Lana's Art On Display

Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome resident Lana recently had some artwork of hers hung up at Imagine!’s administrative office.

Looks great, doesn’t it? Way to go, Lana!

Thank You To Our Partners

Imagine!’s SmartHomes project is essentially a community building endeavor. The goal of our SmartHomes is to use technology to provide new opportunities for individuals with developmental disabilities to engage in their communities, and we can’t do that without the support of businesses, foundations, government agencies, and individuals who believe in the potential of all. Imagine! is indebted to our many partners on this project.

Click here to see a list of all of Imagine!’s generous SmartHome partners.

White House Honors "Champions of Change"

This is a couple of months old, but still worth sharing. On May 7, the White House presented “Champions of Change” awards to a handful of researchers who have spent considerable time creating wholly new technologies and adapting existing ones such as the Internet, smartphones and cloud computing — to work better for and help improve the lives of those who have disabilities.

Learn more here.

Presentable

SmartHomes guru Greg Wellems and PR guy Fred Hobbs are scheduled to present at the INARF Technology Conference in mid-August.

INARF is the principal membership organization in Indiana representing providers of services to people with disabilities. Our members serve over 60,000 Indiana citizens annually and employ over 14,500 full-time employees. For 34 years, INARF has maintained relationships with governmental agencies responsible for human service programs, promoted networking opportunities for members coordinated quality professional development programs and provided leadership and support in the promotion of quality programs for persons with disabilities.

Greg will be providing the keynote presentation, focusing on how organizations can include technology in their strategic planning by providing a process to “get on top of the technology wave.” Fred will discuss how social media has opened doors for community interaction among individuals regardless of their ability/disability.

Good luck, guys! We know you’ll do great!

Join Imagine! At Best of Boulder Valley Green Buildings Awards Ceremony

Imagine!’s Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome in Boulder is honored to be a finalist in the Colorado Green Building Guild and the Boulder County Business Report Best of Boulder Valley Green Buildings awards. What a great recognition of the efforts we put into making the home environmentally friendly and to meeting our commitment to our community!

Winners in each category (see below) will be announced during the Business Report's annual Green Summit: Blending Business & the Environment, to be held August 7 at the Millennium Harvest House Boulder. We’d love to have you join us! Tickets can be purchased here.

Boulder Valley Green Building Award Categories and Finalists:

Best Adaptive Reuse of an Existing Building
eTown
Ocean First Divers 

Best Educational Facility
Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) Casey Middle School
BVSD - Columbine Elementary
Center for Community - University of Colorado, Boulder 

Best Healthcare (Humans or Animals)
Boulder Community Foothills Hospital
Boulder Valley Women's Health Center
Aspen Meadow Veterinary Specialists       

Best Multi-Residential Building
Imagine!'s Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome 
Williams Village North - University of Colorado Boulder

Cutting Edge
Synergistic Building Technologies
Ocean First Divers

Best Improvement on a Commercial Building
Eco-Products, Inc.
Geological Society of America (GSA)
Ocean First Divers

Best Residential   
1247 Scrub Oak
Hohensee Residence
Plinke Residence
Doub - Solar Harvest

Best Improvement on an Old or Historic Building
Main Street Mat Company 
Colorado Chautauqua Association
Gold Miner Hotel

Best Hospitality
Peaceful Meadows Retreat
Gold Miner Hotel

Congratulations and good luck to all the finalists. We'll see you August 7th!

Check Out Our New QR Code

We’re always looking for new ways to use technology to spread the word about Imagine! and our SmartHomes so more people can become aware of the possibilities technology brings to serving individuals with intellectual disabilities. To that end, check out our new QR code below!

Presentable

On August 7, Imagine! SmartHomes guru Greg Wellems will be presenting on "Organizational Planning for Technology Utilization by Community Services Providers" at the Reinventing Quality 2012 Conference.  

In the fall of 1999, the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDDS) was awarded a three-year grant by the federal Administration on Developmental Disabilities to gather and disseminate "best practice" information on individualized, person-centered supports and related quality management activities. This "Reinventing Quality" project was carried out in collaboration with the Research and Training Center on Community Living, one the nation's premier disability research and training centers, and the Human Services Research Institute, a policy research firm specializing in mental health and developmental disabilities issues.

Among the activities supported by this grant was the sponsorship of nationwide conferences to showcase best practices in person-centered supports from across the nation: The Reinventing Quality Conference. The project's funding ended in the fall of 2003, but the annual conferences have continued under the direction of the original project collaborators.

Greg’s presentation will identify strategies and tools that can be used to implement and successfully use various state of the art technologies within organizations that support individuals with disabilities.

Joining Greg on this presentation will be Dr. David Braddock, Executive Director, Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities, and Clayton Lewis, PhD, Consultant, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR).

Good luck, Greg! We know you’ll do great!