General Independent Living Resources by Topic

Accessible Resources for Independence, Inc., (ARI) provides support and services to people with disabilities in Anne Arundel and Howard counties in Maryland. ARI serves persons of any age and with any disabilities, including children, the elderly and veterans by providing at least four core services. These are:

• Advocacy
• Information and Referral
• Independent Living Skills Training
• Peer Counseling

Services and support designed to foster independent living include:

• Equal Access
• Removal of physical and attitudinal barriers
• Affordable and accessible housing search
• Accessible transportation
• Equal opportunities for employment

Integrated Living Opportunities (ILO) is a network of parents of young adults with disabilities, seeking to support each other with the goal of creating full lives for our family members in an integrated and inclusive community.

• ILO will help you find and create housing for your family member with special needs, help you identify and secure the supports needed for that individual to integrate successfully into the community and live independently, and ensure that the personal circles of support are sustainable while you are alive and after you are gone.
• ILO will establish lifelong advocacy for your child with special needs, and will continue to advocate for and facilitate personal networks of support for your child after you are gone.
• ILO will facilitate committees that will create and organize recreational, social and life skills classes in specific areas of community-based housing.
• ILO will provide its members with the opportunity to attend free workshops in life planning, estate planning, employment, government benefits and other relevant topics to stay abreast of all essential topics in special needs.
• ILO will help with the budgeting process for acquiring a home. If you are interested in purchasing or renting a home to create community-based housing for your family member with disabilities, ILO can help with this process. In addition to helping families financially plan for this process, ILO will educate families as to how to access financial support for purchasing this home, i.e. mortgage information for individuals with disabilities, housing vouchers, etc. ILO will also provide valuable information on the different programs existing in your area which can help you acquire financing or qualify for different programs. An example of one of these types of programs is the Moderately Priced Dwelling Unit (MPDU) program in Maryland.

The National Youth Transitions Conference Support Fund is jointly will be used to support youth participation and/or programming at conferences and seminars related to the transition of youth with disabilities from school to work and independent living.

Requests for Support will be received, reviewed, and approved jointly by the staff of HSCF and MEAF. Support is restricted to members of the Youth Transitions Collaborative and priority given to those members that are engaged and active participants of the Collaborative. Organizations that are approved for support agree to acknowledge the funding in all written materials including websites and social mediums by stating, "Jointly funded by The HSC Foundation and the Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation through the Youth Transitions Collaborative".

To apply, please submit requests in writing by email to Son Park McBride or Kevin Webb

Indicate in your request:

• How the funds for the conference/seminar will help young people and young veterans successfully transition to work and independent living,
• How many people will be impacted by your event, and
• What recognition HSCF & MEAF will receive.

Requests up to $5,000 in support will be considered, but we encourage you to indicate different levels of support that are available for your event. The National Youth Transitions Conference Support Fund is limited to a total of $20,000 for the 2014 calendar year. Once these funds are expended, HSCF and MEAF will notify Collaborative members that no more requests will be considered.

Provides services that enable adults with brain injury, cognitive impairments, neurological and developmental disabilities to reach the highest levels of productivity, independence and inclusion in the community.

Honors and empowers wounded warriors and seeks to raise awareness and enlist the public’s aid for the needs of severely injured service men and women; help severely injured service members aid and assist each other; and provide unique, direct programs and services to meet the needs of severely injured service members. Support of a family caregiver summit to provide a positive sharing and learning experience for attending caregivers, introduce caregivers to members of Congress, to capture demographic data to inform WWP programmatic efforts, and to produce a post-summit white paper to inform key national decision makers on caregiver problems and recommended solutions.