The Dunbar Community Center, a private, nonprofit neighborhood center located in an inner- city section of Syracuse, New York, provides such an opportunity. Here, 40-50 neighborhood children and teenagers participate in a variety of recreational, educational, and cultural activities. Among them are three girls with disabilities, all of whom are labeled mentally retarded and attend special education classes, who come to Dunbar on a regular basis. For Tracy, this includes arts and crafts, games, browsing in the library, going on field trips to community sites such as museums and swimming pools, movies, and being in a poetry group. For Michelle and Pam, too, this is a time to make friends as they join their nondisabled peers in making ceramics, in the playground, or in the game room.
Participation by Tracy, Pam, and Michele, at Dunbar is made possible by the presence of a support person, Bertha Jones. Bertha is paid, through respite funds provided by the New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, to work part-time assisting the girls. Bertha continually makes efforts to involve them in activities with other nondisabled children. For instance, she will help engage them in activities that are of interest to others also, and invites others to participate. She assists other staff at the Center to get to know them and learn to assist them.
At Dunbar, these girls are forming friendships and acquaintanceships
with other children from their neighborhood. Pam's mother commented, "it's
really great that she can come here. She comes here every day."