Bridge 21 is a nonprofit established in January 2020 specifically to develop scattered community housing for people with neurodiversity – those with autism or who may have other intellectual or developmental challenges.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the first home took place July 9. According to Bridge 21 Executive Director Stephanie Polukoff, the four-bedroom, four-bathroom home in Silver Creek Village is the first cognitively accessible affordable housing in Summit County.
In addition to residents having their own bed and bathroom, she said there will be common areas, including a kitchen, living and dining rooms as well as a game room and a quiet room. Those selected to live there will be on their own, she said, but supervised by an off-site staff member.
“We will have smart home technologies, we'll have a system setup so that we could monitor remotely monitor the operations of the home and make sure that everything is running smoothly and safely,” Polukoff said.
Residents will be single-gender and will pay rent as well as a monthly fee to cover the costs of their community activities.
“Our coordinator will be on site or in touch every day talking through what we call executive functioning skills,” she said. “Meals seem to be very important to caregivers and parents. Our population may not feed themselves the most nutritious foods independently. So, parents are very concerned about meal prep and how they will get adequate nutrition. So, we offer a whole meal prep program too.”
The application process will include an evaluation by a third party to assess the independent living skills of would-be residents.
The 2800 square foot home will be completed next spring. Polukoff said a capital campaign has been underway since the organization was founded. And recently, Bridge 21 got a large sum from an anonymous donor that will pay for the home’s construction.
“We're not stopping there,” she said. “We have the potential to be able to buy another house on the same street. So, we're hoping to be able to do that within a year. So. we'll have eight residents.”
Polukoff is an occupational therapist and has worked in this community for 25 years and knows a lot of these now young adults. While the community has done a good job keeping local neurodiverse individuals in the community with work and recreation opportunities, she says finding a place for them to live independently has been a challenge.
