Nearly 60 years ago, Futures Explored began in the East Bay. Six individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities made hand-crafted items for sale, and volunteer parents ran the program. Today, Futures Explored creates equitable access to relevant programs, supports, and advocacy that are informed and led by the choices of the participants, who are adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The nonprofit categorizes its programs by four categories: Community Connections, Employment + Education, Film + Media, and Personal Wellness. Community Connections helps participants connect with others via location-based groups. In the Tri-Valley, for example, Go Group Livermore supports and encourages participants who want to work or volunteer, take college courses, learn to travel independently, develop money-management or cooking skills, and more. Employment + Education includes a short-term employment training program and related services. Film + Media includes a vocation program that provides working knowledge of film production and more thanks to Futures Films, a subsidiary of Futures Explored and a full-service video production company with offices in Livermore, Stockton, and Sacramento. Personal Wellness includes in-home day services for individuals in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties who are unable to travel to program locations because of medical conditions. Staff provide activities such as music, sensory stimulation, and community outings.

"Futures Explored is a very comprehensive agency that provides a variety of services to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and it's all led by their choice," says Karen Smith, Executive Director. Program participants are asked what they want to do and about their goals. Many say they want a job. Futures Explored can help them develop job skills and also offers a supported employment group. "We have a job coach who supports them and helps them, but really the barriers are far less than what people imagine them to be. The data is very clear that when you match talent with the right job, people with disabilities are amazing employees. Their attendance rate is high and their commitment is high."

Futures Explored also offers a popular Summer Film Camp, the only youth service it provides. The camp is open to eligible individuals between the ages of 12 and 22. The camp, held in Livermore, allows younger individuals to explore their interest in film and later, if still interested, participate in the nonprofit's Film + Media vocational program. By combining film history and theory with a studio experience, "the goal is to prepare the individual to make entertaining, commercially viable, and purposeful films," according to Futures Explored officials. The program is not limited to work behind the cameras; some  people have been placed in acting roles.

Futures Explored welcomes contact from Hacienda businesses who need employees.  The nonprofit is also actively looking for new hires itself so it can expand its services, which currently include 125 Tri-Valley participants. Such services are vital for the individuals involved. Some individuals who use wheelchairs receive funding for equipment upgrades or repairs only once every five years, for example. "One person could not come to our program because he didn't have a wheelchair that was working," notes Smith. "So he was isolated in his home. He wanted to be out in the community but could not be. We successfully advocated for him to get a new wheelchair, and now he's back in the program, socializing and being independent, doing what he wants to do."

For more information about Futures Explore, please visit www.futures-explored.org.

For more information about Futures Films, please visit www.futuresfilms.org.