Following our approval as an official project of L’Arche, we have entered an exciting time of growth and formation! We’re pleased to share our 2021-202 mandate with you!
L’Arche Fort Collins Mandate: 2021-2026
The Mission of L’Arche Fort Collins is to create a community where people with and people without intellectual disabilities share life together in order to create a more just and peaceful world and serve as a beacon of hope for Northern Colorado. Our founding model will include constructing two homes in the Heartside Hill neighborhood and sharing a Community Building. The following four founding principles outline our focus for the next 5 years:
MUTUAL RELATIONSHIPS
*Cultivate a Community of individuals who live in gratitude and reverence for our differences, recognize the need for one another, and encourage personal growth.
*See and celebrate one another as we work and play together, create home, share meals and household responsibilities, care for and support each other.
*Celebrate the inherent worth of every being, and encourage one another to nurture and shine the light within. Acknowledge that often our perceived “weakness” can be the seed of our greatest gifts.
*Recognize that vulnerability and authenticity make us collectively stronger.
*Develop a platform and space for sharing, so that the joys, sorrows and needs of all Community members are witnessed and supported.
INCLUSIVE SPIRITUALITY
*Establish a spiritual rhythm that draws on the resources and traditions of L’Arche as well as those that are uniquely meaningful to our members. This may include practices of prayer, silence, rituals, celebrations, and storytelling, among others. This process will be intentional yet organic as we grow. People living with Intellectual and Developmental Disability (IDD) are seen as valued leaders in our spiritual life together.
*Nourish the individual spiritual lives of community members, religious or not, through accompaniment, retreats, and mutual respect.
*Invest in relationships with spiritual communities in Fort Collins. We will intentionally build off of our partnerships in the Fort Collins Interfaith Council to become a welcoming interfaith community.
SERVICE
*Review and create Community policies and procedures to comply with local, state and federal regulations that also incorporate our Community goals and values.
*Develop an atmosphere of trust, safety and security for all Community members so that they may thrive based on their individual and group needs.
*Provide initial and on-going staff training so that the highest levels of professional services are provided.
Explore the possibility of developing daytime activities that respond to a need within the IDD community in Fort Collins
OUTREACH
*Establish and carry out a fundraising plan to meet the following objectives: generate capital funds to build two houses and participate in the community building, generate funds to cover daily operating costs of L’Arche Fort Collins, maintain long term financial sustainability for the Community.
*Grow relationships with housing partners: Habitat Fort Collins, CARE housing, Heart of the Rockies Christian Church, and Brittany Knolls neighborhood. Grow relationships with other IDD providers and services.
*Spread the vision and mission of L’Arche throughout Northern Colorado to grow and sustain the Community through volunteers, relationships with businesses, places of worship, Fort Collins community organizations, and local schools and colleges.