The grand opening for the four-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bathroom home in Silver Creek Village was May 3. Each resident has their own room and bathroom and shares a kitchen and community space.
Stephanie Polukoff is a founding member and executive director of Bridge 21. She says the organization was created in 2020 and since then has raised more than $1 million to build the house.
“Bridge 21 is a nonprofit that addresses the shortage of housing opportunities for people with cognitive and developmental autism disabilities,” she said. “We provide housing options kind of tailored to the sensory needs and the modifications that they could need to live independently, and we provide the independent living support, the physical support staff and the modifications in the home to be able to do that.”
Ava Jennings is one of four residents in the home. She attended Utah State University and had roommates so was aware of some of the disagreements that can arise when you put four strangers together.
A program coordinator does daily check-ins with the residents and helps manage the responsibilities with chore charts, so everyone knows what’s expected of them.
“There are different colors. There’s like purple, there's pink and there's yellow,” Jennigs said. “So, like, whatever you're assigned to, you have to do, like, do that day where you're assigned to.”
Polukoff says an application process determines who can move in. Residents are given two 30-day trial periods before signing a six-month lease.
“So that everyone feels comfortable, both resident and me as a nonprofit provider of the housing,” she said. “So, there are built-in outs. We have some scaffolding in place to support the needs of everyone.”
As part of Mental Health Awareness Month, Intermountain Health Park City Hospital will host a free mental health awareness event focused on neurodivergence May 20.
The event, titled “Neurodivergence: Challenging Perceptions, Shaping Understanding,” is from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the hospital’s Blair Education Center.
