Burgeoning Communities

Burgeoning Communities is developing models of community building

The project we are focusing on now is a cooperative, for and by families and friends who are cargivers for loved ones with special needs.

As of August 2021 we are working to establish a Cooperative Respite Center

We are also learning about the Self-Determination Program (SDP) - we have a small group that may be starting a support group in the Grass Valley CA area.

We are also learning about creating a Respite/Agricultural Neighborhood/Community Centers. (Looking at the Cooperative style business model)

Below was last edited 3/3/2021. some of the other content is old but relevant (to me)(for now)

Live/Work/Learn - Farm/Ranch DRAFT PROPOSAL

Two prevalent models of caregiving for individuals with special needs:

The individual with special needs lives in the same home with some family members. The primary caregiver often struggles to find resources for caregiving and respite. It is challenging to provide a quality of life for the individual as well as the person who takes on the majority of responsibility for care, and the family in general.
The individual with special needs is placed in a facility that will provide care.

There is a third option, which I will be developing.

A Live/Work/Learn - Farm/Ranch environment. A community within a community where individuals with special needs, their family, and their friends can live together.

(Some people say there is a forth option - continue to allow the homeless population increase.)

This is one of the fastest growing living options, employment opportunities, and learning environments because:

The lifestyle is slower paced and more relaxing making it easier for individuals with special needs to adapt to their surroundings.
On a farm or ranch there are a number of vocational activities and skills that individuals can learn.
This environment can offer a perfect opportunity to create a sustainable business by selling their product or service.
This model will have to be near or in an existing community that has existing healthcare facilities, transportation, jobs, etc.

(I am looking for input here to make this cover letter have more information)

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Below are some examples of existing residential models.

Camphill Foundation - Everyone in Camphill contributes to the sustaining of the community according to his or her ability, striking a balance between personal interest and community need. This may mean working together with people with developmental and other disabilities in a craft workshop producing a beautiful woven fabric or wooden toys; working in the community store and cafe; producing bread, baked goods and preserved foods for community households, for the café, and for distribution to shops and outlets; working on the farm with the animals, pastures, chickens, orchards, crops; and landscape gardening, maintaining and beautifying the property. Camphill staff, live and work alongside people with developmental and other disabilities in one of twelve Camphill communities in North America. Coworkers come from around the globe, and from diverse backgrounds. Individuals and families alike join our communities to share their lives together, working alongside each other towards a common goal and building lasting friendships. Members of each house community are responsible for the care, beauty, maintaining and running of the home. They support each other in the daily work and create a unique social culture, which includes a focus on communal meals. Coworkers are responsible for the health and care needs of the people they live with.

Triform Camphill Community, in Hudson, New York, is a residential community for young adults with developmental disabilities. It includes a dynamic mix of over 110 people spanning many generations, cultures and ranges of ability. Forty young adults with social, mental, physical and emotional disabilities, live and work side-by-side with full time volunteer resident staff and the staff’s families on a 500+ acre biodynamic/organic farm in beautiful Columbia County, NY. Triform is a model of care where young men and women with Autism, Down syndrome, and other developmental and neurological disabilities participate in dignified, purposeful work, share in warm, supportive relationships and make meaningful contributions to the well-being of everyone in the Triform community. Triform is changing the way we understand and appreciate the capabilities of people with special needs.
Triform is a forerunner and model in the disabilities field, where the ideals of inclusion and the development of individual potential are in the forefront. Triform’s programs promote confidence, self-worth, independence and achievement on many levels. The Triform special needs community offers an enriching social, intellectual and cultural life for its students, and year-round vocational opportunities in organic and biodynamic farm and gardening.

Down Home Ranch is a working farm and ranch, where about 40 adults and children—including 32 with Down syndrome and other disabilities—live year round, caring for 330 rolling, forested acres of the Post Oak Savannah in Central Texas. The Ranch community also welcomes 160 people with disabilities to summer residential camps. A future of growth with a continued and concentrated focus on the people we serve and the programs that provide those services. Expand to 50 residents living on the Ranch and in the local communities. A determination to provide unique and exceptional programs, with greater independence, lessened government dependence, more sustainability, superior stewardship of land, resources and little to no debt
VALUES - Respect, compassion and furtherance for those we serve, Honesty and integrity without compromise, Security and safety in all actions and decisions, Stewardship and sustainability of human and material resources, Proactive resourcefulness, taking the initiative, and being the solution
Preference for a rural community lifestyle
MISSION - “Empowering the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities through social, educational, residential and vocational opportunities”
Location: Elgin, Texas

