Best Buddies Living Interview!
Check out our interview with Best Buddies Living staff! Julia Moluf is the Residential Manager of the Washington D.C. location and Britney Wrightington is the Residential Manager of the Miami, FL location.
What is Best Buddies Living?
Julia and Britney: The Best Buddies Living program represents one of our organization’s four key mission pillars: Inclusive Living. This program fosters an integrated experience for people with and without IDD to become active, contributing citizens who live independently in a dynamic environment where they can learn, grow, and thrive.
Who can live in Best Buddies Living?
Julia and Britney: Anyone over the age of 18 can apply for Best Buddies Living. However, each resident goes through an application and interview process.
What activities/events do residents typically participate in together?
Julia: Best Buddies Living has weekly group dinners together each week. Sometimes we go out to dinner, sometimes we cook together and other times we order takeout. In addition, we do events together throughout the month. Some of the things we’ve done lately are seeing the new Batman movie, visiting the Cherry Blossoms, attending a dating workshop, making homemade gnocchi, making Valentine’s, going mini golfing and going ice skating at The Wharf.
Britney: Best Buddies Living residents participate in group dinners and events together each week. Our program is about a month old and is still developing while waiting for our 2 new residents to move in! So as we continue to grow, our meals and events will change to adapt to all the residents in the community. Each week is different depending on what the residents prefer and ranges from a home cooked meal, take-out, or exploring a new restaurant. I love to cook with the residents so our meals cooked together consisted of corn beef and cabbage, Taco Tuesday, and cauliflower BBQ “wings.” Our first events consisted of Batman, St. Patrick's Day Event provided by LifeTime, shopping at the local Farmer's Market, and attending a Comedy Show.
What is your role as a residential manager?
Julia and Britney: As Residential Managers, our primary role is to support residents with disabilities in learning independent living skills. These can include transportation training, cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, laundry, living with roommates, budgeting and more. We also plan all of the group dinners and events. Additionally, we continuously recruit participants, work in collaboration with the Best Buddies Jobs program, work with the local Best Buddies offices to collaborate on events for the residents in the area, including the Citizens Program, and maintain relations with our partner University.
What are some of the benefits of having Best Buddies Living in your location?
Julia: Washington D.C. is a great place for Best Buddies Living! We have so many amazing things we can walk to like the monuments, museums, restaurants, coffee shops, and grocery stores. We also have great public transportation which makes it easy for residents to commute to and from work.
Britney: Best Buddies Living Miami is a brand new program and continuing to develop which includes amazing opportunities for our residents to grow with us. Our program is in LifeTime Living, a luxury apartment building located in a beautiful and safe section of South Miami. In addition to the amenities (spa, sauna, steam room, athletic resort, athletic classes, infinity pools, etc.), there is a Trader Joe’s, a Food Hall, and Restaurant located in the building. The area is conveniently located close to all major transportation and about a 10-minute walk to the University of Miami, a great resource for students!
Is Living planning on expanding to more locations in the future?
Julia and Britney: We are currently in the process of expanding our Best Buddies Living Georgetown location for Fall of 2022. If you are interested in applying for the Residential Manager position, reach out to living@bestbuddies.org. There are also other locations in the works – be sure to follow Best Buddies on social media for when we announce our next location!
What should people do if they want to get more information about Living?
Julia and Britney: Our website is chock-full with great information. But people can also reach out to us directly at living@bestbuddies.org.
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