Imagine! is a nonprofit organization that provides support services to people with disabilities in Colorado. Over 50 years, it has expanded its services and now supports over 2,600 individuals annually. In 2012 specifically, Imagine! provided services including behavioral health support, job training, early intervention for children, family support services, residential placements, adult day programs, and assistance with healthcare coordination.

2. The mission of Imagine! is to create and
offer innovative supports to people of all
ages with cognitive, developmental,
physical, and health related needs so they
may live fulfilling lives of independence
and quality in their homes and
communities.

3. Colorado House Bill #121, providing for a pilot
program relating to community centers for
mentally retarded and seriously handicapped
person, is passed. Boulder is chosen to
administer the program, and the Boulder County
Interagency and Citizens Council on Mental
Retardation is formed. Ruth Wood is named
Executive Director. 100 individuals are served.
Imagine! Timeline
1963

4. The Civil Rights Act is passed. While this act helps
end discrimination against African Americans and
women in the workplace, it does not make any
provision for people with disabilities. Individuals
with disabilities still lack opportunities to
participate in and be contributing members of
society, are denied access to employment, and are
discriminated against based on disability.
Imagine! Timeline
1964

5. A pilot program moves 90 residents of
institutions with developmental disabilities into
the community of Ft. Logan, within three years all
90 are living successfully in the community.
The Boulder County Interagency and Citizens
Council on Mental Retardation is renamed The
Boulder County Board for Mental Retardation.
Imagine! Timeline
1965

6. Imagine! Timeline
1966
The Mental Health and Mental Retardation Center
of Boulder County, Inc., is formed by 20 interested
citizens as an non-profit corporation to receive
federal matching funds, foundation grants and
local public and private support for the purpose of
constructing a combined mental health and
mental retardation center. Boulder County is the
first community to consider a combined mental
health and mental retardation center in the United
States.

7. Imagine! Timeline
1967
“A First Report To The President On The
Nation's Progress And Remaining Great Needs
In The Campaign To Combat Mental
Retardation” is released.

8. Imagine! Timeline
1968
Survey shows that 74% of individuals with
developmental disabilities living in institutions in
Colorado have no contact with anyone outside of
the institutions.

10. Imagine! Timeline
1969
Carmel House in Boulder opens its doors to 14
people who moved out of state institutions.

11. Imagine! Timeline
1970
The Boulder County Board for Mental Retardation
serves 140 individuals.

12. Imagine! Timeline
1971
The Fair Labor Standard Act of 1938 is amended to
bring people with disabilities (other than
blindness) into the sheltered workshop system.

13. Imagine! Timeline
1972
Social Security Amendments of 1972 create
Supplemental Security Income (SSI). The law
relieves families of the financial responsibility of
caring for their adult disabled children.

14. Imagine! Timeline
1973
U.S. Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibits
discrimination on the basis of disability in
programs conducted by Federal agencies.
Boulder County Board for Mental Retardation
moves from the old county hospital building to
the newly built Mental Health and Mental
Retardation and Sundquist Rehabilitation Center
on Iris and Broadway in Boulder, and serves 180
individuals.

16. Imagine! Timeline
1974
The Boulder County Board for Mental Retardation
is renamed The Boulder County Board for
Developmental Disabilities.

17. Imagine! Timeline
1975
Education for All Handicapped Children Act
requires all public schools accepting federal
funds to provide equal access to education for
children with physical and developmental
disabilities. This act is later revised and renamed
as Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA) in 1990.

18. Imagine! Timeline
1975
The Boulder County Board for Developmental
Disabilities begins providing Early Intervention
services and serves 250 people overall.

19. Imagine! Timeline
1976
Don Coloroso becomes Executive Director of The
Boulder County Board for Developmental
Disabilities.

20. Imagine! Timeline
1977
The White House Conference on Handicapped
Individuals 3,000 brings disabled people together
to discuss federal policy toward people with
disabilities. It results in numerous
recommendations and acts as a catalyst for
grassroots disability rights organizing.

