Join CIF for Trivia Night at Double Clutch! 

Come on out and join us for a hilarious night of trivia and fun on Sunday, April 16th from 5 – 7 pm, at Double Clutch Brewing Company, 2121 Ashland Avenue, Evanston.

Buy your ticket now for only $25 for a fantastic night of trivia and laughs hosted by Strewpendous Productions. We will have fun and funky raffle baskets plus prizes for the First, Second, and Third Place teams

Everyone who buys a ticket will have the chance to join a team. Attendees are free to set up their own trivia teams, or CIF will provide support determining teams. We will contact all attendees prior to the event to set up the teams.

Don’t miss out! Get your ticket today! 

Reopening Update for Independent Futures

June 19th Update: For the foreseeable future, our office will be open from 10:00 am – 3:00 pm. We are open to visitors only by appointment, so please call ahead. The rest of the information in this blog still applies, including requirements regarding face coverings and taking temperatures. 

Dear community members,

On March 16th, Independent Futures closed our office, and our staff started working remotely. As Illinois moves into Phase 3 of the Restore Illinois plan, we can begin informing you about our reopening update. 

Beginning June 8th, our office will be open from 11:00 am-2:00 pm. In following weeks, we will increase our open hours gradually. To limit risk, all office visitors must call (847) 328-2044 to make an appointment. Along with these limited hours, we have installed a sneeze guard at our front desk and marked 6 foot areas throughout the office. The following policies will apply to everyone entering our office.

  • Everyone must wear masks during any and all in-office meetings. We ask that you bring your own, but if you do not have a face covering, one will be provided for you.
  • We will take your temperature when you arrive at the office. Our staff are also asked to follow this procedure to protect our whole community.
  • Safety practices such as frequently washing our hands for at least 20 seconds and maintaining social distance will be required of all staff and guests.
  • There will be hand sanitizer available in the office. We recommend that anyone entering or leaving the office use hand sanitizer to reduce the chance of transmitting the virus to others.
  • Out of respect for everyone’s health, please stay home if you feel unwell or have a temperature.

While our office has been closed, our Activities Director has continued to provide activities services online. Moving forward, we will be exploring blended activities options. To make our activities as accessible as possible, we will continue providing as many options as possible for the community. Please keep an eye out for our upcoming Summer Activities schedule

We remain thankful for everyone’s patience and support as we make these transitions, and we look forward to seeing you all in person as soon as we can. We will update this blog periodically when we receive new information.

If you have any questions about our reopening update, please email center@independentfutures.com. We will forward your question to the appropriate staff member. In the meantime, stay healthy and take care! 

Warm regards,

Ann Sickon, Executive Director

Celebrating Romantic Relationships Among People With Disabilities

These stories are excerpts from a previous publication entitled “New Visions: The Power of Dreams.” New Visions was published in 2011 with the support of the Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities. Featuring the stories of 20 individuals with disabilities, this anthology reflects the possibilities for individuals who have support from their communities. (These stories have been edited for length.)

Carrie Robb

Carrie has dreams typical of many people. She wants a better job, she wants to own her own home, and she wants to get better control over her diabetes by eating better and staying fit. But what she wanted most in the world was to get married.

Carrie & her partner smile together on a couch in black and white photoWhen she talked about her dreams with her Dream Team during her first Full Life Future Planning™ session, she talked a whole lot about the picture of the bride and groom that she included in her Dream collage (with her boyfriend’s name under the picture of the groom).

The dream of marriage was not news to her team, but they didn’t realize how important it was to her until then. After all, she had already been living with her boyfriend for several years. During that first session, Carrie’s mother told her, “Carrie, if this is that important to you, I think we can make this happen.”

Carrie and her boyfriend picked the most romantic day of the year, February 14, for their big event.

Carrie picked out a beautiful, lacy, Valentine-pink dress for her big day and looked absolutely stunning. But the most beautiful thing about her that day was not her dress or her hair or the makeup she wore. The most beautiful thing about Carrie was the smile on her face! Now, she wears that same beautiful smile whenever she shares the pictures of her cherished day with people when they visit.

Michele Armistead

Michele took part in a group Full Life Future Planning™ process with nine other people. Throughout the class, Michele identified many things that were important to her during the classes as time progressed. Many of the dreams she identified for herself were simple (like a new desk lamp), and many were more involved (like getting married and getting a job).  Most of Michele’s dreams involved family and friends that were closest to her.

A white woman in black & white photograph from about a decade ago.Michele was very quiet during the initial classes, but grew more open over time. She let her network know she was interested in nursing, and then she found a way to get involved. She discovered she wanted to work with animals; she started working at a pet shelter and loved it.

