WALLA WALLA, Wash. — About 5 years in the past, Shannon Bergevin and her husband began to consider what their son’s life would seem like after they’re gone.
As dad and mom of a son with mental and developmental disabilities, the Bergevins questioned what his housing would seem like as soon as they’re not round to handle him anymore.
“After which we realized in speaking with different households that everybody’s type of silently coping with the identical query,” Bergevin stated. “What’s going to occur to our liked one after we’re gone?”
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So, Bergevin did some analysis.
“In Walla Walla alone, there’s tons of of individuals with developmental and mental disabilities,” she stated. “They usually’re largely dwelling at dwelling with their dad and mom or different household as a result of there’s not quite a lot of nice housing choices that really feel protected or reasonably priced or give selection of their roommates and caregivers and issues like that.”
That’s when she determined to look outdoors Walla Walla. Bergevin discovered a spot in Phoenix, Ariz., known as Luna Azul, which is a neighborhood deliberately designed for folks with disabilities.
Neighborhoods reminiscent of Luna Azul are known as pocket neighborhoods. Homes in pocket neighborhoods are gathered round one another, usually going through one another with shared walkways. They’ll additionally embody communal areas reminiscent of gardens, courtyards or different widespread areas.
Luna Azul instantly turned Bergevin’s inspiration for a pocket neighborhood in Walla Walla. She quickly began working with an architect, Ross Chapin of Ross Chapin Architects primarily based in Langley. Chapin not solely designed Luna Azul however has been designing pocket neighborhoods his entire profession.
Bergevin can also be now working with Ethan Bartos of The Kubala Washatko Architects primarily based in Wisconsin. As soon as the architects had been on board, Bergevin and a bunch of individuals determined to kind a nonprofit, Pocket Neighborhood Basis Walla Walla, to boost funds and get the undertaking going.
The Pocket Neighborhood Basis already has secured an engineering agency, Harms Engineering in Pasco, and a 1.6-acre parcel of land on Aspen Avenue close to the realm the place East Alder Avenue turns into Tausick Method.
Bergevin stated the inspiration has raised about $650,000 thus far and the undertaking is predicted to price about $10 million whole. The undertaking has obtained a number of grants thus far, together with a $2,000 grant from WaFd Financial institution, a $5,000 grant from the Windermere Basis, a $15,000 grant from the Wildhorse Basis and one other grant from the Kuni Basis, which makes a speciality of most cancers analysis.
The muse is hoping to finish its deliberate unit improvement utility to town early this 12 months. The purpose after that’s to boost $1 million to construct the infrastructure for the neighborhood.
All of it relies on fundraising, Bergevin stated, however the basis hopes to begin constructing the infrastructure in 2026.
“We do have a fundraising capital marketing campaign beginning proper now, and we anticipate that that’s going to take about three years to get the total $10 million,” Bergevin stated. “So we might see building begin in 2027 or 2028.”
The neighborhood in Walla Walla, known as Aspen Gardens, will embody 14 properties that may accommodate as much as 40 folks. Not everybody who lives there has to have an mental or developmental incapacity, Bergevin stated, as a result of residents will be capable to transfer there with household, associates or caretakers in the event that they select.
“We could have a typical home, too, the place all of the residents can collect,” Bergevin stated. “We hope to make that a spot the place we will proceed programming like leisure, instructional lessons and cooking.”
The muse is also planning to collaborate with different native organizations reminiscent of Valley Residential, Walla Walla Particular Olympics, the Lillie Rice Middle and the SOAR program to assist preserve residents engaged and included in the neighborhood.
The plan is for every dwelling to have a big entrance porch, Bergevin stated, which is supposed to be an extension of the dwelling house and make it simpler for neighbors to socialize.
Bergevin stated the final word purpose of the Aspen Gardens undertaking is to maintain people with disabilities from being displaced when members of the family or caretakers — the individuals who know their routines, likes and dislikes, drugs and different buildings — are now not capable of assist.
She stated that have could be traumatic for many individuals and Pocket Neighborhoods Walla Walla is seeking to forestall that for its residents.
“What we’re hoping to perform is to get our households moved into this pocket neighborhood earlier than that want arises,” Bergevin stated. “They’ll get to know their neighbors and their group and really feel part of one thing, in order that when their dad and mom do transfer away or cross away they usually’re not dwelling there anymore, that particular person’s already in a group of supportive associates and neighbors.”
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