Mission
Community Living provides supports and services to empower adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities to live their lives to the fullest. Learn more about how CLI works.
VISION AND VALUES
- We expect trust, respect, and integrity in all our relationships and partnerships
- We promote safety, dignity, and collaboration in all of our interactions
- We passionately support each individual to realize his/her unique potential through inclusion and integration
History
Community Living, Inc., or CLI, was started in Frederick, Maryland, in 1979. At the time, there was a huge need for housing and day program options for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. (Examples of such disabilities are Down syndrome and autism).
CLI started right as institutions were beginning to close. There was a huge need in the community for agencies to provide support for the people who had been confined to those establishments for so long.
We started small, with just two homes owned by the State of Maryland, each with six to eight residents. Back then, people with I/DD had only one of two options when it came to day programs in the area: the Scott Key Center, then housed at Rock Creek School, or the Jeanne Bussard Workshop. Day programs have come a long way since then.
Today, CLI manages 26 homes in Frederick, and has over 250 hardworking people on staff. Though we started with just residential services, we’ve grown tremendously in the past 40 years. CLI now provides in-home, vocational and day program support, and serves about 160 people here in Frederick.
Our organization gets most of its funding through the DDA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, but that doesn’t cover everything. Community Living relies heavily on support from our Frederick community in order to maintain high standards for the people we serve.