Life Academy and Enrichment Clubs

Our Life Academy and Enrichment Clubs will target the gaps in services and fulfill the unmet needs of adults with IDD in Boerne and the surrounding seven-county region by providing innovative, person-centered educational, vocational, recreational, and social engagement options.

(Check this page often for updates and additional information as it becomes available.)

Life Academy

Our new learning academies will include our Life Academy - a 2-year program of semester-length transition-focused, life development courses similar to a community college experience complete with career readiness training, internships and work experiences, and continued development of independent living and socialization skills - all with outcomes individualized for adults with IDD ages 21+ with a range of abilities and support needs.

We also are planning to offer coursework one day per week through UTSA or Alamo Colleges District on their campuses tailored to the interests and abilities of adults with a range of support needs. Our plans also include developing semester-length internships in the community for every participant.

Graduates of our Life Academy and 18-21 Academy will realize greater mastery of daily independent living skills including self-care and hygiene, meal preparation and cleanup, home and laundry upkeep, financial competence, social skills, employment in paid part-time or full-time positions or volunteer positions, sustained friendships, and reduction in the cost of paid supports.

18-21 Transition Academy

We also will create an 18-21 Academy program that will exceed what is offered by most high schools. Our goal is to increase the daily independence of each student by providing them with essential independent living skills (communication, socialization, personal health, vocational, etc.), experiences, and opportunities within our community. Families could consider our program as an alternative to programs offered by the school district.

Enrichment Clubs and Social Engagement

Our Enrichment Clubs social and recreational programs and outings will provide a robust calendar of weekday, weeknight, and weekend options that reduce isolation and loneliness and build community and friendships while practicing socialization and independent living skills.

Examples of the Enrichment Clubs and Social Engagement Programs we hope to offer include: Game Nights, Book Club, Hiking Club, Art Group, Cooking Classes and Dinner Clubs, Community Service Club, Self-Advocates Group, and Safety and Relationships classes. We also hope to offer parties and dances.

Participants in our Enrichment Clubs will realize quantitative and qualitative advances in the development and enhancement of their social skills through clubs and activities in the community, new and sustained interpersonal relationships and friendships that thrive away from our programs, personal growth and enhanced self-esteem, and satisfaction from meaningful contributions to their community. All participants will go through an evidence-based intake and we will measure their success through records of their attendance and participation as well as periodic in-person interviews with the adult participants and their families, guardians, and/or caregivers.

Informational Seminars and Webinars

Informational Seminars and Webinars are part of LTO Ventures’ commitment to providing families and friends of adults with IDD, supports providers, and others with the information and resources they need to establish sustainable supports for Texas adults with IDD.

These are 2-hour gatherings conducted in-person and livestreamed via Zoom webinar that are designed to address gaps in information about funding, services, supports, and legal and financial matters that may impact adults with IDD and their families. Speakers will include experts like special needs attorneys and financial planners, families who can share their experiences, governmental authorities, and other subject-matter experts.

Topics will include:

  • Guardianship and Alternate Forms of Protection

  • Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

  • Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) also known as food stamps

  • Medicaid Waivers including HCS, CLASS, and Texas Home Living

  • Special Needs Trusts

  • Transition from the Family Home to Independent Living

The Need

When adults with IDD reach age 22 they “fall off the cliff,” the expression families use to describe the end of the free education and support services they received thanks to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Because of a demonstrable lack of suitable and affordable post-secondary educational, social, and recreational options, many of these adults “graduate to the couch” in their family homes where they often regress and lose the skills and friendships they developed. Access to options that reduce isolation and loneliness are social determinants of health for adults with IDD. There are 705,000 people with IDD in Texas and more than 350,000 on waitlists for the Medicaid waiver funds to pay for supports and services they need to live as independently as possible.

Adults with IDD have traditionally relied on day habilitation programs as options for getting into the community, although most focused on social versus educational programming. COVID decimated many day habs and in 2023, Texas eliminated day habs and instituted Individualized Skills and Socialization, a more restrictive model that has caused numerous programs to close. Adults with IDD, especially those who are more impacted and require more supports, need programs and settings that facilitate continuous education about independent living, social, and personal finance, plus health, wellness, safety, and relationships outside of paid supports.

Another critical area of need is meaningful employment and development of vocational skills. In the region around Boerne and Kendall County there is an almost total absence of providers to help adults with IDD who desire paid or volunteer employment acquire the necessary career readiness skills and find, learn, master, and retain paid or volunteer employment. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 22.5 percent of persons with disabilities were employed.

Next Steps

We are hoping to begin offering our Life Academy and Enrichment Clubs beginning Summer 2025. To achieve that, we are raising $125,000 by year-end 2024 (DONATE here) for the following.

  1. Hire Program Director.  We will bring on a full-time Program Director to work with the President & CEO to build on the successes of similar programs developed for and operated by our clients in Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The Program Director will create measurably better programs to be offered to adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD) in Kendall County and surrounding counties. We know from our work with these other settings that an experienced, high-energy, self-starting Director is the key to success.

  2. Secure and Equip Leased Space. Until we can complete the Autumn Hills Village Community Inclusion Center, we will need to operate out of leased space in Boerne, and we will need to equip our space with the necessary materials, devices, and tools.