Change Champions

In every community, individuals with disabilities have diverse gifts and talents to contribute. However, organizations struggle to successfully engage these individuals as members, employees, volunteers, and consumers. Through the Change Champions Project, Independent Futures partnered with civic, social, religious, and business organizations in 4 distinct Chicagoland communities.

Change Champions creates stronger organizations, fuller lives for individuals with disabilities, and richer communities. The Change Champions project provides organizations with tools they need to create an inclusive environment, benefitting from contributions of individuals of all abilities.

The Change Champions Project

From April 2017 – March 2019, Independent Futures worked with 8 community organizations. We built a team of “Change Champions” in each organization. Each of these teams created a vision of what inclusion of people with disabilities meant in their organization.

The teams enhanced and built on the inclusion of people with disabilities already happening in the organizations, while also identifying barriers to inclusion. Ultimately, this project resulted in new attitudes, opportunities, and relationships – both for people with disabilities and for each partner organization.

The Change Champions Project Guide

On this page, you can download the Change Champions Project Guide. It is our hope that you will use this guide and the strategies we learned to build more inclusion into the fabric of your organization.

Through the guide, you will find information about how to identify organizations ready for an inclusion project, find your Change Champions, measure project outcomes, and much more. Download today to build an inclusive environment in your organization.

Change Champions Guide

Click to download the Change Champions Project Guide in English or Spanish.


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Looking for more?

As you begin to build the capacity for inclusion, you will encounter stumbling blocks. Visit our resource page on Asset Mapping, featuring a 6 part webinar series and viewing guide. Through our Asset Mapping resources, you will learn how to identify and mobilize resources for projects that depend on community partnerships and work toward community change.

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Regardless of your expertise or experience, giving of yourself can change lives for the better and create new possibilities for those with disabilities.

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