ADVOCATO is documentary photography, oral history and civic engagement project working to:

• Increase public awareness of the social inequities experienced by America’s largest minority group and inspire a response rooted in civic responsibility
• Recognize organizations and programs who have earned the respect of people with disabilities and their families
• Help large corporations motivate their work forces to serve as stewards of an inclusive society starting right in the communities in which they do business
• Act as a conduit, channeling volunteers and support to deserving organizations and programs

ADVOCATO was founded on the belief that each one of us is charged with the responsibility of creating and maintaining a society that affords all people the dignity of belonging.

So we create environmental portraits and collect oral histories that give common problems of social inequity a prominent place in the larger community’s consciousness; And ADVOCATO civic engagement tools, give business leaders clear, convenient and cost-effective ways to respond.

In this way be bring together resources and individuals who are not yet working together in any systematic way. Guided by families living with disabilities, organizers and volunteers can help create and maintain communities that value and include everyone.

Let me break it down:

The steps of the ADVOCATO process link together to produce:

1: Opportunity for people living with sensory, cognitive, mental, physical disabilities to directly influence the quantity and quality if services available in their communities and

2: Opportunity for the general public to invest time and knowledge in ways that make practical and meaningful differences to the programs that serve people with disabilities.

1. Families and Individuals with disabilities share intimate details of their everyday experiences through extensive interviews and portraits. They identify their own obstacles and the organizations that have assisted them in overcoming those obstacles.
2. We work with those organizations whose work is valued by people with disabilities to identify their needs for volunteers.
3. The visual stories that emerge from the photographs and interviews will be provocatively presented to thousands of people within local corporate office buildings.
   Particularly with creative installations, ADVOCATO exhibitions can inspire their audiences to act.
4. Then, pre-service orientation will be offered to those who are moved to respond.This workshop is being designed to set the tone for service. Volunteers are asked to think of their service as a gift not to an individual disadvantaged person but to humanity. It will further clarify the inequities/barriers commonly experienced by people with disabilities, raise awareness of the scope of the disparity and further inspire a desire to participate in solution building. Volunteers learn more about how and where in their communities their service is needed. These workshop will be conducted in part by people with disabilities.
5. The service itself is the final step in the chain of influence that is ADVOCATO. It is direct contact with other human beings, neighbors who experience the challenges of living a normal life with a disability that truly opens the eyes of the general public and leaves them with lasting memories and commitments to support equal access & opportunity. For most of us, it’s experience that teaches us the lessons we retain best.