In the early 1950s, children with intellectual and developmental disabilities were not mainstreamed into public schools. As such, a group of parents got together and fundraised to create a school for their children, providing a place for them to learn on land donated by the Perry family.
 
It was not until 1963 when these children began to have access to the public school system, at which point the organization now known as The Opportunity Tree was born.
 
The Opportunity Tree, an Arizona nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, operates four program centers, including its main campus at 32nd Street and Thomas Road in Phoenix – the site where dreams originated 70 years ago.
 
Providing Arizonans support through employment services, adult day programs, youth programs and community living programs, The Opportunity Tree enters its 62nd year in operation this October.
 
"Our mission fits in so perfectly with the funding we receive from the Fiesta Sports Foundation, in that our mission is to provide quality individualized support to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in dynamic and innovative environments," said Kelli O'Toole, CEO of The Opportunity Tree.
 
The dynamic and innovative environments are critical to The Opportunity Tree. While the organization gets out to the community, providing support at libraries and museums, for example, The Opportunity Tree strives to bring those same environments directly to those they serve at each of their program centers.
 
With support through the Fiesta Sports Foundation Grant Cycle, The Opportunity Tree built a MakerSpace at its Casa Grande location, serving nearly 100 youth and adults between their center and community living group homes and providing hands-on learning in marketable skills.
 
"The reason that this MakerSpace is so important is they're looking to see what interests them in employment," O'Toole said. "What jobs they want to do, especially for our younger individuals. They're not normally exposed to a lot."
 
The MakerSpace is equipped with everything from 3D pens, virtual reality glasses, a Cricut machine, dry erase tables and an adaptable sewing machine. With features like that, The Opportunity Tree provides dynamic ways to explore science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM).
 
The Opportunity Tree uses the MakerSpace in Casa Grande, accompanied by a technology lab which was also funded through the Fiesta Sports Foundation Grant Cycle in 2021-22, to place people in the workforce as an Employment First agency.
 
"Employment First is a philosophy that everyone can work, even the severely disabled can work," O'Toole said. "We offer employment to anyone, and it's not for everybody as employment looks different for everybody. I look at someone and see the potential. That's the way we should view everyone to see the potential they bring into the community and to the world."
 
Outside of employment, members may also look to go to college. The technology lab provides a space to do their homework when they may not own their own computers.
 
Annually, The Opportunity Tree supports between 250-300 individuals across the four campuses and more than 20 community living group homes in Maricopa and Pinal County. The Opportunity Tree supports the full continuum with youth arriving at their campuses daily through individuals who once attended the very school that served as the organization's roots.
 
It is The Opportunity Tree's mission to ensure that individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities are embraced through inclusion, advocacy and opportunity. It is a mission that would not be fully possible without support from organizations like the Fiesta Sports Foundation, who has awarded The Opportunity Tree with three grants in the last five years through the Grant Cycle.
 
"We are so grateful to the Fiesta Sports Foundation for being such a great partner with us all these years," O'Toole said. "Without them and without this funding, we couldn't do some of these magnificent things that we're doing. When we get these opportunities to bring these really fantastic things into our organization that bring meaning to people's lives, that is the utmost importance to me to be able to do that."