YEAR-END GIVING IS HERE Now is a great time to think about an IRA charitable gift (also known as a qualified charitable distribution (QCD). A charitable gift made from an IRA may help reduce or eliminate income tax on your 2025 tax return. A QCD allows you (70½ years and older) to directly contribute from…
PRESENTING THE 2025 CLASS OF PATHWAYS ACADEMY GRADUATES: Tim, Jeff, Dakota, Nathan The 2025 class of Pathways Academy graduates lived together for over a year and a half. They spent that time learning, studying, trying and failing, trying again and succeeding, sharing a home, and generally doing life together… all with the hope and…
The 2025 Special Olympics Pennsylvania (SOPA) Summer Games which were held June 5-7 at Penn State University represent PA’s largest statewide athletic competition, bringing together more than 2,000 athletes, 750 coaches, and 1,000+ volunteers. The three-day event is an opportunity for individuals with intellectual disabilities to compete and vie for medals in a variety of…
Through Community Participation Supports (CPS), UCP staff create opportunities and provide essential supports so individuals of diverse abilities can develop and share their gifts as they go about their everyday lives. A primary goal of CPS is to empower adult participants to become actively involved in their communities in meaningful ways. One way they choose…
At the heart of the recent UCP Staff Retreat was the basic premise that UCP is committed—individually and collectively—to making a meaningful difference in the lives of each person or family we support. In her opening remarks, CEO Janeen Latin expressed her gratitude “for the heart you bring to this work every day—for your compassion,…
UCP’s Vision Statement is “communities that embrace every individual’s abilities.” That premise is also the essence of UCP’s Community Participation Supports (CPS) service. CPS provides adults with disabilities the opportunity to explore and embrace more of what life has to offer. Michael E., who is diagnosed with Autism, intellectual/developmental disabilities (IDD), insomnia, and severe myopia,…
Tim scheduled Barry’s initial “meet and greet” with the Nepal family in their home in mid-September of 2024. Everything went so smoothly that by September 30, Barry had moved in. Just five months later, Barry has settled into his new home nicely. Diagnosed with Autism, intellectual disabilities and diabetes, Barry lived on his own in…
Sara Nye is an engaging 21-year-old young lady with a zest for life. Home-schooled by her mom, she is on schedule to receive a Pennsylvania Department of Education Diploma in October 2025. She is also an ardent self-advocate, as well as an advocate for others living with Down syndrome. Sara has been actively involved with…
For most of us, technology is a matter of convenience. It makes many of life’s routine functions or demands easier or quicker to do. But for someone with a particular diagnosis or disability, the impact is often far greater: ASSISTIVE technology makes impossible things POSSIBLE. That’s why the month of November has been designated Assistive…
That’s the theme of this year’s NDEAM-related efforts and initiatives. It is also a goal UCP has been working toward since we first began offering supported employment services in 2015. Each October we take the opportunity to recognize UCP’s supported employees as well as the employers who hire them and who understand the value these…
