Anthony is a 24-year-old young man with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.  Anthony has the movement of one finger – that’s it.  Despite his extreme physical limitations, Anthony is an independent entrepreneur and conducts his business at the Artfully Gifted Foundation’s (AGF) Business Incubator.  Anthony learned to use the Adobe Suite program, Illustrator, in our program and that allows him to create the characters and designs he uses in his products: educational coloring books, mugs, greeting cards, and t-shirts.  Anthony has a non-stop creative mind and only misses work for doctor’s appointments. His day starts at 4:30 a.m.  Anthony is bathed, toileted, dressed and fed by his nursing home staff.  Transportation picks him up at 7:00 a.m., he arrives at the AGF at 8:30 a.m. and he begins working.  He only allows himself a short lunch break so he can accomplish as much work as he can before his ride picks him up again at 3:30. Anthony is put to bed with his breathing machine at 9:00 p.m.   If it wasn’t for AGF, Anthony would sit in his nursing home each day watching other people do physical things that he cannot.  

 Anthony is only one entrepreneur at AGF, but his story has the same theme as many of our others members; all are individuals with a severe disabilities and complex medical conditions, with passions to create, to own their own businesses, and to do work that is meaningful, impactful, fulfilling and gives their lives meaning and joy!

The AGF was established to support young entrepreneurs with disabilities.  We started with a small retail site and an e-commerce website to help these young people sell their art, products and services so that their small businesses could grow and each entrepreneur could become more self-sufficient and independent, as well as to support them in the pursuit of their dreams.  Dreams that do not fit into society’s limited idea of what these young people are capable of doing. 

Most of our entrepreneurs came to us from a state sponsored program that taught business planning, art, production training, and retail to severely physically and medically challenged youth.  Each training program was selected based on the uniqueness it offered for self-employment and its ability to be accommodated with assistive technology.   Within this program, each individual received support to construct all aspects of their business plan.  Crucial to the planning was a commitment by the state to support the entrepreneurs with office space, infrastructure, bookkeeping, and assistance with financing and marketing, for up to five years, with the understanding that the entrepreneurs made steady progress on their business plans and goals.

Included with all of the above was a trained professional staff that supported the entrepreneurs. 

All that changed when the new Rehabilitation Act regulations were published and the state determined it could no longer provide the funds needed to maintain these life-changing programs.  Overnight, nine young people lost their work space, equipment, fulfillment center, staff, supportive services – everything; twenty-nine other young people with disabilities lost their training programs.  The small group of volunteers that make up the AGF agreed that they would try to keep the original promises and supports originally given these young people. 

For the last three years, one volunteer, along with the help of university interns and the volunteer board, has tried to maintain daily operations, raise money to pay for rent, wi-fi, supplies, insurance, and bring in new entrepreneurs looking for support.  Every month we receive new requests for assistance from entrepreneurs with disabilities, but sadly, our resources have been depleted and we cannot accommodate their requests.

We believe this work is too important to abandon.

If this ‘Go Fund Me’ is successful, the AGF will be able to fund operations for the next 18 months. It will provide start-up funds to 10-15 new entrepreneurs with disabilities, pay stipends to university interns, bring in staff to provide the services the state abandoned, and fund the equipment and staff for a complete fulfillment center which would employ 3-4 people with disabilities.

The donation that you make today will change the life of an entrepreneur with a disability for a lifetime.