Via’s Community Connections

Adults want to be valuable, active, and productive members of their community. Via helps adults volunteer, develop friendships and become active in their communities through recreational, social and educational activities. And Via’s residential program, helps people live in the community and form the bonds and relationships of a neighborhood.

Community Mentoring
Via provides instruction where individuals spend their time - in their home and in their community. In addition to daily living skills, Via staff provide instruction to people with disabilities in communication, socialization, life skills, pre-vocational, use of public transportation, volunteerism, and recreation.

These experiences help people with disabilities to develop interpersonal relationships and expose them to real schedules and vocational options. Instruction is provided on an individual basis or in small groups.

Adults with disabilities want to be valuable, active, and productive members of their communities. Volunteering at local non-profit organizations is one way to help them to achieve this goal. Via staff assist consumers in discovering their preferences and developing volunteer opportunities based on individual interests.

Once an opportunity is developed, Via staff support consumers in learning the volunteer tasks, developing friendships with other volunteers, and becoming more active in their communities through volunteering. Some examples of our volunteer opportunities include etc.

Via helps adults discover preferences and choose recreational and volunteer activities within their community to participate in as independently as possible. Volunteer sites include the Crayola Factory, Project of Easton and Turning Point, Meals on Wheels/Foodline, Valley Youth House, Turning Point, Lehigh Valley Hospital, Salvation Army, Allentown YMCA/YWCA, Boys and Girls Club.

Recreation may include amusement park visits, art classes, shopping or dinner and a movie. And Via assists adults attend community college and take self-improvement classes.

Retirement Services
People with disabilities are living longer, healthier lives; they can expect to spend more time in retirement than ever before. Via helps people who are over or nearing age 60, transition to retirement to maintain skills, participate in leisure and volunteer activities, and stay active. This process involves discussion of what retirement means and helping them connect with activities in inclusive community settings. Whether individuals reside with their family, in a residential program or a geriatric center, Via assists older citizens with disabilities in choosing activities to meet their needs and interests. Activities occur in the community or in senior centers, and focus on maintaining skills, participating in leisure and volunteer activities, and staying active.

Via’s helps adults access opportunities their community and encourages individuals to think about and plan for what they will do in their “golden years.”

Supported Living
Via helps individuals with disabilities find and/or purchase their own affordable, accessible apartment or home. A planning process helps consumers decide if and where they want to live on their own. Assistance is available for help accessing resources and locating funds and grants to subsidize costs. Oversight of the Via consumer is monitored by Via staff.

For more information, contact:
Lisa Musselman, Director of Community Living & Residential Services
L.Musselman@vianet.org - 610-317-8000 x431