COTTAGE GROVE – A nonprofit in Cottage Grove recently received federal money for the purchase of a school bus to serve youth with significant disabilities throughout Lane County.
Circle of Friends is a K-8 school that serves children with special needs, focusing on opportunity-centered, community-driven support and ensuring that every student has a place to belong and the resources to thrive.
Co-founder Jennifer Davis explained that the idea of an adaptive school came to life in 2018, but the program was formally incorporated as a nonprofit in 2020. In 2023, COF moved into a small building that was once home to the Cottage Grove Sentinel at 116 N. 6th St. and has been serving students with complex physical, medical, communication, and educational support needs.
On June 17, the Lane Transit District board of directors approved Section 5310 funding for COF to purchase an accessible school bus. The award includes $179,209 in federal funding for the purchase of an accessible vehicle to support student transportation to educational, recreational, cultural, and community-based learning opportunities throughout Lane County.
The motion was approved unanimously by the LTD board following testimony from local families and community members. As a step-parent of a child with unique abilities, COF board chair Courtney Leonard provided public testimony during the meeting, highlighting the logistical challenges of navigating with a wheelchair and emphasizing the importance of transportation for community participation.
“I know firsthand that transportation is never as simple as just getting in a car and going. Every outing as a family that we take requires incredibly careful planning and equipment inventory, transfer considerations, site coordination, and really careful attention to her physical and medical needs, and we have to anticipate those challenges really far in advance,” Leonard said. “For many families like ours, transportation becomes the factor that determines whether participation in school and community enrichment is possible at all.”
Federal Section 5310 funding requires a local funding match. Although LTD is providing a portion of the funding, COF must raise approximately $31,828 to complete the project. The organization has launched a community fundraising effort to help secure the remaining funds needed to bring the vehicle into service.
The “Belonging Bus” will include 10 wheelchair accessible seats.
Addressing transportation challenges
According to a 2026 Lane County Youth Disability Services Community Survey by COF, 68% of the 47 responses rated Lane County disability support as neutral or low, and 30% reported transportation challenges as a top barrier to accessing services.
According to executive director Michael Aguilar, the school provides highly individualized instruction, nursing oversight, therapy collaboration, and community-based learning opportunities designed to help students build meaningful lives within their communities.
Students rely on a wide range of adaptive and medical equipment to safely participate in learning, movement, and daily routines. Standers, walkers, adaptive trikes, Rifton activity chairs, wheelchairs, and an adaptive toileting chair make up the 18 pieces of adaptive equipment used daily.
A typical day at COF might include a modified breakfast if a student is on a specialized feeding and swallowing plan, then group time learning about the calendar or other school themes, and mobility practice. Davis said the school focuses on shared reading, specialized literacy groups, and adaptive mathematics, and incorporates science and math into various cooking activities.
Life skills are learned through programs and activities like a student store, where students earn money to redeem for prizes.
“The goal is to help these kids become as independent as they possibly can,” Aguilar said. “When they’re adults or older teens, they’re going to be going to grocery stores, and the motions are going to be identical.”
Community support
Aguilar said an easy way for folks in the community to support COF students is by purchasing toys for the student store.
The school is primarily funded through tuition, with 82% of its income coming from tuition revenue. With Aguilar’s master’s degree in nonprofit management, he diversified the funding model to include additional investments through philanthropic support.
Another life skills practice the students do is a weekly trip around the block to the library. Davis said the activity helps students learn how to access public spaces, be a good library patron, and check out and return books. Students filled out a modified and adaptive library card application and used their augmentative or alternative communication systems to request a particular book they were looking for.
“We haven’t talked about expanding to any partnerships; however, with our students, moving into an older age, I love the idea of partnering with local community businesses and partners like the library to transition into vocational skills,” Davis said. “What it would look like for our students to not just be visitors of the libraries, but what it would actually take to be a librarian, or to work at a library, or to work at some of the local restaurants around our neighborhood.”
Aguilar said COF can accept up to 12 students a year and currently has around eight enrolled in the program. He said after a strategic planning discussion and retreat with the board of directors, the school is expanding to serve students through 12th grade this fall. In addition to serving more students, Aguilar said programs will be added to the school’s roster, expanding the list of offerings for the community.
