What Do The Cubs & The IDD Community Have In Common?

Statistics. Chicago has found itself very blessed as of late for those following baseball. This week, the Chicago Cubs elicited cheers and chants of “We Believe!" and "The Year is Here!"as they defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2015 National League Division Series. For such a young team going up against a lineup of veterans, the only group to have more than a 100 wins in the season, it’s as if the Cubs didn’t get the memo that they weren’t supposed to be that good. Needless to say, we’re having numbers thrown at us from every direction.

• The last time the Cubs won a World Series was 1908.
• The last time the Cubs appeared in a World Series game was 1945.
• The Cubs finished this season 3^rd in the majors with 97 wins after 5 straight losing seasons.
• In their 8-6 win in Game 3, the Cubs hit 6 home runs in 1 game, breaking a post-season record.
• Kyle Schwarber called his Game 4 home run in the 7^th inning that went 419 feet and put the Cubs up 6-4 for the win.

Imagine how thankful we felt when Medisked and The Arc put together The 2015 Data Digest.  This compilation of info-graphics is easy to read and provides data that’s relevant to everyone in this industry. What’s best of all? They made it absolutely free. Some tidbits you’ll find in it are;

• In 2012 there were 201,666 estimated state & non-state IDD residential settings in the U.S.
• 45% of people with IDD lived in a residential setting other than the family home in 2012.
• Of the 473,802 people with IDD who do live in a more formal service setting, most (92%) live in a non-state operated system.
• 67% of people (240,992 people) lived in individualized settings for 3 or fewer residents in 2012.
• In 2014, the average monthly Supplemental Social Security Income payment nationally was $750.00 and 90% of that payment would be used to pay rent.

Knowledge is power and when we all have the facts, together we can move in the right direction.

“Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.” – Warren Buffett