Best Buddies International
| Founded | 1989 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Anthony Kennedy Shriver |
| Type | Service |
| Focus | To enhance the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities |
| Location | |
| Origins | Georgetown University |
|
Area served
|
International |
| Method | Community service |
| Slogan | WE ARE BEST BUDDIES |
| Website | www.bestbuddies.org |
Best Buddies International is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. It consists of volunteers that create opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). The program's main purpose is to allow volunteers to be paired up with a buddy with a disability and provide them with a friend or a mentor.
Founded in 1989 by Anthony Kennedy Shriver, Best Buddies is an international organization that has grown from one original chapter to more than 1,500 college, high school and middle school campuses across the country and internationally. The Georgetown University Chapter of Best Buddies is the biggest in the Washington, D.C. area and is also the birthplace of the organization.
Best Buddies have eight formal programs – Best Buddies Middle Schools, High Schools, Colleges, Promoters, Citizens, Ambassadors, Jobs, and e-buddies. These programs offer participants with intellectual and developmental disabilities opportunities to learn social skills and job training to be more included in society and to work on being independent.
Best Buddies Middle Schools promotes one-on-one friendships of students with intellectual and developmental disabilities with students without any disabilities. The program takes place within the school itself, between the attending students. This program allows social inclusion for disabled students early in their educational career.
Best Buddies High School Club promotes one-on-one friendships between students with intellectual and developmental disabilities and those without a disability, within the school. This program tries to break social barriers at a difficult time in a teenager’s life, with or without a disability. Members spend time together during lunch break, before or after school. There are special events created in which allows the students to be creative, share and contribute with one another.
Best Buddies College promotes one-on-one friendships between adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and college students. Colleges pair up with a group home in the area and work with the adults there, providing them with a chance to be involved with the community since these adults are generally abandoned by family and have difficulties getting careers.
Best Buddies Citizens promotes one-on-one friendships between adults with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities. This program is used to help incorporate adults with disabilities into civic communities. The goal is to create a diverse community and allow adults with disabilities to be a key part of society.
Best Buddies Ambassadors is intended to train people with IDD to be leaders and public speakers in their schools, communities, and workplace. It is intended to be a part of the Disability Rights Movement - teaching people with IDD the skills needed to successfully self-advocate. The program is intended to prepare people with IDD to become active agents of change.
...
Wikipedia