Mission
Beloved Community builds community by facilitating shared experiences for people with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities. Through these experiences, we challenge stereotypical and oppressive attitudes and social norms about neurodiverse people, engage each person’s gifts in community, and create a sense of value and belonging for everyone.
The name "Beloved Community" comes from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who envisioned a society based on justice, equal opportunity and love of one's fellow human beings, a society in which all are embraced and none discriminated against.
Statement of Solidarity
At Beloved Community, we believe that every person has the right to an equitable life, including the right to live in a community where everyone belongs. Equity, inclusion and diversity are at the core of the work we practice every day.
As advocates for those who experience intellectual and developmental disabilities, we stand together with our fellow marginalized communities who face bias and discrimination, including Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), Latinx people, Asian American & Pacific Islanders (AAPI) and the LGBTQI+ community, and those for whom these experiences intersect. Although the basis for bias and discrimination against each of our communities is different, we share in its outcomes – seemingly inescapable cycles of poverty, lack of access to adequate education and healthcare, increased risk of police violence, and an absence of full inclusion and equity in society.
While the values of equity, inclusion and diversity have always been held by our board and staff, we recognize there are additional proactive steps we can take to better stand with other marginalized communities. We will actively recruit vendors, volunteers, staff and board members from these communities, with the goal of supporting each other and amplifying the voices of those who experience the intersectionality of disability and other marginalizations. We will also endeavor to better engage and listen to the experiences of these community members in a genuine way so we can serve their needs as they express them.
Our work toward improving our diversity and inclusion of BIPOC, Latinx, AAPI, LGBTQI+ and other communities at Beloved Community will not be an overnight accomplishment. We will not be perfect and will likely make missteps along the way, but even those missteps are ones we must take if we are to stand together for a just and equitable world for all.