Development Homes is committed to the provision of quality, community based support services to people with disabilities, enabling them to maximize their individual potential and realize their personal dreams

Description:
At Development Homes, we are dedicated to helping people with developmental disabilities become visible and vital participants in Grand Forks community life. We provide a variety of housing options, supportive living and vocational services to more than 130 Grand Forks area residents. With appropriate training and supportive services, the people we serve become active and contributing members of the community. They can be highly independent, move freely with accessible transportation, shop at local businesses, engage in satisfying work, and a full social life.

We invite you to learn more about Development Homes and the remarkable people we serve.

History:
Development Homes, Inc. (DHI) has been at the forefront of efforts to improve the quality of life for people with developmental disabilities since its inception in 1974. Dr. Leland H. Lipp, Clarence Ohlsen and Richard Christensen, three local professionals working in the field of children's services, founded Development Homes, Inc. DHI began as a single foster home on Dyke Avenue that offered therapeutic residential care for children needing access to the former Medical Center Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Forks. The group home allowed these children to live in a nurturing, family-like atmosphere.

DHI has played an important role in the restructuring of North Dakota's services to persons with developmental disabilities. In 1982, the Association for Retarded Citizens initiated a class action lawsuit against the State of North Dakota. The lawsuit challenged on constitutional grounds the condition and treatment of residents at two public institutions, the Grafton State School and San Haven. Under the settlement, North Dakota initiated efforts aimed at moving residents out of these state-run institutions into community-based living programs and to provide appropriate education, training and support services to people with developmental disabilities in the communities where they lived. The State of North Dakota turned to local non-profit service providers like DHI to implement these programs. In response to the need, DHI evolved from the operator of a single group home to a multi-faceted provider of residential, transitional and vocational support services.

Over the past 20 years, DHI's community-based services have expanded through the following initiatives:

1982 - DHI built two group homes, one for children and one for adults with physical disabilities.
1983 - DHI took over the management of six additional group homes owned by The Arc Upper Valley and Grand Forks Homes.
1985 - Three DHI group homes achieved certification for funding under the Federal Title 19 Medicaid Program.
1987 - DHI was licensed to serve individuals living in their own apartments and homes under the Individual Supported Living Arrangement (ISLA) and Supported Living Arrangement (SLA) programs.
1990 - DHI started the Family Support Services program providing respite care and in home training services for children still living in their family homes.
1992 - DHI achieved national accreditation for outstanding programmatic service by The Council on Quality and Leadership in Supports for People with Disabilities. This status has been maintained through regular accreditation surveys.
1994 - DHI created Spaces for Living, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary designed to own and manage a HUD Section 8 low income housing project consisting of the four ARC group homes and to develop additional affordable housing options for other people receiving services.
1999 - DHI initiated Vocational Support Services through the Supported Employment and Extended Services programs.
2001 - DHI began the Day Supports program, which offers persons unable to meet the performance criteria of the other vocational programs with opportunities to work.

Contact people:

Mary Dittmer, Staff Training Coordinator, (701) 335-4000, (email) Cindy Holweger, Program Director, (701) 335-4000, (email)

Office fax number: (701) 335-4004

Address:

3880 S. Columbia Rd Grand Forks, ND 58201 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.developmenthomes.org

Directions:

We are located south of the new Dairy Queen out by Walmart.   Nearest Bus Stop: Walmart, 5 minute walk