Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network (PLAN) | Social Signal

The Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network (PLAN) works with the families of people with disabilities to help them plan for a safe, secure future. PLAN is a remarkable organization in a number of ways: its innovative model of community support for people with disabilities; its unparalleled level of independence from government funding, thanks to its emphasis on social enterprise and self-sustenance; the emphasis on capacity-building through the PLAN Institute; and the ambition of its leaders, Vickie Cammack and Al Etmanski. Their vision goes beyond simply serving their clients’ needs, to enabling a societal transformation and the recognition of the unique contributions of people with disabilities.

We’re learning from all these dimensions of PLAN’s work as we undertake a new effort at co-creating an online community platform to support some of PLAN’s activities. Even though we’re just getting underway, working with the PLAN team has already proven to be a transformational experience for Social Signal, as we discover a new, entrepreneurial model for non-profit work. It’s also been personally affecting to connect with PLAN families and to witness first-hand how people with disabilities are genuinely empowered by the networks PLAN helps to create. We’re excited to take PLAN’s work into the domain of online community and see how the virtual dimension can further support their ground-breaking work in offline community.