The mission behind our work is to support the human creativity and concern for others that in turn leads to the best service possible. We believe that all human beings are of equal worth; and we are committed to providing an atmosphere of empowerment, trust, and respect that reflects that belief.

In practice, this philosophy translates into encouraging, assisting, supporting, educating, and allowing a person to make commitments and to take responsibilities. It means trusting an employee to do his/her job or believing in his/her potential to take on more difficult tasks. It means allowing a client of one of our programs to do things which may, at times, seem risky, knowing that the gains from the attempt (success or failure) will outweigh the stagnation of the status quo.

The challenges are not just for the disempowered individuals. The challenges are for all of us.

There are challenges to the service providers who must develop new and different ways to help people, ways which foster independence, growth, and acceptance of responsibility.

There are challenges to government: conflicting requests for supports and legitimate needs for accountability and regulation.

And there is the challenge to individuals in each community to join with us and view the individuals we serve, not as threats, but as human beings going about the business of being human.

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