Quarter 3 Newsletter - eQuality

Quarter 3, 2015
New York, New York!!
This Fall eQ eXplorers set out on an adventure to New York, the city where dreams are made. This was a first for
eQuality’s travel club but it was a trip that will definitely be repeated in the future. Upon arriving at our hotel we were
in awe of our incredible view of Times Square. The excitement was a bit overwhelming but not enough to keep us from
immediately dropping our bags and setting out to see all that New York has to offer. We saw a host of attractions,
such as Madame Toussaint’s Wax Museum, and the American Museum of Natural History. We took a guided bus
tour of the entire city, visited the Battleship Intrepid, Rockefeller Center, and took a boat tour to the Statue of Liberty.
The experience that will forever remain in our minds and hearts was our visit to the set of Good Morning America.
Our 6:00 AM wake-up calls paid off as we were among the earliest fans to arrive. The producers noticed us peering
through the window and invited us to come onto the set. Once in studio, the associates met Michael Strahan, Robin
Roberts, Lara Spencer and George Stephanopoulos. As one of our associates Cathy stated, “They were so close I could
reach out and touch them. This is amazing!” The filming process was a blur of activity. We were directed constantly
on where to stand, when we could talk and take pictures. The associates were thrilled to find out they would be on
camera. They listened intently to all of the instructions that were given to them by the producers. Just when we
thought the morning could not get any better, we learned that we could meet pop singer Rita Ora. We eagerly lined
up right next to the stage and watched her performance, after which Ms. Ora came and introduced herself and took
pictures with us. We were completely star struck. As we walked out of the studio we took a minute to reflect about
everything that had just happened. New York truly was the City of Dreams. Thank you Good Morning America and
NYC for making our eQ eXplorers dreams come true!
The many hats of a Job Coach
Being a community-based job coach we are often times
find ourselves explaining to the community what it means
to be a job coach. We respond to this question with the
quick and easy response “we support adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We seek out and help
them maintain employment”. This is the quintessence of
being a job coach. The community often praises job coaches but you seldom hear them say "what a great job you are
doing helping maintain community employment for the
individual." This is in part because the community has no
idea that being a job coach is much deeper than simply
relating well to your associates. It goes much deeper than
that. While recently sitting down with a group of equality
associates I asked them how their job coach impacts their
lives. The list we came up with was enough to fill this entire newsletter but the overarching theme of what we discussed is that their job coaches have many hats to wear.
Simply put, hats refer to the different roles job coaches have to assume each and every day. The first hat is that of a”
leader”. As a leader the job coach must make sure the associates know how to complete their jobs correctly and
meet all of the objectives they have been given by the site personnel. The next hat a job coach wears is “safety manager”. The job coach takes to heart the responsibility of keeping all of their associates safe. They place the safety and
well-being above everything at the worksite. Another hat job coach wears is that of “nurse”. Equality associate Karl
stated “sometimes I fall down because of my disability but any time this happens my job coach, Gwen would sit with
me and help me until I feel better, even if I felt upset she would make everything all right”. Their next hat is
“counselor”. The ability to problem solve is a must in this field. Being on site a job coach is readily available to assist
with any issue an associate may have, be it big or small the job coaches are there to help. Now we come to the big
hat which is and advocate. Job coaches are responsible for being the voice for our associates while helping them develop their own. There are countless times when a job coach has made a huge impact on an associate’s life by simply
standing up and advocating for them when they needed it and could not do it for themselves. There are times when
the job coach is the only voice to be heard. The last hat that the quality associates picked out was by far the sweetest
and it was “friend”. The friendships made any quality are to be cherished. Our associates and their families are a
huge part of the job coaches’ everyday life and we consider ourselves fortunate to be their friend.
On the surface it may appear that being the job coach is easy but this is far from true. Being a job coach comes with
high expectations and a lot of responsibilities. EQuality staff receives constant continuation training on how to interact with our associates as well as open new doors for them and also how to empower them to become more selfsufficient.
I believe what makes equality job coaches so special is not just their intelligence and how well-trained they are but
the ability to wear all of these hats and to touch the lives of our associates every day. Thank you to all of our incredible job coaches for all the amazing work you do every day. It is sincerely appreciated.
A Community Creation
For the past several years, Minnetonka Center
for the Arts has curated and managed a program
of visual art displays in the public spaces of
Ridgedale Center. With the completion of
Ridgedale's renovation and the addition of a new
anchor tenant in the fall of 2015, the Partners in
Art program will reappear on a larger scale, including art from eQuality Associates. This Mural
sized recreation of Henri Rousseau’s painting
“Trumgarten” (Dream Garden) was painted by
associates from eQuality and Opportunity Partners who participate in the outreach program by
the Minnetonka Center for the Arts. This project was facilitated by Ruth Mason,
a long time art teacher and friend of eQuality’s associates and sites. Ruth’s teaching style has helped our associates build confidence and has given them the opportunity to proudly display their artistic talent in their community. A very
broad definition of art is free expression of oneself. The partnership with Minnetonka Arts Center has fostered this concept. The associates have grown artistically, expressing themselves through bright and bold colors. It is a means for
them to work through any emotions they are feeling. When they are in a good
mood the job coach sees a lot of yellows and reds. When the associates are in a
down mood, often more blues and browns appear in their pictures. The art class
has challenged their comfort zones, teaching them to think differently about the
objects they draw, paint and color. They learn that life is not linear but full of
circles, triangles and a multitude of other shapes. It also helps develop hand and
eye coordination, as well as increase the manual dexterity of the associates. A
very unexpected and awesome benefit of the program is the art teacher, Ruth
Mason. She is warm, compassionate and has a heart large enough for all of our
associates. She adores them and they absolutely love her. The partnership is a
win-win for everyone involved. This beautiful piece of art can be found in the
Ridgedale Center at the Ridgedale Mall.
Created by associates from eQuality’s JCC and PCC site.
Written with the support of Gwen Ghess, eQuality Job Coach
eQuality Farms
Community Partner of the year
Kathy Maguire has been a dedicated volunteer at eQuality Farms for many
years . We are thankful for her service and support to our mission and to our associates. We are pleased to announce Kathy Maguire as eQuality’s 2015 Community Partner of the Year! Congratulations!
Upcoming events
Winter Celebration 12/10/15
Fresh Produce from
eQuality Farms
2016 eQuality Farms CSA
Program
Receive 16-20 weeks of
fresh, Certified Organic vegetables
$575.00 for a Full Share and
$325.00 for a Half Share.
Please visit our
"eQuality Farm" page
at www.equalityonline.org
for more info, and or contact
David Gray at 763.222.9548
david@equalityonline.org
Donate Now
Thank you to our 2015 Sponsors
for your generous support of this years Growing Dreams Gala
eQuality depends on donations from
friends, family and community members to fund projects, events, and
educational programming.
You can donate to eQuality in several
ways:
The Duddingston Sylvester Group
Merrill Lynch Wealth Management
Visit our website:
www.equalityonline.org/donate-toequality and click “Donate Now”
Donate through your employer or the
United Way. Many employers sponsor giving programs such as the United Way. Just identify eQualityPathways to Potential as your intended recipient and your employer handles the rest!
Or, simply return the enclosed donation
envelope.
Thank you for
considering
eQuality in your giving plans!
3717 Colgate Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55410
Phone: 612-703-3337
Fax: 612-216-1379
www.equalityonline.org
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www.linkedin.com/company/equality--pathways-to-potential
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Contact the Editor
Amanda Helm
612-232-9208
Amanda@equalityonline.org