LAST UPDATED ON 2021-08-17 19:44:19

New Philadelphia, Ohio - The Tuscarawas County Board of Developmental Disabilities is highlighting their services to the community with a new video series. 

Community Relations and Special Projects Coordinator Kerri Silverthorn says they initially made the videos to present during the state accreditation process.

“We began utilizing them as a creative way to kind of just capture our county, and we utilized the stories of our board in the videos to really give the state a feel for our approach here in Tusc County,” she says.

Silverthorn says the videos were well-received and helped the board achieve the highest possible accreditation rating. 

“I think that the hard work of our entire agency from the support administrators to the teachers and so on is what really helped us reach that high goal, and I think the videos just definitely helped personalize all of that information that the reviewers were really delving into,” she says.

Silverthorn says they knew right away that they also wanted to share the videos with the community to help people understand and connect with the individuals they serve. 

“As an agency, we have a major goal to advocate for people with disabilities, and through the stories that are featured in the videos, we can help the community make connections to people that we serve and vice versa,” she says. 

The board began sharing the videos on their Facebook page and YouTube channel, and Silverthorn says they were inundated with support.

“We had all kinds of sharing and commenting and people saying, ‘Wow, this is great. I’m so happy to see this. What a great asset in the community,’ just a lot of support, so we were really overwhelmed and happy with that support,” she says. 

So far, the board has released videos that highlight the importance of early intervention, an individual’s success in finding and maintaining employment, the FANS Network (short for Friends, Allies and Neighbors), and the role of service and support administrators. Silverthorn says they’ll be releasing more videos in the coming months, including some that highlight the work of their partner agencies.

“Some of our providers such as Advocates for Success, Starlight Enterprises, Person Centered Services, all those agencies that you guys have heard of before, they will be able to utilize this video service so each agency will be able to work with our volunteer that helps us with these videos and get a video for their agency so that they can utilize it however they wish. 

You can check out the first four videos now on the TuscBDD Ability Network YouTube channel, on the TuscBDD Facebook page (@tuscbdd), and on Tusco TV Channel 1021.