New houses for adults with autism coming to Sicard Hollow

Glenwood Inc. is working with community partners to provide more to those with autism spectrum disorder.

In early May, Glenwood held a groundbreaking ceremony, along with Capstone Collegiate Communities (C3), for The Hope Cottages. Glenwood is a nonprofit providing health care and educational services for those with autism and severe emotional disturbances. The Hope Cottages will be three -houses on Glenwood’s campus, providing housing for 16.  Glenwood will staff and manage the homes, providing 24-hour care.

Phillip Young, chairman of Glenwood’s capital campaign and a parent of a child with autism, said the campus-style environment is helpful in providing community to the individuals in Glenwood’s care, as well as meeting their medical needs.

“I feel very, very much the need for my child to live in a campus-style environment because of his seizures and medical issues, that the resources are there to provide for his needs 24/7,” Young said. “There is just very limited, in the United States, adult housing with campus-like settings for people who have the need to live there.”

Young’s son, now 31, was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at 5. Glenwood diagnosed him, and he moved to Glenwood when his grand mal seizures became too much to handle without constant medical care.

“Glenwood took him 10 years ago, and he’s happy,” Young said. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control, the number of individuals with autism spectrum disorder has increased from 3.4 per 1,000 in 1996 to 14.6 per 1,000 in 2012, Young said, and all of those adults with autism are in need of housing.

“There’s just a tremendous need,” Young said. “This is just a tip of the iceberg. We know that adult housing is going to be one of the biggest strains [on resources].”

Glenwood’s capital campaign, called Renowned Care, Renewed Hope, aims to raise $10 million to expand the nonprofit’s services. C3 came on as a partner with the project after Mike Barron, a previous owner of Capstone, reached out to current owner John Vawter.

“Vawter and his company just took this project on,” Young said. “We had partnered in taking over the Bluff Park United Methodist Church [house]. [They] had built a home that they asked us to operate.”

Vawter looked at the house Bluff Park UMC had and said, “We build student housing. It looks a lot like this,” Young said. The three homes — two with six bedrooms and one with four bedrooms — are a $2.2 million project. C3 has raised about 50 percent of that, according to a release from Glenwood.

“We are fortunate to have the support of C3,” Young. “Their contribution will do much more than provide a home for people with autism; it will fundamentally change the lives of entire families.”

The campus-style housing is also a benefit to individuals with autism, Young said. His son benefits from being able to go into the community and to have a community back at Glenwood.

“It’s very positive that he has friends; he has great social activities; he has community activities and a support system,” Young said. “My wife and I could not have done [that] on our own.”

Even though his son comes home at least once a month, Young said that after a day and a half, he wants to go back to Glenwood and see his friends. 

Since the project was announced, Young said there has been positive feedback from the community and families in need of such a resource.

“It’s been very, very positive,” Young said. “We’ve had a lot of calls from families in other states. There’s a tremendous demand, where everybody wants their child to live in the community, but not everyone can live in the community without the necessary supports.”

Other projects in Glenwood’s capital campaign include an off-campus children’s diagnostic center and an art center for residents.