The CIL is still working hard through the pandemic to help our consumers find affordable housing during these difficult times. One of our consumers received a housing voucher last year which enabled her to transition from an abuse shelter and sleeping in her car with her children, into a safe and affordable home earlier this month! The Gainesville Housing Authority’s mainstream voucher program, and the help she received from the Center for Independent Living, has completely turned her and her family’s life around for the better. Special thanks go out to our own Consumer Specialist Mark Brisbane, the Gainesville Housing Authority and Eric Davis with GRACE Marketplace for partnering together and making this happen for our consumer and her family!

Image description: blue watercolor background featuring 4 pictures. The top left is a uhaul in front of a blue house, the top right is an empty living room with a grey floor and white walls, the bottom left is a photo of Eric Davis from GRACE with the new owner of the house, and the bottom right is a kitchen with brown cabinets and a white stovetop and oven. In the top center of the graphic, the words “Thank you” are featured. The GRACE and CIL logos are in the top right corner of the graphic and the Gainesville Housing Authority logo can be found in the top left corner.

Our High School High Tech (HSHT) students are casting visions for the new year! At a recent workshop, HSHT students created vision boards of their future employment goals and hobbies using magazines. It was a fun time and Trey says he hopes to be a scientist or a computer technology specialist after graduation.

Image is a picture of Trey holding up his completed vision board.

The Florida Association of Centers for Independent Living (FACIL) is accepting applications for the James Patrick Memorial Work Incentive Personal Assistant Services program (JPPAS). The JPPAS program provides monthly stipends to qualified Floridians with disabilities who require personal assistance services for daily living. 

Thomas Clemons has been using JPPAS for the last 5 years. Read Thomas’s comment below about how JPPAS has helped him become more involved in his community! 

“I live with quadriplegia resulting from a spinal cord injury. I require a high level of assistance with many daily activities including transferring in and out of the bed/wheelchair, dressing and meal preparation. There was a time that I was unable to return to work full time for fear of losing benefits tied to my level of income. The cost of maintaining personal care assistance without those benefits was impossible to maintain.

I have received PCA cost reimbursement through the JPPAS program over the last 5 years. The program has provided me with an opportunity to not only reduce my out-of-pocket expenses for necessary care, it has also given me the control in choosing my caregivers. Without the JPPAS program, I would not be able to successfully work full time and continue to contribute to my community. The program has leveled the playing field for me, helping to reduce the costs of maintaining the necessary assistance I need and maintaining a quality of consistent care.”

Image description: Image is a picture from the chest to the top of the head of Thomas Clemons in his home. 

Many thanks to Gainesville Fire Rescue’s Community Paramedicine Program for the opportunity to attend their third annual Community Health Fair! Our Community Specialist, Sada Ahmed, was able to represent the CIL, and it was a beautiful day to spread the word about our services.

Also, we were thrilled to learn that 15 vaccinations and 35 tests for COVID-19 were administered at the event! Until next year!

Image description: First image is a picture of Sada posing in front of the CIL table that includes brochures and information, with a huge field in the background and a blue sky.

Our Executive Director, Tony Delisle, wanted to share a message with you about his hopes for the new year, as we continue to navigate through the pandemic. Please read below!

It is my wish everyone has a healthy and happy New Year. I am hopeful we will have a year of progress and unity. I also recognize as a society we continue to face challenging circumstances.

Adaptability, resiliency, and perseverance are some of the important virtues people with disabilities develop throughout their lifetime to live independently. All of us will need to hold these virtuous close as we welcome and navigate the year 2022; a year the world is expected to continue living in the midst of a pandemic, see increasing inflation, and more social unrest. I believe all of us can triumph over these adversities if we learn the virtues people with disabilities embrace in their daily lives. In doing so we will adapt and accommodate to the obstacles before us; enduring through them with unstoppable resilience; overcoming division through the unity of our commonalities; and persevering as we always have throughout the history of humanity. People with disabilities posses all the world needs and it is up to us to lead the way by showing who we are as a united and resilient community. The CILNCF is committed more than ever in supporting those we serve in continuing to be the change the world needs.

Image is a picture of Tony posing with his arms up behind the Center for Independent Living sign posted to the side of 36th Terrace, near the Gainesville office.

Join us for a night of fun, prizes, and friends!

ION Gainesville is back for 2022, and they will be hosting their monthly virtual bingo nights every third Friday through May!

The first bingo night of the year will be THIS Friday, January 21st, from 7 pm to 8:15 pm. All young adults with disabilities between the ages of 18 and 30-ish are welcome! Check out the flyer for more information and we hope to see you there!

Image Description: Light pink background featuring the ION Gainesville logo in the middle of a tick tac toe pattern that looks like a bingo card, with Bingo images and stickers surrounding the logo that say the word bingo, the date and time of the upcoming bingo night in the top left box that reads, “January 21st, 7pm to 8:15pm”, and the dates of the upcoming bingo nights in the top right box that reads, “February 18th, March 18th, April 18th and May 20th”. The top of the flyer reads, “Bingo Friday Night Fun” in large pink bubble letters and below it in smaller, dark pink print it says, “Join us for Virtual Bingo, prizes, and friends for young adults with disabilities ages 18-30”. On the bottom of the flyer, the text reads, “If you want to join the bingo nights, email or call Trish Thoburn at: iongainesville@gmail.com; (352) 339 – 6278”.

All of us here at the CIL would like to celebrate and honor Martin Luther King Jr. today and his fearless fight for justice through peaceful protests. Remember that your voice is powerful. Remember that you can make a difference. Spread love today, and every day.

Image Description: Solid light green background featuring the CIL logo at the bottom right corner, a graphic of MLK in the bottom left corner, and an MLK quote in the middle of the image that reads, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Our condolences go out to the family of Stephen Hardy. Stephen passed away on Saturday, January 8^th and was a friend and former board member of the Center. He was a huge advocate for people with disabilities, especially for people who are deaf. Stephen was very influential in the Deaf community and taught Deaf studies at the University of Florida. He will be missed by many in the community including his students at UF. Our thoughts go out to his family at this difficult time.

Please click on the UF link below to learn more about Stephen Hardy:

Happy 2022 from all of us here at the CIL! We hope this year will bring lots of love, luck, peace and happiness!

Image Description: Light grey background with gold stars and circles hanging from the top of the graphic and two gold fireworks at the bottom on the left and right, with the CIL logo at the bottom, between the two firework images; gold text is in the middle and states, “All of us here at the CIL wish you a very Happy New Year! Cheer to 2022!”

In December, the Toys for Tots program and CIL once again partnered up, to help families with disabilities make their children’s dreams come true this Christmas. The CIL assisted 18 families and a total of 45 children in Alachua County, as well as 4 families in Marion County, with an additional 10 children! That is a total of 22 families and 55 children that we helped serve this holiday season! 

We can’t thank the Toys for Tots program enough, for what they do for all of our children in need during the holidays! Special thanks also to our ILS Coordinator, Terri Poucher, who organizes our Toys for Tots partnership!

Images are pictures of Toys for Tots families picking up their bags of toys and bikes, with Terri Poucher.