What is an IDEAL Community?
An IDEAL Community is Inclusive, Diverse, Engaging, Affordable, and Lifelong—a place where individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, older adults, and families can live, connect, and thrive together. These communities are designed to foster social connection and inclusion, ensuring that people of all abilities and ages can belong and participate fully.
How We Get There:The Collective Impact
The Collective Impact Project provides the structure and collaboration needed to bring IDEAL Communities to life. Collective Impact brings people together—in a coordinated way—to achieve lasting social change. It is a network of community members, organizations, and institutions working to advance equity by learning together, aligning efforts, and integrating actions to create population- and systems-level change.
Collective Impact Vision
People with disabilities have a wide array of inclusive, affordable housing options that they can easily access—demonstrated through the success of IDEAL Communities in the Triangle area and across North Carolina.
Collective Impact Objectives
Model Development
Develop IDEAL model into a guidebook and resources that can be used by others across the state wanting to create inclusive communities.
Implementation and Replication
Implement IDEAL in the Triangle and identify needs for replication.
Policy and Advocacy
Advocate for policy changes to create more inclusive housing across the state.
Strategic Communication
Raise visibility and engagement with IDEAL Communities and educate others about the importance of inclusive communities.
Cares Program
In 2022, the Cares Program at the UNC-CH School of Social Work, in partnership with North Carolina Money Follows the Person awarded HOPE NC a grant up to $150,000 a year for five years. This critical community impact grant, Building Capacity for Home and Community Based Services Through Collective Impact, jump-started HOPE NC's work to identify and develop opportunities to create inclusive communities where people of all ages and abilities engage with each other.
As a result of the work done by Collective Impact for Inclusive, Diverse, Engaging, Affordable and Lifelong Communities (Collective Impact for IDEAL) a coalition of community partners across the state of North Carolina have created and are working on creating inclusive communities where all neighbors experience a sense of belonging. The policy and advocacy work begun by this initiative will continue on for years in order to make change and reduce barriers for creating inclusive housing.
Champions of a Powerful Idea--We Can't Do This Alone
With the collective impact of many community partners, however, this vision can become home.
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