Kick-off First Location Academy for Independence
11-06-2009
As a supporter from the first hour, d.o.b foundation is pleased to announce that after years of research, hard work, drive and perseverance the team of the Academy for Independence has set up the first location and up to now 18 students have enrolled in the program for independent living and working.
Academy for Independence (Academie voor Zelfstandigheid) is a new organization that takes the abilities of disabled people as a starting point and not their limitations. The focus of the Academy is completely on increasing the independence of the students and the quality of their life in order for them to achieve full citizenship.
Changing a Paradigm
Many people, students, parents, people working in care are interested in this initiative, although there is also some understandable scepticism. The Academy for Independence is still not well-known and apart from the pilot in 2001 there is not a working example yet.
Therefore a whole new point of view needs to be brought across to and discussed with institutions of care, schools, parental organizations, students and their parents. This takes time and effort and at the same time, during these exchanges new enthusiasm is raised and new opportunities arise to solve issues in personal and organizational situations.
For the first location a team of five trainers has been formed with relevant experience and expertise as diverse as possible. All of them are highly motivated to support the students in helping them further develop themselves instead of taking care of them, which is unfortunately still common practice in many institutions in The Netherlands.
Supporters and Financing
The main sponsors of this innovative project are Stichting DOEN, Nederlandse Stichting voor het Gehandicapte Kind, Stichting SPZ and d.o.b foundation. These organizations have made the start up possible and will also be supporting the Academy during the second year if the first year proves successful.
In four and a half years the Academy aims to expand to six locations and a knowledge centre, which will cost around € 12.500.000 in total. For this phase d.o.b has committed to cover € 1.500.000 depending on certain milestones being reached.
d.o.b foundation is currently the main sponsor and provides both patient capital and non-financial support. Besides the funds of these private organizations, both local and provincial governments will be financially supporting the locations. The students pay tuition for enrollment in the Academy, for instance from their PGB (persoonsgebonden budget) (a personal budget tailored to their specific needs and provided by the state).
Kick-off
On April 16th the manager and the five trainers of location Heerlen met for the first time at De Nijensteen for the kick-off. The coming weeks the trainers will themselves be trained to work with the INVRA-method - a method developed by one of the initiators of the Academy, Gitty Scholten - and a coaching process will be set up.
First Location: Heerlen
The Academy is located at Pergamijn, an institution that offers services in care for and support of people with a disability. Several large rooms will be at the disposal of the Academy. At the moment the location is in preparation and elementary business is being taken care of: furnishing, computers, decoration etc.
The positive side of this location is that it is already fully adapted to the needs of the students. On the other side there is an extra challenge in how to create a clear identity for the Academy.
Challenges
The biggest overall challenge is to deliver a working model, to prove that 'it works' so it can be picked up by other parties. The right balance needs to be found between actually setting up new Academy locations and communicating, debating and developing the new paradigm. For the locations themselves the challenge is to get everything going simultaneously without doing concessions to the quality.
Future Steps
At the second location in Tiel the hiring of trainers has almost finished, the location has been found and the kick-off will take place at the beginning of July. It is the Academy's ambition to realize a well spread chain of locations throughout The Netherlands. Therefore locations in other parts of the country have been identified as well. Furthermore the Academy is currently connecting with institutions, public authorities and businesses for cooperation and participation to further strengthen the organization and to facilitate future roll out. If all goes as planned the grand opening will take place in September.
Visit the website of the Academy for Independence (in Dutch)