Our Place Nashville
Information verified by nonprofit.
This nonprofit has verified the listed information.
EIN Number: 47-4044537
contact information
Phone: (615) 651-0060
Hours: No Set Business Hours - Call to Inquire
Website: https://www.ourplacenashville.org/
Email: carolyn.naifeh@ourplacenashville.org
NTEE Code: P82: Developmentally Disabled Centers
MISSION - WHAT WE DO
Our Place Nashville empowers adults with developmental disabilities (“friends”) by providing homes that are affordable, work that is meaningful, and inclusive communities to surround them for a lifetime. We partner with other non-profit organizations to provide brick-and-mortar housing, called Friendship Houses. We create a rich and rewarding interdependent living environment by placing friends alongside graduate students from Vanderbilt University Divinity School and other graduate programs. We help our Friendship House residents find employment and volunteer opportunities that give them a sense of accomplishment, independence and community. We are advocates for them and for their families, serving as a resource for information about the benefits and services available to them, and involving them in the transition and acclimation process experienced by their differently abled loved one. We believe adults with developmental disabilities deserve a sense of community comprised of home, work, and friendships that will sustain them as independently and affordably as possible. We believe Our Place Nashville can become a model through the city and the country for providing community for adults with developmental disabilities.
SERVICES - HOW WE DO IT
Creating Housing Opportunities Our Place Nashville is creating opportunity by partnering with a broad spectrum of groups. Our primary partners are two of Nashville's nonprofits that focus on providing affordable housing: Urban Housing Solutions and Woodbine Community Organization. We have two Friendship Houses up and running, with three more to open by mid-2020. In addition to having graduate students live alongside our friends with developmental disabilities, we are going to begin integrating seniors into our model, with the seniors providing the same kind of support and friendship the graduate students do -- and all doing so, of course, on a volunteer basis. Supporting Families / Facilitating Employment Our Place Nashville comes alongside families and their loved ones with developmental disabilities and provides support on how best to prepare their adult sons and daughters for interdependent living. Instilling the belief early on that interdependent living is possible, while helping to provide basic skills in self-care, cooking, entering a community, or volunteering is central to preparing a friend for interdependent living. Individuals with developmental disabilities are proven assets to employers. We are communicating that message to prospective employers, helping to open doors to employment. We are partnering with a number of other non-profit groups in this effort as we have the same goal of equipping the employee and the employer so that both can have a rewarding experience. This involves talking with small (and some large) business owners in Davidson County and Greater Nashville, from The Nashville Sounds to the Nashville Humane Society and Saddle Up! Expanding Opportunities for Inclusion Our Place Nashville provides weekly life skill classes on Monday evenings. These classes meet at a Metro Parks community center. Each class has volunteer instructors from the community. Topics are varied, both serious and fun, and attendance varies, giving attendees the chance to meet and become friends with new people. We have a weekly book club that meets on Wednesday afternoons at a neighborhood cafe/bakery, again led by community volunteers. Our Place Nashville has partnered with another nonprofit that provides our residents with weekly arts-related workshops, meeting an area church with showcase performances at a music venue every two months. We have weekly community dinners at each Friendship House. We also sponsor social events, from outings to the zoo, cook-outs, movie and game nights, volunteer opportunities as a group (e.g., monthly neighborhood clean-up), and seasonal parties. Building Awareness By providing the opportunity for graduate students to live with individuals with developmental disabilities, Our Place Nashville is creating change agents. These are men and women who go across the country when they graduate, knowing first-hand all of the gifts this marginalized population brings to the table as well as wanting to help others – from parishioners to colleagues to students – celebrate these individuals. We speak at churches and conferences, both in and out of Nashville, as well as consulting with other nonprofits wanting to do similar work. Maintaining a Non-Profit Running Our Place Nashville requires creating possibility for new housing, raising funds, meeting with prospective residents and their families, managing volunteers and interns, responding to inquiries, speaking engagements, attending conferences/workshops, developing relationships and partnerships, providing support to students and friends living in our Friendship Houses, maintaining social media, and administrative work. It involves keeping records, banking, accounting, printing, mailing, creating marketing materials and giving interviews. Of late, it means expanding our portfolio to include seniors, and creating the criteria and supports needed to include this population in our model. Our Place Nashville also spends a good amount of time building new relationships and nurturing ongoing relationships -- these relationships become partnerships, and partnerships are the cornerstone of all parts of our work.
Causes
Services Offered
- Advocacy
- Developmental Disability Services
- Disability Education & Awareness
- Disability Support/Caregivers
- Housing Support Services
Populations Served
- People with Developmental Disabilities
Social Media
Causes
Services Offered
- Advocacy
- Developmental Disability Services
- Disability Education & Awareness
- Disability Support/Caregivers
- Housing Support Services
Populations Served
- People with Developmental Disabilities