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27
Oct
2016
Houston
Houston City Club
1 City Club Drive
Houston, TX  77046
United States

Building a Sustainable Model  at Brookwood

October 27, 2016

Vivian Shudde

Executive Director

The Brookwood Community

Brookshire, Texas

Vivian Shudde, whose degree is in special education and psychology from the University of Texas, feels she was fortunate to grow up in a family with her sister, Vicki, who suffered severe brain damage due to complications which accompanied mumps.  Vivian feels her greatest education came from her mother, Yvonne Streit, who is the founder and Executive Director Emeritus of The Brookwood Community and also the founder of The Briarwood School.

The blessings now continue because her own son, Wilson, is functionally disabled and is a resident at The Brookwood Community.

Vivian, who is a member at Grace Presbyterian Church, has worked at The Briarwood School for 25 years and is currently working at The Brookwood Community as Chief Executive Officer.

Although Briarwood has experienced wonderful success for children with learning disabilities, it does not provide an answer for adults who would need full or part time care for a lifetime....therefore The Brookwood Community was born....an environment built to accommodate and enhance the lives of the functionally disabled adult.....an environment where opportunity through education abounds.

Children with severe disabilities become adults who have no place to go after “high school”; therefore, there was a real need for Brookwood.  In the early 1980's the vision of Brookwood, a self-contained community environment where these people can learn, work, and live productively emerged and with strong determination has become a reality and home and work to 200+ “Brookwoodians” and whose outreach program actively shares the innovative concepts and techniques with other professional caregivers across the nation and around the world, touching thousands more.