By CASEY NEILL
THE Bridge is the new name for south east disability service provider Options Victoria.
It officially unveiled the change at Drum Theatre in Dandenong on 3 December, coinciding with International Day of People with Disability.
CEO Phillip Toovey said the not-for-profit organisation needed to be ready for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
“We wanted a name that united all of the different parts of our organisation together, solidifying who we are and helping us to tell the story of what we do,” he said.
The Bridge works with businesses and the community to create opportunities for people to achieve their goals, and has done so since determined parents and community leaders in 1971 joined to develop a school for children with disabilities.
They built Urimbirra Day Training Centre in Callander Road, Noble Park, which opened in 1974 and became Noble Park Special Developmental School.
A day service for adults with disabilities, the Urimbirra Centre, opened next door in 1982.
Options Victoria opened a facility in Narre Warren in the late ’90s to meet growing demand for daytime support services, and Kalimna Support Options in Cranbourne, Berwick and Narre Warren followed in 1999.
Today it offers community and employment services in Berwick, Cranbourne, Narre Warren, Pakenham, Springvale, Noble Park, Dandenong and more.
