For Families

If you are reading this because you have a child with profound autism, you are not alone, and you are why we are building this.

We are three founding families ourselves. Our adult children live with profound autism. We know the exhaustion, the love, the constant background calculation of "what happens next?" We started this because the answer wasn't out there. We are building it together.

Who 1000 Villagers is for

The community is designed for adult children (18+) with profound autism or comparable significant developmental disabilities, together with their parents or designated family members who plan to live in the community.

We are also for families who want to be part of this for the right reasons, not just for the housing, but for the model. Living here means living with other families who share the commitment that no one's child is left alone, and that the community as a whole is the safety net.

What being a member family means

We are still working out the formal expectations together, but in broad strokes, joining the community means:

• Co-residence. A parent or designated family member lives in the parent home of your family cluster, alongside your adult child in the adult-child home.
• Shared stewardship, and real control. The community is family-governed: member families, not an outside agency, shape its governance and daily life. Our homes are not state-certified institutions, and each family self-directs their own adult child's supports, choosing and hiring the people who care for them. We keep our own rules, and the public funding follows our children into homes we control.
• Financial participation. Sized to your family's situation. Public funding (OPWDD, Medicaid waivers, Special Needs Trusts, rental subsidies) covers most of the adult child's housing and care; families contribute to capital and to the parents' residences.
• Long-term commitment. This is not a short-term solution. We are designing for the rest of your child's life, and the rest of yours.

What you get

• A home for your adult child for life, in a community designed for them.
• A home for yourself, designed for aging in place.
• A community of families who get it, who do not need things explained.
• Continuity of care that does not depend on you alone, and that does not vanish when you do.
• A community built to outlast its founders, with a foundation and endowment behind it, designed so the model does not dissolve when one generation is gone.
• The structural answer to "what after us?"

The financial reality, honestly

We will not pretend this is free. Building and running a community of this kind takes real resources. We are committed to keeping family participation accessible, pooling resources is part of the model, and we will not exclude families on the basis of means alone.

Public funding does most of the heavy lifting for the adult-child portion of the model. Philanthropy covers the gaps. Member families contribute to capital and to the parents' residences, sized to what they can do. We will talk through specifics with each interested family individually, in confidence and without pressure.

How to explore membership

The earliest stage of this is just a conversation. No applications, no fees, no commitments. If reading this far has resonated, here is what we suggest:

1. Read our guiding principles and the model. If those land true, the rest follows.
2. Reach out. Send us a note. Tell us a little about your family. We will listen.
3. Meet us. When timing permits, a video call or an in-person visit. We will tell you honestly where we are.
4. Decide together. Membership is a slow, mutual decision. We will not rush it, and you should not.

Get in touch

Join the family & interest list →

📄 Free guide: When You're Gone, a planning guide for parents of adults with profound autism.

Prefer email? Write to hello@1000villagers.org, we answer every message personally.