Community Living Alternatives (CLA)

Community Living Alternatives (CLA) Corp, is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit charitable organization. CLA was founded in 1987 and provides residential support services to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Northern Virginia. Founded on the belief that everyone deserves a safe, supportive, and integrated place to call home, we operate 12 homes for 42 individuals in the Northern Virginia region. CLA promotes the individual development and enhancement of daily living skills, participation in community and involvement with family and friends. We provide residential supports that meet the unique needs of each individual and work in close collaboration with county support coordinators, families and experts to develop the appropriate person centered plan of services. Relationships are the basis for all of the work we do. Whether a staff member has worked with an individual for 30 years or 30 days, there is an emphasis on dignity, respect, choice and collaboration. In our residential program, each individual is entitled to their own bedroom to ensure opportunities for privacy. Maintaining this policy in spite of fiscal pressures is a priority for CLA. Additionally, because the individuals in our programs often found themselves coping with high emotional and material cost of relocating from one rental to another, CLA adopted a new long term goal in 2001: Converting rented CLA homes to ownership in order to bring some aspect of consistency into the lives of the individuals in our program. By 2010, thanks to the generosity of our community private and public partners, 82% of individuals live in homes owned by CLA from which they won’t have to move unless they choose to. CLA is currently pursuing new opportunities to assist individuals who are still in need of residential and support services.