Please join us in welcoming Anthony, our new Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA), who joined the Las Trampas team in July! With over two decades of experience working with adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD), Anthony is thrilled to be back in a clinical role. He is passionate about building strong relationships with our participants and empowering them to “develop skills that allow them to live the life that they want.” We are incredibly grateful for Anthony’s valuable skills and expertise. A fun fact: Anthony moved to the Bay Area from the East Coast in 2015!

We had a great time celebrating our amazing staff and board members at a summer get-together at Board President Mark Mahaney’s home on Saturday. Food and fun filled the afternoon as we recognized everyone’s incredible dedication to supporting adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities to discover their capabilities and lead full lives. Thank you all for making a difference!

Participants in our Adult Day Program are having a blast in our new Music and Movement class! From keyboards to string harps and drums, they are exploring instruments and finding their rhythm. Stay tuned for fun with flutes and karaoke!

July is recognized nationwide as Disability Pride Month, an opportunity to celebrate the many ways that people living with disabilities – whether visible or invisible, mobility or cognitive, vision or hearing, learning or sensory, developmental or acquired – add to the diversity and strength of our community.

This year’s theme is “We Want a Life Like Yours,” which reflects the disability community’s dreams for life experiences that they are too often denied. At Las Trampas, we believe that all people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are entitled to develop their optimum state of social, physical, and mental well-being and share an integrated lifestyle similar to what non-disabled persons enjoy.

To honor Disability Pride Month, we encourage everyone to reflect on the history, achievements, experiences, and struggles of people with disabilities in our community.

Click here to see a list of Disability Pride Month events in your area: https://thearc.org/blog/why-and-how-to-celebrate-disability-pride-month/

For the past three years, Daniel has been a shining star in our Adult Day Program (ADP)! He thrives on being part of our paid janitorial team, gaining valuable workplace skills and earning his own paycheck. This independence allows him to choose exciting activities with Las Trampas, like attending an Oakland A’s game last month – he still raves about it! He is even learning how to navigate the BART for these outings. Recently, Daniel joined some of his peers at a protest in Sacramento, advocating against the Governor’s proposal to delay funding for critical supports and services for Californians with intellectual and developmental disabilities. With his dedication and newfound skills, we can’t wait to see all that Daniel accomplishes in the years to come.

Meet Dara, an Adult Day Program Instructor who has been with Las Trampas since last September! Dara is also co-president of our new Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) committee. Dara enjoys supporting participants who choose to enroll in our paid janitorial opportunity, because they get to work on soft skills, such as work ethic and teamwork. Dara also appreciates taking participants on outings, because not all of them have the opportunity to go into the community otherwise. We love having you on our team, Dara!

We are incredibly grateful to the Community Foundation of Lafayette for their generous donation to Las Trampas, which will allow us to continue to provide and enhance our gold-standard person-centered services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). The Community Foundation of Lafayette aims to support people and organizations in Lafayette that face significant challenges. Thank you CFL for your commitment to our community, and congratulations to all the other grantees! https://cflafayette.org/

Happy Autistic Pride Day! At Las Trampas, we are celebrating our participants with Autism and their unique strengths and contributions to our community. We are proud to advocate for a more inclusive society, while supporting adults with Autism to discover their capabilities and lead full lives.

June 2024

Dear Friends,

Terri’s life has changed a lot in the 7 years she’s been living with her three Las Trampas roommates on a quaint cul-de-sac in Pleasant Hill.

Before she came to Las Trampas, Terri lived for twenty years in Sonoma Developmental Center, initially established in 1891 as an institution for the “feebleminded.” In 2016, the State of California finally decided to end the segregation of people with disabilities by closing the state institutions and including people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in their communities. Las Trampas Caregiver, Kerri, went to visit Terri in Sonoma and helped her move into Sheila House, one of our two community homes in Pleasant Hill. Kerri remembers the institution as a hospital-like setting in great juxtaposition with the beauty of the location. “It was a scary place, with dirty clients walking around aimlessly. There was only one room for clients to hangout in, and they were not encouraged to do anything during the day,” shares Kerri.

This is why I’m asking for your support, to ensure that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities can thrive in homes integrated into our community.

Terri did not receive enough oxygen when she was born, and as a result, her behaviors resemble those of a four-year-old. At Sonoma Developmental Center, the staff told Kerri that Terri needed a Coke before bed every night or she would have a screaming fit, and warned her about Terri’s aggressive behaviors and stealing. But within three months of moving in with her Sheila House family, those behaviors disappeared. The staff at Las Trampas have helped Terri improve her communication skills by asking her questions, and now she can have a conversation instead of just repeating words. Terri is learning to do her own laundry, and she helps with the grocery shopping every week. It’s incredible how much progress a person can make when they have the opportunity for choice and community living!

Las Trampas creates opportunities for our participants to achieve their highest independence and potential. You can support our friends and neighbors with disabilities by making a gift today!

Mike loves that the staff at Las Trampas spend so much one-on-one time with Terri. Kerri shared that most of the staff have been at Sheila House as long as Terri has, and this consistency creates a sense of trust for participants and helps cut down on negative behaviors. They’re a family. When everyone in the house (staff and participants alike) had COVID, Las Trampas employee of the year, Cheryl, practically lived at the house and worked 24-hour shifts to make sure the ladies received the care they needed.

We at Las Trampas feel very lucky to have such dedicated staff, like Kerri and Cheryl, and the whole Sheila House Team. However, low government reimbursement rates make it difficult to offer competitive wages that attract people with their passion and dedication, especially now that the minimum wage for fast food workers is higher than that for caregivers. We were promised a modest increase in caregiver wages starting in July 2024, but in the Governor’s recent budget proposal, he has delayed rate increases by another year. In order to ensure that we can continue to recruit and retain the best caregivers, we have set an ambitious goal to raise $60,000 this spring.

Will you make a gift to Las Trampas that is significant to you today? Your contribution will make possible the sense of home and stability that our participants deserve, fully integrated into our community. As always, thank you for your support.

With Gratitude,

Daniel Hogue

Executive Director

P.S. Your gift supports adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities to reach their highest potential and build a sense of belonging in our community. Please give as generously as you can. Your contribution will be put to good use immediately!

We had the pleasure of attending the Contra Costa & Alameda Developmental Disability Council Award Ceremony last week at the Pleasant Hill Community Center. We are honored to have been presented with the “Golden YES Award,” not only for our work supporting our participants with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), but also for supporting the broader community. Las Trampas always strives to achieve a better world for people with IDD, their families, care providers, and the community at large, and we are thrilled to receive this recognition!