Our mission: What we do

The Polus Center for Social and Economic Development supports community-based programs that promote social and economic opportunities for people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups.

PROGRAMS AND SERVICES

International Programs
Polus began working internationally in 1997 in Nicaragua and we have now expanded to Ethiopia, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Mexico. These collaborative efforts have resulted in two community-based prosthetic outreach projects, an accessibility project, a disabilities leadership center, a regional wheelchair manufacturing project, and a series of capacity-building mini-grants to local organizations and individuals. We use a locally-based, holistic approach to insure that project beneficiaries are the ones driving services forward and broad support is created in the community where they live.

Shared Living
Our individualized shared living programs throughout Massachusetts, USA, help establish and support households where people with and without disabilities live in mutually beneficial relationships, enabling people with disabilities to live and work within the community. Because of this innovative alternative service model, many individuals who would havespent years in institutional care are now competitively employed and have homes in the communities of their choice.

Social and Economic Opportunities
We support employment services such as CBA, a small community based organization in Boston, that enables adults with disabilities to maintain valued work roles. The Petersham Country Store in the U.S. and the Ben Linder Café in Nicaragua foster communitybuilding and provide jobs, with profits supporting Walking Unidos and other Polus initiatives. We work with people who have disabilities and grassroots organizations to create meaningful income-generating initiatives.

Training and Consulting
Polus uses a comprehensive person-centered planning process that brings together project beneficiaries to identify their own needs and priorities. We have worked with dozens of grassroots organizations to help them plan and implement economic and social inclusion projects. We also offer a variety of social skills and business development training.

STRATEGIES

• Serve as an umbrella organization that supports non-profit human service programs. This allows projects to remain small and focused on their missions.
• Provide resources, program design, and technical assistance to grassroots organizations and viable projects that are consistent with our mission and guiding principles.
• Provide education, training and program evaluation.
• Promote, through local leadership, grassroots pilot projects that are coherent with the most pressing needs of vulnerable people. This builds and strengthens constituencies, which can ultimately impact public policy.