SEQUIM — More than 500 developmentally disabled clients live on the North Olympic Peninsula.
Some are very bright. Some have special talents along with their special challenges. All have lives they pursue with enthusiasm.
Many live with relatives now, but what happens when the relatives can’t care for them anymore?
“We get them into niches where they are safe and happy, but what happens when we are gone?” asked Dagny Lord, who cherishes her special-needs daughter.
Clallam Mosaic, a nonprofit formerly known as SNAP that serves people with developmental disabilities in Sequim and Port Angeles, has a plan for building safe and affordable housing options for the developmentally disabled.
Meeting tonight
The group will present those plans at a meeting at the Sequim Transit Center, 190 W. Cedar St., from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. today.
Clallam Mosaic hopes to build a village with a variety of housing options, support programs, a gym, gardens and a conference center.
The total cost is estimated at $16.1 million.
The first step is the land for the development.
The group is eyeing a 12.4-acre tract of land in Sequim that would cost about $350,000, Lord said.
The group’s first goal is to raise a down payment of $75,000.
It already has contracted with Environmental Works of Seattle to draw up architectural plans.
Those plans will be presented at tonight’s meeting, said Scott Schaefer, president of the Clallam Mosaic board.
Now, the group is seeking donations of both money and skills.
“We want to let the community know what we are trying to do and see if there are any with skills or thoughts to bring to the table,” said Lord, a Clallam Mosaic board member.
Schaefer said the group hopes to sign up volunteers for fundraising, grant-writing, development of a business plan and public relations.
The group says Clallam County has 431 clients, while East Jefferson County has 138.
In developing the concept, safety has been a particular issue.
The developmentally disabled “are an extremely vulnerable and easily taken advantage of population, with over 70 percent of autistic individuals and 49 percent of all developmentally disabled persons experiencing multiple incidences of sexual or physical abuse in their lifetimes,” Missy Rief, chairwoman of the group’s housing committee, said in a news release.
“We’re getting older,” said Lord, who lives in Port Angeles. “We have people raising special-needs kids who are in their 70s and 80s.
“I’m 56. We see mortality looking at us, and we see what happens to our special-needs kids.
“We’re trying to get housing together that keeps them safe.”
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Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or at leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.
