Park City Empowerment fair connects neurodiverse community with safety resources

PARK CITY, Utah — The Peace House Empowerment Fair was held in Park City on Thursday, March 13, bringing together the neurodiverse community and local safety organizations to help build connections and share important resources.

The event was a collaborative effort organized by Peace House, Bridge 21 Park City, and Maker Union, with the goal of educating and empowering neurodivergent individuals while also providing an opportunity for community service providers to learn more about working with the neurodiverse population.

Erin Mayotte, Prevention Coordinator at Peace House, explained the purpose of the event: “This empowerment fair was meant to connect the neurodiverse community to our local safety organizations, because everyone deserves to have safe and healthy relationships, and this community is more highly impacted by interpersonal violence and abuse.”

Peace House’s efforts focus on “trying to bridge that gap to make sure that this community knows what resources are available to them, like Park City police, like us at the Peace house, Adult Protective Services, so if they ever do feel unsafe at home, at school or out in the community, they know where to go to get help,” Mayotte added.

Officer Jason Rose from the Park City Police Department was present at the fair, having also participated in a panel discussion the previous week about police response to the neurodiverse community.

“I was here today at this event last week, on our panel talking about how the police department responds to the neurodiverse community, and how we use our training through CIT, Utah and other de-escalation tactics that we know of to help de-escalate situations and work with people with different disabilities, how to engage with them and identify their hooks and triggers,” Officer Rose shared.

Stephanie Blukoff, Executive Director at Bridge 21 Park City, emphasized the educational aspects of the fair: “We’re educating our population of neuro diverse individuals and adults, and we’re educating our community service providers like fire, police, Adult Protective Services, Utah Parent Center so that we can collaborate and we can share information.”

Blukoff highlighted the importance of familiarity between service providers and the neurodiverse community, noting that the fair helps ensure “we know about each other. We’re not surprised when we see each other on the street or in the community or at our homes when we need the help. So it’s just empowering our neurodiverse population.”

Bridge 21 Park City focuses on building neuroinclusive housing for people with neurodiversities, including autism, intellectual and developmental disabilities. Blukoff announced that the organization will be closing on their first neuro-inclusive house next week in Silver Creek Village, with the first four residents moving in on May 1 of this year.

Alexandria Acor, who works for the Utah Parent Center on the Tetons project, was also present at the fair. “We teach healthy relationships and sexual wellness to people with disabilities, teens and adults,” Acor explained. The Tetons project team joined the event “to help the neurodivergent community here in Park City come together and talk about abuse prevention, safety plans, empowerment and just swap resources and get to know each other.”

Attendees had the opportunity to ask questions, engage with experts, and connect with local organizations dedicated to supporting individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.