On Jan. 15, 2025, Best Buddies Michigan announced they will open a new chapter of the Best Buddies program at Ypsilanti Community High School.
Best Buddies is an international non-profit organization founded in 1989 by Anthony Kennedy Shriver.
According to Lydia Goff, Best Buddies' Lead Program Manager for National Expansion, the organization aims to ensure individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities are included. The organization focuses on providing one-on-one friendships, family support, inclusive living, leadership development and integrated employment. Best Buddies is currently active in 46 countries.
Best Buddies works by connecting an individual with an IDD and an individual without an IDD. These pairs are known as buddies.
At the high school level, Best Buddies chapters organize an event for all chapter members to get together around once a month. Buddy pairs are also encouraged to spend time together on a one-on-one basis regularly.
“The high school becomes more inclusive," Goff said. "Whereas before [Best Buddies], maybe the Special Ed kids were sitting alone at lunch. Now their buddies are sitting with them."
The Best Buddies chapter at Ypsilanti Community High School was formed after a local mom reached out to Goff about starting a Best Buddies chapter at her son’s high school.
To start a new Best Buddies chapter at a high school, the school’s principal must approve the new chapter, and staff members at the school need to agree to be advisors for the program. The Best Buddies chapter at Ypsilanti Community High School is the fifth high school chapter in Michigan.
