Living Hope is a community based non-profit organization formed by people with spinal cord injuries as well as with other mobility disabilities working together to improve our quality of life and promote our rights. Our group was founded by people with spinal cord injuries,  the majority of our members are not entitled to benefits, lack medical insurance, and do not have a stable source of income. We provide services to our members and engage in community advocacy to achieve our goals.

Suffering a catastrophic spinal cord injury has a brutal impact on a person’s life. If this person is an immigrant or a low-wage worker in the United States then he or she is in an extremely vulnerable situation. During our existence as an organization we have been able to help each other first to survive the depression that comes after the accident, then to survive the problems that come with not having resources to buy medical supplies and equipment. We have learned to improve our quality of life through hope and solidarity, sharing what we have and organizing to get what we need. 

Some of the Challenges we face

We face many challenges, the isolation of our membership due to lack of access to transportation and communication is one example, but probably the main challenge we have is how to balance our every day needs-emergencies (that have a sense of urgency because if someone does not has enough supplies then his or her health and dignity suffer, or have the risk of being evicted of their homes or miss medical and legal appointments due to lack of mobility or access to a phone) with our long term process to build our organization, grow our membership and train our leaders.

We work with volunteers, allies and donors to overcome these challenges and we thank them with all our hearth for their support in our work.