Tacoma Area Coalition of Individuals with Disabilities 

Independent Living and Housing Program
Since 2003, TACID’s Independent Living and Housing has assisted homeless individuals and families with disabilities find and retain affordable, accessible housing. TACID’s housing programs, such as “A Place for Us Too” and “A Place for Eight,” have empowered our members to move from the uncertainty of the street to the security of homes. With the help of TACID’s dedicated case managers, our members have embarked on new lives. TACID’s extensive peer support network has helped people with disabilities to re-integrate themselves into the Tacoma, Pierce County Community. TACID staff members have helped our members to gain self-sufficiency by teaching them independent living skills such as grocery shopping, housekeeping, gardening, and secure banking practices.

Personal Advancement and Vocational Programs
While many of our members take pride in living their own homes, TACID’s Employment Program offers pathways to jobs that afford our members sustained self-sufficiency. Our job search workshops help people with disabilities find and keep jobs that showcase their abilities. In these workshops, TACID members learn to write skill-based cover letters and job-targeted resumes. Then our members learn how to use computers, the Internet, and social media sites such as LinkedIn to post social resumes.

Finally, workshop participants master competitive interview techniques and learn to dress for success. Those who receive Social Security Disability (SSDI) benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments, learn how to keep their disability payments and medical assistance as they move toward independence. TACID, in addition to empowering its members, educates local employers. TACID will also be implementing Business Breakfasts to tell employers about the advantages and benefits of hiring people with disabilities, such as accessing new markets, reducing, hiring and training costs, and increasing employee retention rates.

Wellness and Peer Support Program
TACID’s Wellness and Peer Support Program, in coordination with the Greater Lakes Mental Health, Comprehensive Life Services, Good Samaritan Behavioral Health, and other providers, offers recovery education, employment support, and social activities to people who live with serious mental illness, These disorders include depression, bi-polar disorder, and schizophrenia. The Recovery & Resiliency program also teams with more than 80 hometown groups and organizations locally to provide emotional and psychological support for veterans, those who have served in the military, and their families. Upon intake, TACID’s mental health professionals develop and implement a personal independence plan for each participant. The personal independence plan, in turn, helps each person with a mental disability to become a contributing, productive member of Tacoma and Pierce County. TACID currently collaborates with and hosts the Military Stress Recovery Project, the Veterans Family Fund of America, and National Alliance to End Veteran Suicide, PTSD Anonymous, and Point Man Supports in an effort to help Joint Base Lewis-McCord and other local war heroes returning from tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In the end, TACID’s Recovery & Resiliency Program strengthens individuals with mental disorders through a life-long recovery journey during which our members develop strong social supports, increase their individual empowerment, and reduce social isolation. Our program participants often have disorders that wane and wax.  Therefore, the Recovery & Resiliency Program helps its members to develop resiliency skills to help them “bounce back” from episode. TACID is continuing to develop its peer support model by partnering with the State of Washington Division of Behavioral and Health Recovery Services and the Social Security Administration to augment our staff of professional social workers with a team of Certified Peer Counselors.

Volunteer Services Program
In addition to hiring professorial staff members, TACID actively recruits, trains, and evaluates volunteers. Our volunteers serve in nearly all of its programs, and they benefit not only the people they help but also themselves. Therefore, TACID’s Volunteer Service Program promotes the independence and well-being of all individuals with disabilities. TACID provides individuals the opportunity to volunteer in our office or serve as a peer companion to a person with a disability who lives at home.  TACID’s short-term volunteers work on one-day, short-term, or group volunteer projects such as TACID’s Day of Caring.

Our long-term volunteers work on-going projects (usually from three to six months) based on their individually accessed skills and interests. As a United Way organization, TACID, Volunteer Services Program follows a structured methodology of intake, assessment, screening, placement, evaluation, and recognition.

Success
"Before coming to TACID I was suffering from depression extensively. I was given the idea by a friend that I should volunteer somewhere and get out of my head a little bit.  For 2 ½ years now, I have been a volunteer for TACID’s Achiva program and it has been great. It is day program, which mostly consists of developmentally disabled adults. We do things like play games, talk, and each lunch together. Over time the Achivas’ have brought me in as their friend. Now when I show up they greet me with hug and smiles. We go on field trips together; like the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium and the Puyallup Fair. During the summer we go on walks around the building and pick blackberries. We also do puzzles, arts and crafts, and have many parties throughout the year. It has been a wonderful experience getting to know the Achiva members and becoming their friend.

The warmth and encouragement that Georganna and the other people at TACID have given me, has helped me grow as a person and I am very grateful for that. They have provided me with leadership opportunities that have given me greater confidence in my abilities. They have also given me advice that has helped me grow in life. By volunteering at TACID, I have been able to be a part of something greater than myself and have been able to play a part in helping contribute to make TACID greater and help make people lives better."

Need
To increase private support and decrease reliance on public funding.