M&L Special Needs Planning, LLC Proud to Present Update on Special Needs Housing Development

WASHINGTON - June 23, 2014 - PRLog -- M&L Special Needs Planning, LLC is a company  committed to offering financial and life planning services to individuals with disabilities and their families. Founded in 2009, M&L began by providing expert financial advice, stemming from a many years of experience in financial planning as well as personal experience with raising a child with special needs. In the last few years, M&L has added another service: independent living/housing supports/services. M&L and Center for Independent Futures (CIF) have teamed up to develop special needs housing in the Washington, D.C., and Maryland areas. Last week, these two organizations delivered another phase of housing development training to core families. M&L describes this progress, inviting other families to join in, via their weekly blog.

Center For Independent Futures

CIF is a non-profit organization that “helps individuals with disabilities realize full lives, according to their hopes and dreams.“ There is much to admire about CIF: to begin, they operate independently of state and federal funding. Secondly, in addition to a number of other services, the organization offers housing supports and services for individuals with disabilities under their Community Living Option™ (CLO) residences. Thirdly, CIF also offers a training program that helps other individuals with special needs, their families, and organizations from across the United States with the support and tools necessary to create their own independent housing model for individuals with special needs. This training program is called the New Futures Initiative™.

New Futures Initiative™

As mentioned, the housing service CIF offers is  their Community Living Option Residences™ (CLO). CLO’s are developed according to CIF’s Philosophy of Support, which focuses on community building and the individual’s right to choice, experience, responsibility, and relationships. In this model, each resident pays rent, utilities, expenses, and support services costs – CIF acts as a liaison and develops a memorandum of understanding between  resident and landlord. Each CLO residence is grounded in “community building, while fostering individual choice and exploration.” The CLO also provides on-site support and staff to help residents with emergencies, community building, and developing independent living skills.

The second housing service/support that CIF provides is the New Futures Initiative™.  The New Futures Initiative™ is a training program that offers training and support to individuals with disabilities, their families, and special needs organization to teach interested parties how to replicate CIF’s Community Option Living™ residences in their own communities. The New Futures Initiatives™ offers a series of workshops, materials and onsite consultations –  participants “learn about organizational structure, real estate, public benefits, building community, housing, and support for individuals with disabilities.[ii]”

M&L and Special Needs Housing Development So Far

M&L staff, CIF, the first core group of families, and community partners have made great strides towards developing housing for individuals with special needs in Maryland and Washington, D.C.  Here is a brief timeline of their progress:

- In October, M&L first hosted a housing planning seminar with CIF for interested families in the area. That seminar led to the creation of our first core group in Montgomery County: five families who have committed to joining the process to create housing for their loved ones with disabilities.

-In November, M&L launched its Independent Living Program and Housing Project database (http://specialneedsplanning.net/2013/05/our-independent-l...), an online resource for families with special needs to access information on special needs housing programs and other information from across the United States. This database is available to users via subscription - it offers valuable access to current, reliable information on more than 800 housing programs - i.e. costs, eligibility, locations, contact info.

- In February, M&L & core group travelled to Evanston, Illinois for the first New Futures Initiative™ training workshop, days 1 and 2. They learned the core values behind the CLO  development – community, choice, assessment, person centered planning, and family.

- In February 2014, M&L was invited to be the new East Coast Representative of CIF. They will be sharing the New Futures Initiative™ to teach others how to create the Community Living Options™ in other areas.

- Last week, June 5th and 6th M&L and  core families attended the second CIF New Futures Initiative™ training session (day 3 and 4), in which they made a number of strides towards deciding housing criteria,  organization and structure of the housing, the support criteria, and fundraising, as well as progressed in planning in a number of other areas related to the housing development. This  training took place at M&L’s offices in Washington, DC.

Future Plans for Housing Development

M&L would like to stress that creating housing for individuals with special needs is a process – it can be complicated, time consuming, and stressful. Ultimately, however, nothing is more rewarding than finding the perfect home life for your child with special needs surrounded by a community incorporating organic supports and associations ready to step in and help along the way. Using this process ensures we are doing all we can to help our young adult with disabilities achieve a successful, happy, rewarding future. This is about person centered planning using circles of supports that fulfill our children’s hopes and dreams.

Our housing development team has made an incredible amount of progress in this process – and we aren’t slowing down! In July, M&L is hosting another housing workshop where they will share information regarding M&L’s efforts and progress in developing special needs housing, and provide an update on how M&L is facilitating the first core group that is developing housing in Montgomery County, using the New Futures Initiative™ training. They will share their plan to create more core groups and integrate more families in Maryland and Washington, D.C. into this process. Lastly, the five families from the original core group will be present to share experiences and describe the process so far. Interested parties can register for this workshop here (https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?...).

M&L Special Needs Planning, LLC (http://www.specialneedsplanning.net/) helps families plan for housing needs of family members with disabilities through services such as their special needs housing development partnership with CIF. Those who wish to learn more about housing for individuals with disabilities and other special needs financial and life planning services  can visit the M&L Special Needs Planning, LLC (http://www.specialneedsplanning.net/) website and are encouraged to contact them for more information.