Helen Keller once said “The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of tiny pushes of each honest worker.”
Keller’s words are a powerful, yet perfect description of how my experience as a summer employee with Inspire Community Outreach was. Inspire is a small, yet mighty organization with big values, missions and goals to achieve equitability and inclusivity for neurodiverse community members who live in Winnipeg, Steinbach, Dryden and the surrounding areas.
While they have big wishes to connect to the community, and inspire the individuals to make positive changes in their lives (and the overall Winnipeg network of care); they are not bogged down by their goals and have a clear insight into where they need to grow to create a culture where everyone is valued and supported. Part of this comes from their well-developed team of highly resourceful, independent, and dependable employees who are able to combine their own personalized experiences with key teachings and research from academia as well.
Every interaction offered by Inspire Community Outreach was an opportunity to engage with new skills, content or types of people. Both Inspire as an organization and the individuals that are employed and volunteer with this organization strive to maintain positive motivations and wellness for all, even while working at home during a pandemic.
My experience as a Canada Summer jobs employee was very unique, as I was allowed to learn and grow as an individual in many ways. During my time with Inspire, I learned that non profit organizations should not be based solely in programming and education; Advocacy that is visible, active and public is required also in order to create change and invite people to start a conversation about how to better support community members.
Inspire Community Outreach does a great job at building and listening to the community to create the changes, and are by no means silent in their fight to improve experiences for those in the neurodiverse population.
Inspire is a small and mighty organization that deserves all the support, attention, and attraction it receives. Each time you share a blog post from Inspire Community Outreach, join a program, attend an in-person or virtual event-the support network grows. This allows them to support more of Winnipeg’s diverse community and also achieve their goals of creating a more equitable and inclusive community for all members, no matter what type of neurodiversity they have!
