OUR PLACE NASHVILLE
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Mission Statement
Our Place Nashville empowers adults with developmental disabilities by providing homes that are affordable, work that is meaningful, and inclusive communities in which to live.
About This Cause
Our Place Nashville is a 501c3 non-profit organization that empowers adults with developmental disabilities by providing homes that are affordable, work that is meaningful, and inclusive communities in which to live. Co-founded by Jaco Hamman and Carolyn Naifeh in 2015, Our Place currently houses 80 individuals in four Friendship Houses and expects to more than double that number to 160+ in the next year. Our residents with developmental disabilities -- "friends" -- live alongside neurotypical adults: graduate students, predominantly from Vanderbilt Divinity School, and older adults in need of affordable housing. The students and older adults provide the friends with support while the friends teach their fellow residents about the challenges and victories that come when living with a disability. In the process, transformational, intergenerational friendships form. The friends exceed their own and their families’ expectations. The students become lifelong advocates for people with disabilities. Our older adults are needed and treasured. People in the community are enriched by these neighbors. A win-win-win. The first Friendship House, named Divinity Friendship House at Vanderbilt, opened in Spring 2015 and accommodates 12 people: four friends and six graduate students (one with a spouse and two children, another with a teenager). Friendship House is actually an apartment building with four two-bedroom apartments and four one-bedroom apartments. Our Place Nashville’s second Friendship House accommodates 20 people: nine friends and 11 graduate students, in two apartment buildings across a courtyard from each other. Each building has 10 one-bedroom apartments. Our Place Nashville’s third house is a large, three-story duplex, with 10-units on each side with private bedrooms/bathrooms, and shared space for kitchen, dining, living, and laundry. Our fourth House opened in February 2021 with 16 residents. Like the third house, it is a shared living experience. In this case, the “house’ is two ranch-style houses with each accommodating eight people. An additional nine houses are in the pipeline to open in 2023, creating affordable homes for 90 more individuals Two additional projects are in the planning phase. We are able to create these affordable housing options that were previously unavailable in Nashville because of the invaluable partnerships we have, with non-profit organizations like Urban Housing Solutions and Woodbine Community Organization as well as with the Metropolitan Housing & Development Agency. Our Place Nashville provides some supports and services, from helping to prepare prospective residents and their families for interdependent living, to providing weekly life skills classes for our residents and the individuals on our waiting list. We also provide assistance in finding and keeping jobs. Nearly 100% of our resident friends are employed (as opposed to the national average of 16.8%). Many volunteer. All of Our Place Nashville’s work is made possible because of our city’s people: our employers, our city leaders, our non-profit organizations, government agencies, our families, our Board members, our neighbors, our local schools and universities, our volunteers, the firms and companies that provide us with pro bono services, our donors and other supporters. It is by joining together that our community is beginning to meet the needs of our citizens with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Our Place exists because of these partners. The graduate students who reside in our Friendship Houses live with us from 1-6 years, depending on where they are in their studies when they move in with us. They are diverse: American (white, black, Hispanic), Burmese, Chinese, South Korean, Mexican, and Nigerian. Initially, they are attracted to Friendship House because of the cheap rent. Most know little about our population when they move in, but they come with a willingness to learn. By the time they move out they have become strong advocates for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. They go on to lead congregations, to head non-profits, and to teach. They take their experiential learning at Friendship House with them and become the societal change agents needed to create a level playing field for our friends. Our older residents, many of whom were socially isolated before moving to Friendship House, gain a community of friends, where each has strengths that can benefit others, and challenges they can be helped with.