Community Living

50 years of providing quality support to individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. Community Living, formerly Spring Acres Group Homes, is a private non-profit agency which was started in 1969 by a handful of Yakima parents. These parents wanted a local alternative from having to place their children with disabilities outside... of Yakima into large state-operated institutions. Their efforts resulted in the opening of the state of Washingtons first group home, which was located in Naches, Washington, and was home to six young women. In 1979, the board voted to sell all but one of its existing traditional group homes and implemented the states first pilot program that served people with developmental disabilities in their own homes located throughout the city of Yakima. It was and continues to be the Board of Directors belief that people with developmental disabilities have the right to live, learn and work in the community just like everyone else. Furthermore, it was felt that Community Living would be far more successful in teaching people to meet most of their own needs if they could be taught on a one-on-one ratio, and have the opportunity to use these skills on a regular basis in their own living environments. In March 1981, Community Living was asked by King Countys Division of Human Services to replicate its residential support system for people living in their own residences in Bellevue, Washington. The Bellevue program opened on April 6, 1981. The Kent program was opened in July 1990, the Sunnyside program was opened in September 1990, the Clarkston program was opened in November 2014 and the Grandview program was opened in April 2018. Today, Community Living supports over 170 individuals with developmental disabilities to live in their own homes and in their own communities of Auburn, Bellevue, Clarkston, Grandview, Issaquah, Kent, Kirkland, Redmond, Selah, Sunnyside and Yakima.Read More