| dc.description.abstract | Bridging Relationships in Diverse Groups with Exceptional Service (BRIDGES) is a non-profit organization located in San Diego, CA, that provides community-based day programs for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This capstone project sought to understand the program's intended impact on clients and the community, provide recommendations to improve client outcomes in the future and evaluate if the program has impacted how persons with disabilities are viewed in the wider community. The project questions were:
1. How does BRIDGES define impact on clients and the community?
2. What is the program's current impact on clients?
3. What is the program's current impact on the community?
Data sources for this project included interviews with relevant stakeholders, existing client and family survey data, and organizational documents. Through the analysis and triangulation of these data sources we found that:
1. BRIDGES defines client impact as improvements to quality of life and community impact as a connection through engagement or contact
2. clients experience improved quality of life through participation in the BRIDGES program
3. programs like BRIDGES can improve community perceptions of individuals with developmental disabilities through community participation, however, BRIDGES does not currently have a method to determine the program’s impact on the community
4. while responses indicate that clients/families are satisfied with communication from the organization, several program administrative concerns were identified, including staffing issues, maintaining boundaries between staff and clients/families, and program accessibility
Based on these findings, we recommended that BRIDGES:
1. make improvements to their existing client/family survey to better assess client impact and needs
2. develop a method to measure community impact or engagement
3. work to improve staffing issues by
a. establishing staff/client boundaries to avoid burnout
b. improving Fundraising Efforts
c. improving the Current Website
4. focus community engagement activities on quality activities | |