21. Imagine! Timeline
1978
The National Council on Disability is established
as an advisory board within the Department of
Education. Its purpose is to promote
policies, programs, practices, and procedures
that guarantee equal opportunity for all people
with disabilities, regardless of the nature or
severity of the disability, and to empower them to
achieve economic self-sufficiency, independent
living, and inclusion and integration into all
aspects of society.

23. Imagine! Timeline
1979
Part B funds create ten new centers for
independent living across the U.S.

24. Imagine! Timeline
1980
The Boulder County Board for Developmental
Disabilities serves 420 individuals.

25. Imagine! Timeline
1981
The International Year of Disabled Persons begins.
During the year, governments were encouraged to
sponsor programs bringing people with disabilities
into the mainstream of their societies.

26. Imagine! Timeline
1982
A group of parents of children with autism, along
with the Colorado Chapter of the Autism Society
of America, establish Chestor House, Inc. in
Boulder as a single group home housing eight
people with disabilities.

28. Imagine! Timeline
1983
John Taylor becomes Executive Director of
Boulder County Board for Developmental
Disabilities.

29. Imagine! Timeline
1984
The Boulder County Board for Developmental
Disabilities is renamed The Developmental
Disabilities Center.
An Adult Day Services program is
established, forming the foundation of what is to
become CORE/Labor Source.

30. Imagine! Timeline
1985
The Developmental Disabilities Center serves
600 individuals.

31. Imagine! Timeline
1986
The Air Carrier Access Act is
implemented, which prohibits discrimination by
domestic and foreign air carriers against
qualified individuals with physical or mental
disabilities. It applies only to air carriers that
provide regularly scheduled services for hire to
the public. Requirements include boarding
assistance and certain accessibility features in
newly built aircraft and new or altered airport
facilities.

32. Imagine! Timeline
1987
The Alliance for Technology Access is founded in
California by the Disabled Children’s Computer
Group and the Apple Computer Office of Special
Education.

34. Imagine! Timeline
1988
Technology-Related Assistance for Individuals
with Disabilities Act of 1988 is passed. This
piece of legislation increases access
to, availability of, and funding for assistive
technology through state and national
initiatives.

35. Imagine! Timeline
1989
The Developmental Disabilities Center opens the
Red Balloon Daycare Center, the first local day
care that integrates children with and without
developmental disabilities.

36. Imagine! Timeline
1990
The Americans with Disabilities Act is signed
into law, prohibiting discrimination on the basis
of disability.
The Developmental Disabilities Center serves
750 individuals.

37. Imagine! Timeline
1991
The Developmental Disabilities Center serves 780
individuals.

38. Imagine! Timeline
1992
The Developmental Disabilities Center’s Early
Intervention service program is renamed
Dayspring.

40. Imagine! Timeline
1993
The Developmental Disabilities Center serves
840 individuals.

41. Imagine! Timeline
1994
The Developmental Disabilities Center serves
870 individuals.

42. Imagine! Timeline
1995
The Developmental Disabilities Center serves
900 individuals.

43. Imagine! Timeline
1996
The Telecommunications Act passes and
requires that computers, telephones, closed
captioning, and many other telecommunication
devices and equipment be made accessible to
individuals with disabilities.

44. Imagine! Timeline
1997
The Developmental Disabilities Center’s Out &
About program is formed, providing community-
based services within a therapeutic framework in
response to the requests of community members
with disabilities and family members who care for
those with disabilities.

46. Imagine! Timeline
1998
The Developmental Disabilities Center draws up
blueprints for a new building in Lafayette.

47. Imagine! Timeline
1999
In Olmstead v. L.C., the U.S. Supreme Court
rules that unnecessary institutionalization of
people with disabilities constitutes
discrimination and violates the ADA, that
individuals have a right to receive benefits in
the "most integrated setting appropriate to
their needs," and that failure to find community-
based placements for qualifying people with
disabilities is illegal discrimination.
The Developmental Disabilities Center moves
from Boulder to Lafayette.

48. Imagine! Timeline
2000
The Developmental Disabilities Center
establishes an endowment with the Boulder
County Community Foundation and initiates
efforts to establish its very own Developmental
Disabilities Center Foundation (later named The
Imagine! Foundation).
The Developmental Disabilities Center serves
1,100 individuals.

