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“Building Community”


Ice Since our inception ICE has practiced the philosophy of person center supports. We are committed to supporting people to lead meaningful lives. This means something different for everyone. We are dedicated to actively listening to people’s dreams and aspirations so that we can learn how to best encourage and support people to reach their dreams. For most of the people we support leading meaningful lives involves being part of their community. It not only means living in a house but also means being a part of the community they live in. It means knowing and interacting with your neighbors, having friends and acquaintances that share common interests and being perceived as a contributing citizen rather than a “client”.

Our focus is to facilitate connections to and meaningful participation in community for the people we support. To do this it is essential that we provide opportunities for people to find their voice and communicate their interests and desires. We strive to understand the person’s gifts, passions and recognize their capacity to contribute in valuable ways. Armed with this understanding we are able to assist a person to develop community connections where their contribution is respected and valued. Some of the ways people have connected to the community are as members on a Church Men’s Group, assistant coach of a baseball team and volunteering at the Bissell Center and Mustard Seed Church. We have connected people to their aboriginal culture by attending sweat lodge ceremonies, powwows and the Lac Ste Anne Annual Pilgrimage.
“A human being feels able and confident only so long as he is permitted to contribute as much as, or more, than he has contributed to him”

Elbert Hubbard


Ice In the world of human services there is an exciting new practice of personal empowerment for those with developmental disabilities. This wave is known as Person Centered Planning and Community Capacity Building. These ideologies actually have existed for quite some time and ICE has from its inception practiced these philosophies in partnership with the people that we serve.

Person Centered Planning is a very personal concept to each individual being served. A good example of what Person Centered Planning is about comes from John O’Brien and Herbert Lovett. These two men published a pamphlet regarding Person Centered Planning, which can be accessed by contacting Human Policy Press at 315-443-2761.

The following is an excerpt from the pamphlet created by Mr. O’Brien and Mr. Lovett:

“The term person centered planning refers to a family of approaches to organizing and guiding community change in alliance with people with disabilities and their families and friends. Person Centered Planning approaches include: Individual Service Design, Lifestyle Planning, Personal Futures Planning, MAPS, PATH, and Essential Lifestyle Planning. Each approach to person centered planning has distinctive practices, but all share a common foundation of beliefs:
  • The person at the focus of planning, and those who love the person, are the primary authorities on the person’s life direction. The essential questions are: “Who is this person?” and “What community opportunities will enable this person to pursue his or her interests in a positive way?”
  • The purpose of person centered planning is learning through shared action.
  • Person centered planning aims to change common patterns of community life. Person centered planning requires collaborative action and challenges practices that separate people and perpetuate controlling relationships.
  • Honest person centered planning can only come from respect for the dignity and completeness of the focus person.
  • Assisting people to define and pursue a desirable future tests one’s clarity, commitment and courage”


Ice ICE has been an active participant with the individuals that we serve in connecting them to resources in their community. ICE is a strong proponent for Person Centered Planning (PCP) and Community Capacity Building. ICE believes that it is to the benefit of the community and everyone involved to play an active role in decreasing paid supports for the people we work with. We are able to do this by instilling confidence in the people that we serve by focusing on their gifts and strengths, building their skills so they can reach for their dreams be it living in the community without paid support, traveling to other countries, having the type of employment they so desire, or starting their own business.

To find out more about Person Centered Planning and Community Capacity Building access the PDD website through www.pdd.org.
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