.The feature below is brought to you by HIVE, Inc, an organization that is in the running to receive a See Beautiful Grant. For more information about all of our giving initiatives, please click here. To learn more about HIVE, Inc, please visit their website: here. Welcome to the hive. The clubhouse at HIVE, Inc. (“the hive”) is a beautiful place. It is beautiful not because it is a newly renovated space with huge windows, lots of light, peaceful gray walls, and shelves full of art supplies, games, and interesting artifacts, but rather, any beauty you see at “the hive” comes from the people inside its walls. Membership at “the hive” includes boys and girls, men and women from all walks of life. Some of them are teenagers in their last years of high school. Others are navigating through their 20s, gathering together for laughter and conversation around video games and pizza, still trying to figure out how these last few steps into adulthood are going to be taken. Others are older, turning their attention to developing skills they need for careers, gathering with their peers around warm cups of coffee and card games. All these people have bright smiles, infectious laughter. They share their joys and commiserate on struggles. The stories they tell each other and lessons they teach clubhouse visitors are about perseverance, defying odds, and keeping the right positive perspective on life. The time they spend at HIVE, Inc. centers around attending educational workshops on a variety of topics, exploring hobbies and interests, maintaining friendships, developing vocational skills and contributing to the community through volunteerism and service projects. HIVE, Inc. is an organization that functions like a community center, serving teens and adults with disabilities in South Central Kentucky. “The hive” creates opportunities in the areas of habilitation, information, vocational skills, volunteerism, and education. There are weekly and monthly classes in yoga, music, gardening, soap & candle making, art, and woodworking; educational workshops in disability rights and laws, advocacy, nutrition & healthy living, community safety, prevention of abuse & exploitation; vocational skill development through a vendor booth at a local market selling the handmade soaps and candles HIVE members make, and also through a vending machine business operated by HIVE members. Volunteer opportunities are coordinated through partnerships with other local organizations and agencies. Skills needed for living independently are practiced by HIVE members as they perform the maintenance on the clubhouse (cleaning, landscaping, changing light bulbs, etc.). “The Hive” is not diagnosis specific, and does not bill insurance for services, so the clubhouse is available to ANY teen or adult with ANY physical, developmental, or intellectual disability, regardless of background, economic status, insurance provider, or status for state waiver services or government funding. This is particularly important because many waiver services and government programs/funding are exhausted or have long “wait lists,” and there are few options available for continuing education beyond high school for people with disabilities. This lack of services and resources leaves individuals with disabilities and their families isolated and without supports needed for future success. HIVE, Inc. founder, Laura Orsland, experienced this first hand, when her son, Taylor, who has a disability, graduated high school. In looking for ways for him to keep learning after high school, to work on skills he hadn’t quite mastered, to meet new people and be able to socialize with friends, Laura realized that there weren’t any real options available to Taylor or their family. Adult daycare wasn’t really a good fit for him, and he wasn’t a candidate for traditional postsecondary education. Laura described Taylor’s high school graduation as “similar to walking off a cliff…For his nondisabled peers, it’s a step out into this journey of college or jobs and learning and growing…moving onto bigger things. But for Tay, and kids like him, graduating high school meant the end of services he’d been getting for years. The end of seeing his friends every day. The end of learning.” ...for Tay, and kids like him, graduating high school meant the end of services he’d been getting for years. The end of seeing his friends every day. The end of learning.” -Laura Orsland This is the case for many, many people with disabilities. Unemployment rates are higher among individuals with disabilities than any other group, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, and 63% of people with disabilities will NOT enroll in post-secondary education. They face barriers like accessibility issues, costs of adaptive technology, lack of training for teachers and staff, and lack of moderate or high level collaboration between higher learning institutions and state vocational rehabilitation offices. Additionally, only 25% of youth with disabilities report being engaged in some type of volunteerism or community service that connects them to the community. After much research and discussion with other parents and professionals, Laura determined to create a place of learning and friendship for people with disabilities. Her vision was innovative. The idea was to create an organization that would address needs and “fill in the gaps” in opportunities. A place for higher learning, but also a high level of creativity and fun, not an “institution.” And that’s how “the hive” was born. HIVE, Inc. opened its clubhouse doors in January 2017, serving a few individuals with disabilities and their families across 3 counties in Kentucky. Currently, “the hive” serves 46 individuals and their families, 4 professional service provider agencies and 3 school systems across 6 counties in Kentucky, and membership is growing rapidly! HIVE, Inc. exists to break down barriers. THE MISSION: to empower individuals to lead fulfilling, self-determined lives by providing the needed supports to make informed choices, build relationships, experience respect, and make contributions as fully participating citizens. THE VISION: A barrier-free community in which all individuals may live, work, and enjoy access to limitless opportunities as valued citizens. Want to See Beautiful? Help HIVE, Inc. create opportunities for people with disabilities to grow in relationships with others, to have options and make informed choices, to experience respect and be valued and contributing members of their communities, and to live with purpose according to interests and abilities… Want to See Beautiful? Check out the opportunities given at HIVE, Inc. that allow strong, inspiring women and men to lead fulfilling, beautiful lives. You can catch a glimpse at http://thehivebg.org, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/thehivebg, or Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/h.i.v.e.inc. Article Submitted by: Jessica Wilson, Program Coordinator at HIVE, Inc.
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