect we'll see it together on the 30th. At the Colligan Theater. Details below.

P.S. The words above concern the ways the whole organization has grown and refers to every part of Imagine. The Film Festival only gets to be the metaphor because of Andrea and the skills she brings. Give her a compliment if you think things are getting better.

Imagine's board completed a Strategic Planning Retreat. We really appreciate everyone thinking forward.

This month, we are taking a cruise together this Thursday. Next month is the grandaddy, the Imagine Film Festival is back for another year. It has been moved to October 30 this year and we won't judge if you come dressed as The Green Lantern. Well, maybe as Green Lantern but not if you come in a cool costume.

Finally, I want to take a moment to appreciate Perla. A Facilitator's job is a demanding one and Perla did it with intelligence. She was a great coworker at the office because dang me but she's witty. We wish her all the best in her future work.

Further down, you'll find the following articles.

Transparency at Imagine: our next board meeting is Wednesday, October 28 at 12 at the FHA office, downstairs at 10707 Soquel Drive. Documents from the strategic planning retreat are available below.

In the Year of Sharing column, we continue to support a group of parents looking to build their own program through Self-Determination and have events planned for this month.

In the HR Corner, Patty gets pushed aside by a poltergeist writer.

The Person-Centered Evolution column is taking this month off for personal centering.

In the Supported Living Servings column, I'm ghost writing again- what I observe watching family members serve as care providers.

Now that Raul's a bigshot, Community Connections, needs a new convener. Please reach out, especially if you are a family member/conservator of someone who receives services and would be open to offering your leadership of this group.

The Self-Determination column covers the usual.

The Advocacy Corner this month includes next to nothing.

This month we have our Client Spotlight on Leighanne (who enjoyed seeing just today.) The Staff Spotlight this month appreciates Carlos. The Spotlight on Change, this month proves its premise by disappearing for the month.

As ever, I am at your service. If you have any questions, feedback or a nice long story, you can write me here. I look forward to hearing from you.

Gratefully yours,

Doug

The Year of Sharing

Following our Year of The Caregiver, Year of The Facilitator and Year of Person-Centered Planning, we found ourselves in a good place and getting better. We decided this year to focus on Sharing, by prioritizing the ways we can support the community beyond our services through education and mentorship. This column chronicles what has happened.

In September we held two more educational events around the Self-Determination Program. In partnership with our friends at Special Kids Connect and a bunch of friends who benefit from and contribute to the SDP program, we held full-day workshops in Salinas. The goal was to explain the program including the perspectives of what makes it great, what's hard about it and what is surprising. One day was dedicated to the event in English and we repeated it the next week in Spanish.

While Imagine values the opportunities that can come through self-determination, we find it especially important in Counties with fewer available programs through the traditional system.

Here is a joy: A new SLS provider that we've been mentoring is speaking with an individual we like who needs services and for whom there is no opening at Imagine. It's a real gift to our mission to see new people start to receive great service without us.

-Submitted by Doug

***Click on the event flyer to access the registration link***

Or contact Andrea

Human Resources Corner

Growing Our Training

Over the past year and a half, we’ve offered quite a few Pro-ACT trainings, giving our staff the opportunity to hopefully build important skills and confidence while learning alongside their clients and team members.

Now, we’re looking to expand our in-house training opportunities even further! We are currently working toward bringing CPR training in-house as well.

Our goal is to offer a regularly scheduled CPR training once a month, making it easier for new and current staff to complete certification or keep it up to date. Having these trainings available through Imagine will give our staff another convenient way to stay current on important skills that help keep the people we support safe.

I’m really excited about the opportunity to continue expanding our in-house trainings and offer something that benefits our team. At the same time, I’ll admit that stepping into more training and facilitation opportunities comes with a little hesitation for me. I’m naturally shy, so being in front of a room and taking on a larger training role is definitely pushing me outside my comfort zone. I’m also very excited that Eileen will be joining me for these trainings! She is much more naturally comfortable in front of a group than I am, which I’m sure everyone will appreciate.

