Valley Village (https://www.valleyvillage.org/) is a 501(c(3)) nonprofit organization that was created in 1971. It was formed by a small group of parents. Valley Village’s mission is to protect, foster, develop, and enhance the rights and interests of people with developmental disabilities. As of 2023, they serve almost 400 men and women in semi-independent condos, 13 family-style homes, 3 of which offer nursing care, and 2 adult health care centers.
Valley Village started out as a small organization. A group of parents to children with various developmental disabilities were concerned for their childrens’ futures when they became adults. Who was to take care of the children once the parents passed away. They knew that they could not put their children in the hands of mental institutions, since they wanted their children to thrive in accepting, stimulating, and engaging environments.
Valley Village’s first stepping stone into the public was the formation of their public schools in the San Fernando Valley, started for the developmentally disabled. In the 1960s and 1970s, disabled people were being put more and more into the mainstream. The group of parents got excited about a better future for their children and decided to start an official organization, which is now known as Valley Village (they had a few name changes over the years).
Valley Village has a vast range of medical care and the services that they offer to their clients. One of their most prominent ones is their Residential Program.
The Residential Program provides 24-hour residential care for clients and patients living in the San Fernando Valley. It utilizes family-style housing, where the clients live with their caregivers and are slowly integrated into society with their help. The Residential Programs various Day Programs and work opportunities also help clients work on their social skills.
The more broad range of their Day Programs include speech therapy and communication skills training, computer lab classes, sensory integration training, vocational skills training, physical therapy and gross motor exercises, art and ceramics classes (separate from the vocational skills training), daily living skills training, and community outings. The best part of these community outings is that transportation is provided to the clients, free of cost, so that they can really feel like they are a part of the community.
In the East and West Valley centers, for more the independent living patients (semi-independent living condos), include, but are not limited to, motor skills development, life skills (similar to the daily living skills training classes), and arts n’ crafts classes.
In the Winnetka and Sunland Adult Health care centers, for more medically fragile clients, there are more programs available. These programs are sensory stimulation, physical fitness, speech therapy, national counseling, occupational therapy, and full medical and nursing services.
The Residential Program has four styles of homes. The first is a continuous nursing home that is staffed 24 hours a day with a licensed nurse. It is similar to a nursing home, made for more medically fragile clients (Winnetka and Sunland Adult Health Care Centers). The next type of home is a Semi-Independent living condo ( East and West Valley center). It is staffed by a care provider that makes sure the clients eat well, pay their bills, and are there every so often to help their patients. The last kind of homes are the Multiple Habilitative Family Style homes with Live-in Care Providers. These locations vary in the San Fernando Valley, and they have a caretaker who assists the clients with day-to-day needs. They live on site.
Although this is not part of the Residential Program, Valley Village has an afterschool program located in a former McDonalds in Winnetka. This is a very unique program, which is very rarely seen in disability organizations.
Lastly, Valley Village has many kinds of volunteer opportunities. These include Field trip participants, administrative volunteer work, special events planners, and nurses.
Due to their extensive programs and care centers, Valley Village has risen to the top ranks and become a model for other nonprofit disability caretaking organizations in the San Fernando Valley.
