Keys to Community September 2026 | Monthly Notes

Writer: Angela Hollingsworth

September was a month of testing new ideas, strengthening familiar community rhythms, and building a stronger foundation for the programs CommuniKeys hopes to offer in 2027.

Participants and families explored adaptive cycling, gardening and food preparation, gaming, bowling, community gatherings, and other opportunities throughout Northern Colorado. Behind the scenes, our team continued developing partnerships, documenting program experience, and pursuing funding to help these opportunities grow.

Across all of this work, our focus remained the same: creating supported pathways where autistic adults can understand an opportunity, make an informed choice, participate with appropriate communication and sensory supports, and build confidence through repeated experience.

Community Mobility & Adaptive Biking

September brought two important Community Mobility and Adaptive Biking pilots.

During our first ride on September 8, participants had the opportunity to test different adaptive cycles and complete a supported ride using the Fort Collins trail system. The experience helped us learn more about equipment fit, comfort, steering, braking, caregiver participation, and the different supports each rider may need.

We returned for a second pilot on September 22. Participants again explored recumbent and tandem options, made choices about whether and how they wanted to ride, and helped us better understand the importance of matching each person with appropriate equipment.

These pilots are about much more than recreation. Adaptive cycling creates opportunities to build body awareness, environmental awareness, confidence, community-navigation skills, and access to local trails and outdoor spaces.

Our next session will take place October 6 at the Walk & Wheel Skills Hub near Drake Road and Dunbar Avenue. Heather Ackert of DriveWays will join us to observe how participants navigate the environment and respond to different equipment and supports. We will also have bikes available through Fort Collins Adaptive Recreation Opportunities and Spin Adaptive.

This final pilot will help us shape future programming and complete our 2027 Larimer County Small Grants application for Community Mobility and Adaptive Cycling.

Grow to Gather

September also gave us the opportunity to enjoy the results of our summer garden work.

Participants and families gathered to turn produce and herbs from the garden into fresh salsa. The experience brought together planting, harvesting, food preparation, sensory exploration, communication, shared responsibility, and the simple enjoyment of making something together.

Grow to Gather continues to demonstrate how one program can connect outdoor learning, daily living skills, participant choice, food dignity, and community participation.

We are now seeking support to expand this work with more adaptive food-preparation equipment, ingredients, gardening materials, and structured opportunities for participants to move from growing food to preparing and sharing it.

Coffee, Games & Community Connection

Coffee & Conversation continued at Haunted Game Café as a relaxed opportunity for participants and caregivers to gather, play games, communicate, and spend time together.

The goal is not simply to complete a particular game. Participants can explore the space, observe, join at their own pace, make choices, and become more comfortable with the environment through repeated visits.

We also held our regular Keys & Pints gathering at Stodgy Brewing on September 22. These informal community gatherings give participants, caregivers, and staff a familiar place to play games, visit, and build relationships in an adult community setting.

Recurring opportunities like Coffee & Conversation, Keys & Pints, and community bowling help create the consistency that makes participation more comfortable and meaningful over time.

Fall Program Development

September included continued planning for a repeatable fall program rhythm.

Along with adaptive biking, Coffee & Conversation, Keys & Pints, and bowling, we continued developing opportunities around hiking, climbing, golf, equine husbandry, food preparation, and other forms of community participation.

Not every activity will be the right fit for every person, and not every scheduled activity will move forward immediately. Some September opportunities, including BucketGolf and the Shelby American Collection visit, were postponed because of limited registration.

That information is useful. It helps us better understand participant interests, scheduling needs, preparation requirements, and which opportunities may benefit from more introduction before being placed on the calendar again.

Our goal is not to fill a calendar with activities. It is to create experiences participants understand, choose, and have a meaningful opportunity to engage in.

CSU Temple Grandin Equine Center

We continued working with Jessie Butler and the CSU Temple Grandin Equine Center to prepare for the fall equine husbandry pilot.

Following the summer orientation visits, participating families received scheduling information, waiver materials, and reminders about the environment and activities they experienced during orientation.

