Fight for Independence

One of the toughest points for the Arc to get across to the Austin community is the fact that their clients are highly capable of living independently outside of institutions. Just because they have developmental disabilities does not mean they are completely dependent.

This means that the Arc has to fight that much harder in their attempts to raise awareness for this population, because so many Austinites overlook the individual rights of this group due to the misconception that they simply thrive off of the rights of those they are dependent upon.

The Arc promotes the message of their dependence through statistics of how many citizens with developmental disabilities live outside of institutions, and even hold part time jobs. At their annual event, Building Bridges, Austin citizens are able to come interact with members of this group, as well as view the amazing art work they have produced. Their disabilities far from prohibit them from living normal, functional lives.

Recent Fundraiser

This past week, the Arc held a fundraiser by help of the Texas Cowboys with their annual Barbeque on the Plaza. One of the girls in my sorority announced this event at our weekly chapter meeting, and described it as follows "Tickets are only $7 and you get a full plate of barbeque and it goes to the Arc, which is a good cause". She looked a little confused towards the end of that sentence, letting all of us know that she wasn't quite sure just what the cause was. Here again is another example of the Arc's fundraisers being successful in generating funds, but quite unsuccessful in raising awareness. The students only see this as an all you can eat barbeque buffet, a good bang for their buck. They don't really understand who the money is going to.

Service

The Arc offers numerous services to its clients. These services include academic coaching for children with disabilities, the art project which matched disabled adults with local artists, and family and care-giver support services. The Arc strives to give support to all aspects of the disabled community which is evident in their wide array of support. Not only do they help Austin's adults with disabilities, but also the children, and what's more, they support the parent's of these disabled children inorder to help then understand the disabilities fully and learn more of what they can do inorder to better the lives of their children.

Donations

The Arc offers many ways for Austin's citizens to donate time and funds to their organization. Ranging anywhere from online contributions, membership, and even adding the Arc into your will. Another great option is becoming a corporate partner. You can also make a personalized gift in kind by donating to the foundation in the honor of a loved one.

Cowboys

I took some time this week to look into how the Texas Cowboys, one of our University's social groups, got involved with the Arc. Their partnership began in 1954 after serving a community service sentence. Since then, they have been helping with the annual holiday party, spring picnic, "Building Bridges Art Celebration and Auction", Bass Roundup and Kidfish. They have raised tremendous funds for the Arc, and have given them an connection with the University students.

Arc in Action

The past few weeks I have been trying to uncover all of the ways that the Arc tries to make its mission clear in the community...and I was at a bit of a loss. Despite working with the University of Texas Cowboys, and holding countless fundraisers throughout the year, I feel like their ideology rarely comes through. For these reasons, I would like to commit my analysis and time to enhancing these fundraisers that are certainly efficient in raising funds, but far from successful in raising awareness. I am going to look into each individual fundraiser they put on, including Building Bridges, Music on the Hill, and the Annual Arc Classic Golf Tournament. I will predominantly focus on this last event since it raises the most funds. I would like to see what the logic is behind these certain fundraisers, and how they are using these events to benefit the organization.