Direct Service

The Sego Lily Center offers free services to Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and Deaf/Blind individuals. I think it is incredibly beneficial to the community they serve that the services are free. Vital, in some cases. Help is already difficult to afford, but especially if you are in a dangerous or toxic situation, this is likely not a privilege you will have at that time. I think direct service in this situation would revolve around funding for this organization. As their services are free, they may rely on things like donations to help them flourish. We have seen them host the Gala near Halloween, or most recently they posted their Venmo link so that people could help them provide a Christmas to some families. Considering the cold months are covered with these, my suggestion would be to plan another event during the Spring. It will be warm so it would be easy to host something outdoors. You could have something where vendors come in, as it will attract more people. Carnival style games and activities such as a bean bag toss and face painting. I think to have something like this 2 or 3 times a year rather than just the once would be extremely beneficial and could bring in a lot of extra donations! 

Community Organization Report

For this module I researched Utah Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (UTRID) via their website. They are an affiliate chapter of the national Registry of the Interpreters of the Deaf (RID). Their mission is to 'initiate, sponsor, promote and execute policies and activities that will further the profession of interpretation of American Sign Language and English.' They are a membership based organization that represents Interpreters in the state of Utah. 

This is directly related to the module of Direct Service, because it is their goal to ensure interpreters are upholding standards and providing quality communication facilitation to all Deaf consumers. One way they do this is planning and organizing workshops which interpreters can sign up for to ensure they are upholding the CPC (7.0) through continued learning/professional development. They also keep track of those hours through CEU's, which are required for ASL Interpreters in the state of Utah to maintain their certification. Through this, they are advocating for the Deaf community and ensuring their interpreter and communication needs are met. 

I would love to volunteer with this organization if the opportunity presented itself. I believe they are the only community partner I haven't been able to work with yet, and I would love to see what I could learn from that experience!