49. Imagine! Timeline
2001
The Developmental Disabilities Center’s
residential program is renamed Innovations.
The new Developmental Disabilities Foundation
(later renamed The Imagine! Foundation) has a
very successful first year, raising over
$175,000.00 in 2001-02.

50. Imagine! Timeline
2002
The Developmental Disabilities Center runs a
very successful mill levy campaign in Boulder
County, which increases the stability of
services for people who live in Boulder County.
The Developmental Disabilities Center is
renamed Imagine!.

52. Imagine! Timeline
2003
Imagine! Behavioral Health Services (IBHS) is
created.

53. Imagine! Timeline
2004
A coalition of disability rights advocates and
organizations holds the first Disability Pride
Parade. Organizers expect 500-600 people to
attend the event, which is designed to
"change the way people think about and
define disability, to break down and end the
internalized shame among people with
disabilities, and to promote the belief in
society that disability is a natural and
beautiful part of life." Almost 2,000 attend.

54. Imagine! Timeline
2005
Imagine! engages in negotiations with the Mental
Health Center to be the Medicaid contract entity
for people with developmental disabilities who
are dually diagnosed.
Imagine! serves more than 1,800 individuals.

55. Imagine! Timeline
2006
The Road-to-Freedom tour kicks off. This 50-
state bus tour and photographic exhibit
chronicles the history of the grassroots
"people's movement" that led to passage of
the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

56. Imagine! Timeline
2007
Imagine! creates a new “Department of
Program Integrity” to include Quality Assurance
functions, ethics, and corporate compliance.

58. Imagine! Timeline
2008
Mark Emery becomes Executive Director of
Imagine!.
Imagine! breaks ground on its first
SmartHome, the Bob and Judy Charles
SmartHome in Boulder.

59. Imagine! Timeline
2009
Imagine! breaks ground on its second
SmartHome, the Charles Family SmartHome in
Longmont.
Imagine! pilots “The Companion Home Model,”
services to individuals (adults) living in their
own homes or the homes of their family
members.

60. Imagine! Timeline
2010
Imagine! serves 2,600 individuals.

61. Imagine! Timeline
2011
Imagine! serves 2,800 individuals.

62. provided comprehensive
mental health services to
236 individuals with dual
(mental illness /
developmental disability)
diagnoses, provided a
broad range of behavioral
health services to 105
individuals, and educated
their parents and
caregivers about ways to
build cooperative behavior
In 2012, Imagine! . . .

64. In
2012, Imagine! .
. .
provided job
training, placement,
coaching, and
supervision for 104
adults with
developmental
disabilities

66. In
2012, Imagine! .
. .
helped 901 babies
and toddlers with
developmental
disabilities or delays
make progress
toward their
individual
developmental goals

68. In 2012, Imagine! . . .
helped caregivers of 211
individuals with developmental
disabilities living at home to
pay for the services and
supports that were most
important to their families, such
as respite care, medical or
dental care, therapies, or
devices to help the individual
with special needs function
better at school or work

70. In 2012, Imagine! . . .
managed foster placements for 43
children whose special needs
could not be met by their birth
parents, managed host home
placements for 90 adults with
developmental
disabilities, provided support and
supervision to 10 adults with
developmental disabilities living in
their own apartments, and provided
24-hour comprehensive care to 22
adults with developmental
disabilities, including seniors and
medically fragile individuals

72. In 2012, Imagine! . . .
helped 65 school-aged
children with
developmental disabilities
to learn vital socialization
skills to help them to
participate more fully in
society, while affording
their parents the peace of
mind that comes with safe
and appropriate childcare
during work hours

74. In 2012, Imagine! . . .
was able to assist
tangentially in the health
care treatment of more
than 5,000 individuals
served by 22 providers and
nine pharmacies in seven
states through a web-based
medication administration
and tracking system it
helped to design, now
administered by CaraSolva
and called MedSupport®

75. Imagine! Timeline
2013
Imagine! celebrates 50 years of building quality
lives.

76. 1400 Dixon Avenue
Lafayette, CO 80026-2790
Phone: (303) 665-7789
Fax: (303) 665-2648
www.imaginecolorado.org