Residents demand return of programs for disabled adults
Ahead of Monday's Parks and Recreation Commission meeting, the town was flooded with letters from families, caregivers and local groups asking why Rec Inc programs serving adults with developmental disabilities — including the Third Friday dances, Fourth Friday party nights, basketball nights and the Lions Club's annual Champions dinner — were quietly paused after staff member Erin Duggan left the department.
“I have gone to the 3rd Friday night dances and 4th Friday party nights. They are so much fun and I love being able to socialize, be together with my community, and I like meeting new people... it is a place where I feel like I truly belong... I sincerely hope that we can get these programs back.”— Zoe Epstein, Rec Inc program participant
The letters describe the programs as a rare social lifeline for a population that otherwise has few places to gather. "For our adult clients... Rec Inc. programs... are far more than an evening's entertainment. They are one of the few places where individuals with developmental disabilities get to see old friends, make new ones, and step outside the small circle of people they encounter day to day," wrote Thea Yoshida and colleagues at Community Homes & Services. Parent Sydney Rainin-Smith added that her son Devin "enjoys the dances so much... Please bring back the Rec Inc programs."
Some commenters pushed the town harder on why the programs lapsed without a transition plan. "Why were programs specifically serving people with developmental disabilities discontinued without notice and apparently without a plan to continue them? If programs serving another group in our community were abruptly eliminated in this way, I believe there would be serious questions about equity and discrimination," wrote Lisa Markey of People with Disabilities Succeeding. The Corte Madera Lions Club, longtime co-hosts of the Champions dinner, offered to help: "I do not understand why the programs for these local residents was stopped or paused but it is something that Corte Madera should support. The Lions Club would be glad to offer any additional support that we are able to provide," wrote Bob Bundy.
No item on the posted agenda addressed Rec Inc directly, and one parent asked commissioners to move any discussion earlier in the meeting given the expected turnout of adults with disabilities and their families. It's not yet clear from the record whether the Commission responded or scheduled a formal item on the program's future.