This program is focused on learning about horse care, barn routines, the equine environment, and the responsibilities involved in caring for animals. It is not a riding or therapy program.

The pilot will give participants opportunities to build familiarity through repeated visits while learning at their own pace with caregiver and communication support.

Partnerships That Strengthen Participation

Community partnerships continued to play an important role in September.

DriveWays is helping us think more carefully about mobility, environmental navigation, visual perception, and participant support within the Community Mobility program.

Fort Collins Adaptive Recreation Opportunities continues providing access to adaptive bikes for our pilot sessions, while Spin Adaptive offered an additional recumbent cycle for the October 6 session.

CommuniKeys was also named as a partner on a Colorado Parks and Wildlife grant application submitted by Wandering Stars. A funding decision is expected later this year.

We met with Lauren Leary of United Way of Larimer County to introduce CommuniKeys, share more about the adults and families we serve, and begin exploring future community connections.

Each of these relationships helps expand what is possible while bringing more Northern Colorado organizations into conversations about communication access, sensory accessibility, adult dignity, and meaningful community participation.

Expanding Our Funding Base

September included one of CommuniKeys’ most concentrated funding-development efforts to date.

Our funding tracker now reflects approximately $30,500 in recorded cash requests across foundation applications, corporate-giving programs, local-business requests, and sponsorship opportunities. Several final request amounts and application records are still being confirmed as we complete the September funding review.

Organizations approached during this period included:

• Canvas Credit Union Foundation

• FNBO

• Walmart Spark Good Local Grants

• Silver Grill Café

• Whole Foods Market

• Nutrien

• First Interstate Bank

• The Water Valley Company

• SCHEELS

• Huska Automotive

• A&B Import Auto

• Human Bean

These requests support areas such as Community Mobility and Adaptive Biking, accessible community participation, Grow to Gather, adaptive food preparation, communication access, and recurring community programming.

We also completed our King Soopers Community Rewards enrollment and received approval through the Benevity Causes Portal, which can help CommuniKeys participate in workplace-giving and corporate-matching programs.

Not every request will result in funding, but developing a broad and diverse funding base is an important part of making CommuniKeys more sustainable.

Upcoming Community Fundraisers

Several future fundraising opportunities were approved during September:

• Panda Express: Virtual CommuniKeys fundraiser on December 1

• Chipotle: CommuniKeys fundraiser on January 20

• King Soopers Community Rewards: Ongoing

• Human Bean: Winter Guest Barista opportunity under consideration

New Belgium Brewing Company also approved a gift package for our year-end celebration, and Chippers Lanes offered an in-kind contribution.

We will share participation details as each fundraiser approaches. These restaurant and community-giving programs offer simple ways for families and supporters to direct purchases they may already be making toward CommuniKeys programming.

Building Stronger Program Evidence

September was also an important month for organizing the story behind our work.

We continued bringing together attendance records, activity transcripts, participant observations, caregiver feedback, photographs, and program notes. This documentation helps us understand what participants are choosing, what supports are effective, which environments are working, and where programs should grow or change.

We also built a stronger system for connecting program evidence with funding opportunities. This helps ensure that grant applications reflect real participant experiences rather than ideas that have not yet been tested.

The goal is not to turn community participation into a clinical process. It is to document enough to learn, improve, demonstrate impact, and responsibly fund the next stage of the work.

Looking Toward October

October will begin with our final adaptive biking pilot at the Walk & Wheel Skills Hub.

We will then use what we have learned from the September and October sessions to complete the Larimer County Small Grants application and continue planning future Community Mobility opportunities.

We are also looking ahead to fall hiking, recurring bowling, Coffee & Conversation, the equine husbandry pilot, continued Grow to Gather development, winter fundraising, and our year-end community celebration.

September reminded us that strong programs are built through experience. We try something, listen carefully, observe what works, make adjustments, and create another opportunity to participate.

Thank you to every participant, caregiver, staff member, volunteer, professional partner, donor, and community organization helping us build these pathways.

Together, we are creating more opportunities for communication, participation, connection, and belonging.

Angela Hollingsworth

Executive Director, CommuniKeys