Triangle Business Journal

Connie Gentry

A newly established disability housing advocate: HOPE, Housing Options for People with Exceptionalities, has received more than $68,000 to support its launch. The nonprofit’s mission is to provide an affordable and inclusive housing community for North Carolinians with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD).

To help with planning the project, Cardinal Innovations Healthcare, based in Charlotte, awarded a $45,000 Community Reinvestment Grant to HOPE. Starbucks has donated $2,000 and the North Carolina Community Foundation contributed $1,000. More than $20,000 has been raised from philanthropists and supporters in the Triangle area.

“Cardinal Innovations stands with HOPE as they pursue bold, creative solutions for our neighbors living with an intellectual or developmental disability,” says Trey Sutten, CEO of Cardinal Innovations. “We share HOPE’s belief that everyone should have the choice to live in a community where differences are accepted and all individuals are valued.”

The nonprofit was founded by Dotty Foley, Orah Raia and Ginny Dropkin, three Triangle mothers who each have raised a child dealing with a disability. Their goal is for HOPE to help address the growing need for a community where adults with IDD can find a welcoming and supportive home. In 2017, it was estimated that 72 percent of adults with IDD live with family. Further contributing to the need: More than 25 percent of family care providers are over the age of 60.

HOPE is seeking to engage Triangle-area municipalities, real estate developers, housing agencies and others to help bring the initiative to fruition. The immediate need is to establish an alliance with an experienced housing developer or development team that has the capacity to develop and operate a community based on HOPE’s housing concept. They are looking to acquire a suitable site for the housing concept that is accessible to public transportation as well as educational and vocational opportunities.