But one of the things I’ve enjoyed most about these Pro-ACT trainings so far is seeing our staff engage, ask questions, share experiences, and hopefully leave feeling a little more confident in their ability to support the people we serve, which makes it all worth it in the end. In-house trainings also just feel more… special. It feels less like checking off a box or just getting a certification and more like creating a space where we can learn together and support one another.

Stay tuned for upcoming CPR training dates and registration information!

-Submitted by Jessica Rodriguez

Human Resources Assistant

This is Jessica's first column in her current role and the first of two consecutive columns by Jessicas. Jessica began with Imagine as a facilitator but preferred the lifestyle of a ruthless people-hunter. She brings a lot of talent, energy and kindness to her work and no part of me has ever doubted she'd write well.

Supported Living Servings

Improving Our Emergency Planning

At Imagine, we have been working on a strategic plan that we plan to work on goals for the next three years. One of our top priorities is to amp up our emergency planning, including knowing our clients’ evacuation zones and adding more person-centered emergency planning. We want these plans to reflect each person’s needs, choices, and what helps them feel safe.

What does this mean for you?

Clients: We want to hear from you, your family or conservators, and your team about what supports you might need or want during an evacuation, while sheltering in place, or if EMS or other emergency personnel were involved.

Would you like something to read ahead of an anticipated event to help you understand what we might be asked to do outside of your typical routine? Would a social story help? How about pictures or icons for these events? What about duplicates of sensory items, chargers for phones and iPads, and your favorite clothing items or blanket?

These familiar items can be important supports to help you communicate, feel comfortable, and manage changes in your routine. We want to know what matters to you!

Families and conservators: We could use your help, alongside each client, in making sure emergency supplies meet their needs and preferences. Many of our clients follow gluten-free or dairy-free diets. Many of our emergency “go bags” contain standard supplies that may not accommodate those diets. Taking a person-centered approach means reviewing what is in each person’s bag and making sure food options fit their needs.

Medications are another important part of planning. Requesting an emergency supply of medications can be very challenging. We may need support from families and conservators to work with prescribers and pharmacies to explore options for a three-day emergency supply.

Teams: We need your input as well! In an emergency, we need everyone on the team to know how to respond and how to best support the people we serve. Even with the most carefully planned emergency plans, emergencies are stressful, and we cannot prepare for all variables. So we want to make sure that you are being heard and supported as well. Please share what you know works for each person and what would help you feel more prepared.

How will this roll out? We will be rolling this out in three phases, starting with clients who may need the most support based on their medical needs, behavioral support needs, and geographic location in areas vulnerable to disasters.

Our goal is to get to everyone as quickly as possible, and everyone pitching in to help with these plans is the key to making that happen. You can help us get started by talking with your team about your preferences, support needs, and ideas. This can happen by phone call, email, meeting request, or as an agenda item at your next house meeting! 

We appreciate everyone’s support in helping us make this happen!

Thank you,

Jessica Ortiz

SLS Program Manager

Imagine Supported Living Services

Self-Determination

Self-Determination is now available for any regional center client who chooses it.

This month, the regularly scheduled Independent Facilitator Roundtable is scheduled for Wednesday, September 7, at 11AM. The Zoom link is here.

We very much enjoyed the Self-Determination Workshops in Salinas with our partners at Special Kids Connect and panelists who are participants, parents, regional center employees, service providers, Independent Facilitators, Financial Management Service employees and Joe from State Counsel, all sharing their view of what's great about the program, what's hard about it and how it has surprised them.

We thank Newman's Own Foundation for supporting our educational events.

If I can be of any help, please feel free to contact me.

-Submitted by Doug

The next board meeting is scheduled for October 28 at noon at the Family Home Agency office, 10707 Soquel Drive in Aptos (and downstairs.) Our board meetings are open to all. If you email Andrea, she'll make sure you get in, fed, and heard.

The independent audit of our 2025-2026 fiscal year is peaking right now with a couple of months expected before the report is ready, but we sure will share it then.

We have room for several more on the board. An attorney wouldn't be bad. Anyone who is a leader in the community would be swell. If you know someone with a passion for our mission who might be interested in volunteering, please let me know.

-Submitted by Doug