Mandy’s Farm provides residential and day Services to individuals with disabilities. Located on a four-acre farm that is equipped with a fully-operating barn for therapeutic horsemanship, an organic garden, greenhouse, orchard, and full-size indoor therapeutic pool, Mandy’s helps individuals explore opportunities to advance their education, employment, life skills, health, and well-being. Their services are designed to help individuals identify, develop, and achieve their goals.
Provide the highest-quality services for adults with developmental disabilities through providing a higher staff to client ratio; Help all individuals achieve their greatest self-sufficiency by assisting them in identifying, developing, and achieving their goals; Assist individuals with disabilities to work in the community in integrated settings and establish a better quality of life
Mandy’s Farm operates its programs and services without regard to race, color, national origin or disability in accordance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. We are further committed to provide support without regard to disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico

Farmsteads of New England is a farming community that caters to the needs of people who have autism and other developmental disabilities. They provide programs’ participants with meaningful work and numerous opportunities for recreation and socialization. Farmsteads of New England offers residential programs, day services and respite programs.
Residential supports focus on daily living skills such as meal preparation, laundry, grocery shopping, and helping people to enjoy their leisure time.
We have developed a residential model that provides each person with his/her own one bedroom apartment within a cluster of apartments on the farmstead. Each building is designed with four one-bedroom apartments surrounding a common room and are ADA compliant and handicap accessible. Each building is staffed in accordance with the needs of the individuals living there; most have live-in staff who help with over-night supervision. These apartments give each person maximum privacy and the chance to be as independent as they are able while also having as much support as is needed for safety and the companionship of friends nearby.
Due to the high demand for our residential services, we are working to develop new opportunities. Initially we will rent houses which we will use to provide residential supports to additional people while we work to develop additional permanent housing.
Semi-Independent Living is available for people who are able to live fairly independently. This includes the preparation of simple meals. Help is provided for things such as budgeting and decision-making. Transportation is provided, as needed, for appointments, shopping and recreation. We do accept Section 8 housing vouchers.
Supervised Living is available for people who need more support. This support can range from a few hours a day for help with things such as meal preparation and taking medications to 24-hour support with assistance in all areas of personal care and activities of daily living. The mentor:farmer ratio can range from 1:3 to 1:1 as needed. Overnight supervision can be either a sleeping or an awake position based on the individual’s needs.
Location: Hillsborough and Epping, New Hampshire.

Erik’s Retreat: bidirectional integration through voluntourism; individual community building and lifelong learning. Upon completion, Erik's Ranch will be home to young adults with autism and will include a full-sized pool, riding stable, dining facility, eco-friendly lodging for members and miles and miles of trails. We proudly offer an innovative living, working and social model for members and upscale volunteer guest accommodations. These unique destinations are run by the members who live there. Our members are employed as concierge staff, artists-in-residence, IT specialists, gardeners, sous chefs – whatever their passion. Our guests, voluntourists (volunteers) and other visitors to Erik's Ranch & Retreats are a source of revenue, making our model completely self-sustaining.
Erik’s Retreat also has its own tour guide program, which allows members to lead tours for guests at the Retreat or guests from the community, all of whom volunteer their time to attend these exciting adventures that promote our cornerstone guiding principles - bidirectional integration through voluntourism, individual community building and lifelong learning - all of which cultivate social development. At Erik’s Retreat, members live as independently as possible based on their desire for support. Some may simply need to sign out when they leave and sign in upon their return. For others, a check-in system or technology may be used to track locations. Video cameras are used in all public places. Safety is our first priority and utmost concern.

The Farm in the Dell Foundation works to build community-based, self-supporting farming homes for the disabled. The Foundation works to acquire land, build the home, begin the farm, and integrate the entirety into the local community in a way that is beneficial for both the community and the residents and workers at the farms.
The Farm in the Dell isn’t just a group home for the developmentally disabled, it’s a different way of living for both the residents and the community. It’s so important that our residents remain vital and productive members of the community, and a Farm in the Dell is one of the best ways to achieve that goal. Our residents are given the respect they deserve, the treatment they require, the support they need and the all the love and care they could want, and in turn, they are able to help out and fulfill real needs for their communities.
The Farm in the Dell offers developmentally disabled residents lives that are fully productive and social and never marginalized. With even simple things like trips to the store, the people involved in the Farm in the Dell get to make a difference, and the residents know their neighbors, and their neighbors know them.
It truly is a uplifting place to be, and we hope to bring a Farm in the Dell to you soon!
Locations: Butte, Great Falls, Helena, Power River, Kalispell, Montana. Also in Saskatoon, Canada and Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

Vine Village is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing people with developmental disabilities the quality of life that should be the birthright of every person. Located on a beautiful 25-acre ranch, offers residential and day programs that are designed to meet each individual’s needs for personal development, social interaction, independence and the security of knowing he or she is accepted and valued. Vine Village is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides positive lifestyle choices to people with intellectual challenges. We recognize that everyone needs balance in their lives between their needs for support and independence, and between the need for safety and belonging, and the need to explore, even to take risks to try new things. We believe that people with developmental disabilities are citizens with the same rights and privileges as any other citizen - roles they can and should assume with support . Our programs address those needs by emphasizing personal development, social interaction, independence and the security of knowing he or she is accepted and valued. People with special needs may participate in Vine Village through one of two programs: Residential and the Vine Village Day Program for the Arts and Agriculture. Location: Napa, California