She and her boyfriend also dreamed of getting married. They talked with their families and had a commitment ceremony and a reception to celebrate their love for each other.

Now Michelle says, “If it wasn’t for this experience, I wouldn’t be doing all the cool things I am now. I used to be scared to ask people for what I wanted. Now I realize that I will never get what I want if I don’t ask. The class taught me that it’s okay to tell people what I want.”

Ignite Dreams at SPARK With Us!

In just under a month, we will be dancing the night away and sharing the dreams of our community at SPARK. A night for our community to get together and celebrate all we have achieved this year, SPARK is a night out you don’t want to miss. This year we have some new and exciting features, plus we have been making changes to guarantee you will have the most fun possible!

Silent Auction Prizes

One part of the evening that won’t be changing is our silent auction! We have roughly 70 wonderful packages for guests to take home at the end of the evening.

Florida house view over the ocean with deck railing in frame

From wonderful dining experiences to enjoying excellent theatre performances, we hope that our guests will all find something to bid on! A few examples include a weeklong stay at a condo in Florida, two roundtrip tickets to anywhere in the U.S. from Southwest Airlines, an astounding package from SPACE, and so much more.

Watch for chances to start bidding early about a week before SPARK!

The New Golden Ticket Raffle

In past years, SPARK featured an awesome raffle where the winner was able to “split the pot” with us, but we are trying something new this year! We are happy to be introducing the Golden Ticket raffle!

Sunset in Costa Rica with palm trees in frame, the sky is painted different shades of blue, pink, orange, yellow, and purple.We are selling a limited 150 Golden Tickets, meaning you have a 1/150 chance of winning when you purchase a single ticket. Golden Ticket holders choose their prize selection at the time of purchase from our amazing live auction items. Whether you want to go to Costa Rica or see a Cubs game with stellar seats, we have an item for everyone’s needs.

Winners need not be present to win, but we hope you will stay the whole evening to dance and ignite the spark of our community’s dreams with us!

Changes to Our Program

This year, we are making exciting changes to our program! It is our hope these will allow us to better ignite dreams at SPARK. We will be shortening the program to allow for more of everyone’s favorite part of the night – dancing! We will still be honoring stellar supporters through the Jane Doyle Awesome Awards, but we will end earlier so your dancing shoes see some awesome moves!

Thank You Sponsors, Entertainment, and Guests!

Finally, we want to thank some amazing individuals and businesses who are supporting us at SPARK this year. First, our entertainment, Euphoria Band, will be putting on a great show for us again this year.

Crowd of guests dancing at SPARKNext, thank you to our sponsors because we could not put together such an amazing celebration without each of you. Thank you PSAV, Sidley Austin, Inland Bank, Byline Bank, Monahan Law Group, Rubin Law, Northwestern University, Oak Wealth Advisors, Simon Cordwell Buenz, and Nike Whitcomb & Associates for your support!

And last but never least, we thank our guests at SPARK who will join us in honoring this community. None of the hopes and dreams we help make reality could ever be possible without every one of you! Get your tickets today!

Presentation at National Down Syndrome Conference

Chrissy & Cynthia at the National Down Syndrome ConferenceCenter for Independent Futures hit the road again last month! Schools Consultant Chrissy and Community Life Coordinator Cynthia flew to Dallas in the middle of July. They faced the heat of Texas to present to the National Down Syndrome Congress (NDSC) Conference.

At the National Down Syndrome Conference, parents, self-advocates, siblings, and volunteers gather to learn from industry experts. Thousands of people come to the conference to hear the newest information in the field. Center for Independent Futures was honored to be considered a leader in the field at this conference.

“We were pleased when we were asked to submit a proposal to present at the NDSC,” said Cynthia. “Our informative and interactive presented, ‘A Roadmap to Hope: Creating a Circle of Support for Your Adult Sibling,’ was well received.” Cynthia also expressed how wonderful it was to reconnect with other groups who are using the Full Life Process around the country, like Club 21.

Explore the Full Life Process

Though we don’t focus on labels here, we designed our Full Life Process to help anyone with an intellectual or developmental disability who needs support. It covers eight areas that encompass a full life, including home life, wellness, getting around, and more. The Full Life Process includes three crucial steps: planning, skills inventory, and skills training.

Those three investigative and planning steps help individuals work toward discovering their hopes and dreams – and then achieving them. After acknowledging obstacles, our process helps to develop action plans to develop necessary skills. We love sharing our Full Life Process throughout the country, providing schools & agencies with tools to facilitate person-centered planning.

Thank you to the NDSC for inviting Chrissy and Cynthia to speak at the Conference, and thank you to the audience for participating and engaging! Finally, keep an eye out for where our training consultants fly off to next!  

Success Stories

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