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The Power of Community Partnership

There’s power in partnership. We see the impact of positive partnerships with other players in our community every day here at The Arc of Opportunity. Making meaningful connections with other nonprofits, employers, schools and community organizations is a big piece of the supports The Arc provides to enhance the quality of life for people with disabilities. Collectively we can make stronger our community by strengthening each other together.

One example of this kind of community collaboration could be found this summer at the Fitchburg Art Museum’s Free Fun Friday event. Individuals supported by The Arc, independently working with a partner employer, Maui Wowi, did a bang-up job providing the day’s refreshments of fruit smoothies, coffees, and Hawaiian-themed treats to crowds and visitors from all around our community. Not only did this collaboration afford an outstanding opportunity for employment in the community, it filled a need of the Fitchburg Art Museum for a beverage and food vendor, enhanced promotion and draw for the event, and provided business and brand building to Maui Wowi, a small local franchise.

As partners on this public event for more than employment and promotion, individuals from The Arc of Opportunity’s Community Supports program were thrilled to be able to visit the museum for community engagement, discovery, and good old fashioned fun. Able to tour the museum and see its many displays, paintings, sculptures, furniture, photographs, and even ancient mummies, a great group of individuals were able to enjoy the experience of a metropolitan museum, with only a short walk up Main Street on a sunny Friday.

So seek out partnerships that can pack some power at building a better community. Look for opportunities to volunteer, offer a needed service, or simply attend at a free event to show your support—and maybe soak up some knowledge and fun while you’re at it. Because it doesn’t matter whether you’re typically-abled or disabled, young or old, outgoing or more private, we can all better ourselves by bettering one another; that, itself, is a kind of art worthy for a museum.

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