The Abilities Alliance, a workgroup of the Human Service Collaborative Body (HSCB), is proud
to announce the opening of the nomination period for the Annual Community Partner Award.
This award recognizes a business, event or organization in Livingston County that demonstrates
the value of people of all abilities. The purpose of this award is to:
● Recognize efforts to ensure that individuals of all abilities are provided meaningful
opportunities to be actively engaged in the community.
● Provide encouragement and inspiration for other businesses and organizations.
● Acknowledge incremental improvement, not just financial investments.
“We want to take this opportunity to recognize individuals and businesses that go above and
beyond to ensure inclusion of people of all abilities in Livingston County.” states Laura Sauer,
Abilities Alliance Chair and Executive Director for the Arc Livingston.
An individual, business, or organization can be nominated for the following categories:
● Accessibility Training and Awareness
● Communication Accessibility
● Digital Accessibility
● Environmental Accessibility
Please see the Nomination Categories for specific examples and additional information.
Nominating a Community Partner
Nominations for the Community Partner Award must be submitted online using the Recognizing
Community Partners Nomination Form. The nomination form will prompt you to identify the
business or event, and primary contact, as well as the reasoning for the nomination in the
specific category.
Nominations will be accepted through Friday, December 19, 2025. Winners will be notified in
January and recognized at the Human Services Collaborative Body’s Annual Meeting in
February.
The 2024-2025 recipient of the award was Mugg and Bopps, under the category of Employment
Accessibility. Previous recipients of this award have included: Animal Crackers Pet Salon,
Howell Senior Survivor, Tomato Brothers, and AF Wood Products.
To learn more about the Abilities Alliance Workgroup for the Livingston County Human Services
Collaborative Body, visit: https://milivcounty.gov/hscb/abilities-alliance/ or check out
https://www.facebook.com/livingstonabilitiesalliance. To obtain more information, contact Grace
Dennis at 517-586-2039 or gdennis@mchliv.org.
END
Abilities Alliance is a coalition of disability service organizations that strive to provide the most effective services for people of ALL ABILITIES in the Livingston County community.
People with disabilities have abilities and talents like everyone else. The Abilities Alliance aims to increase understanding, reduce stigma, and provide opportunities for people of all abilities. We provide collaborative opportunities for youth and adults and address the many challenges that may exist in our community.
Our primary goal is to ensure individuals are first seen with abilities and are given similar opportunities to be active in Livingston County. There are many great things happening in our community already, but this workgroup seeks to organize more opportunities in areas like housing, transportation, employment, recreational, family support, and fun.
Goal
To ensure individuals are first seen with abilities and are given similar opportunities to be active in our community.
Objectives
- Identify gaps and needs that interfere with people with disabilities accessing and being included in our community and increasing community recognition of gaps and needs.
- Educate the community, through providing/sharing information about opportunities/events that mindfully include all.
- Recognize community partners who demonstrate the value of people of all abilities.
- Maintain a robust membership that represents the diversity of our community.
Partnerships
Success of the Abilities Alliance depends upon the ongoing commitment of Livingston County organizations, businesses, officials, local government and residents. Together they work to ensure all county residents are represented and gaps are addressed.
