21st Century Ideas for Independent Living Centers

About the Video

Originally produced in the 1990's, this 50-minute video was reproduced in July 2015 for a presentation at the NCIL Conference.

From the narrator:  "This program is about a journey that began in 1989 when more than 100 independent living centers across the country applied to the Independent Living Research Utilization program for funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The 11 independent living centers featured in this program were awarded grant money based on their innovative ideas for improving service systems for people with disabilities.  These centers will share with you what they learned as they brought their ideas to life and focused on generating their own entrepreneurial sources of revenue.  As their stories unfold, you'll find out what worked, what didn't, and why.

We hope that you will be inspired to shamelessly steal these ideas for your own independent living center.  These demonstration pilot programs were designed to test new approaches for promoting enhanced health and well-being for people with disabilities.  The staff at these centers were the test pilots who navigated their way over a five-year period pushing the entrepreneurial envelope to see what was possible.

We invite you to use this information to start your own revenue generating programs, accelerate your learning curve or simply make mid course corrections in existing programs.  The opportunities are there.  Let's get busy."

View the Video (00:49:44)