Hope Springs Farm is a scenic 17-acre farm that features a 6,000 square-foot fruit, vegetable and herb garden, a barn, a large chicken house and fenced grazing pastures. The mission of Hope Springs Farm is to provide adults with developmental disabilities meaningful work on a farm and joyful group activities that lead to satisfying friendships in a licensed adult day program.
Our staff assist individuals with autism in their day-to-day activities so they may live as independently as possible. While learning to maintain their own homes, individuals are encouraged to discover new interests as they grow and change over time. Residential programs will focus on all areas of an individual’s life and in helping to make not just a house but a home for each individual served.
Location: Hershey, Pennsylvania

Day Programs

Special Dreams Farm is open to adults with developmental disabilities Monday through Friday. Our Special adults, we call them farmers, are assigned jobs when they arrive with their job coach. Jobs may include work in the garden, greenhouse, or woodworking building, grass cutting and trimming, painting or general farm maintenance. Some of our farmers may work in our cooking program located in the farmhouse learning to bake, following recipes, and basic kitchen skills. Many are learning how to build a picket fence for the front of the farm by placing precut wood in a fixture, pre-drilling and nailing all the pieces together to form a fence. Prime and finish painting of each section then follows. Our program director places the farmers where their interest and capabilities allow while still challenging the farmers to learn new skills. Find meaningful work for everyone while maintaining a safe environment. We have found that so many of our farmers can do work that no one thought they could do, and were not given the opportunity. Not only can they do so much more, but they are doing it better and getting stronger every day, and having fun doing it.
Location: St. Clair Michigan

Costanoa Commons Farm is an urban, organic farm where people with and without disabilities grow healthy food and build community.
Our farm welcomes people of all abilities and provides a meaningful place to build relationships through farm work, volunteerism and social events, learn new skills, strengthen their social networks, and contribute valued products to our local economy.
We offer horticulture and farm skills training, internships to people with developmental disabilities, environmental and gardening education, and micro-enterprise opportunities on a roughly four-acre urban organic farm
Taking care to make our farm as physically accessible as possible, we will accommodate those who use mobility aids, have sensory integration challenges, or otherwise have difficulty accessing most farm or riparian settings. Our farm focuses on growing food and friendship as medicine.
We aim to grow and sell organic food that is nutritionally dense and very fresh. We operate a farm stand to share this food with our community, providing additional training opportunities in marketing, sales, and retail management.
Through a community supported agriculture (CSA) program, farmer's market sales, and food donations, our farm enhances food security within our local community.
Being part of our surrounding community is a high priority. We value opportunities for mutual relationships between people with and without disabilities through farm-based social events.
Our sustainable practices also contribute to ecological stewardship of our rare urban farm parcel.
Santa Cruz, CA.

The Lettuce Work Foundation is a non-profit 501c3 organization dedicated to serving young adults with autism and training them for the future. We operate a commercial greenhouse that provides the platform for school-to-work transition services, job training and employment opportunities for young autistic adults.
Specializes in growing produce sold and delivered to local schools, supermarkets and restaurants, and generating revenue used to support the company's mission: to build life-long independence for autistic adults by improving their work and communication skills. You can find our pre-packaged salad blend in many of the Columbus-area grocery stores.
Lettuce Work is an approved agency provider for the Ohio Developmentally Disabled system and is authorized to provide adult vocational rehabilitation, adult day habilitation, enclave and community employment.

Roses for Autism is designed to bridge emerging adults to maximum independence in community living and employment. We support individuals in building critical and transferable employment and social skills. This short-term exploration program consists of internship rotations at Roses for Autism (from the greenhouse to e-commerce) as well as with our community partners like Consign and Design and Printability. We also provide employability skills and life skills curriculum instruction, community business exploration and networking, with the goal of securing employment upon program completion. We have also supported individuals wishing to pursue college courses and certification programs.

The Farmer’s House programs provide the chance to cultivate self-esteem, grow a sense of self worth, and harvest the confidence and passion that come from a job well done. This day program provides a community-integrated, hands on work environment where participants learn valuable vocational skills by experiencing all aspects of running a small business, including stocking shelves, interacting with customers, operating a cash register, and so much more. The Garden teaches individuals with developmental disabilities the vocational aspects of planning, planting, growing, distributing and selling their garden vegetables in addition to the benefits of eating healthy food choices.
Location: Weston, Missouri

Also there is a day program in Marysville – Farm to Fork Facebook page only.

Burgeoning Communities

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