Inclusive Apartment Complex Offers Opportunity For Independence
by Don Stacom, Hartford Courant/TNS | February 15, 2021
A 40-unit apartment complex developed by The Arc of the Farmington Valley includes 10 units for adults with intellectual disabilities. (Mark Mirko/The Hartford Courant/TNS)
HARTFORD, Conn. For nearly 20 young people with developmental disabilities, the new Bear Woods apartments in Canton offer their first chance to live outside their families’ homes.
“I feel really good to be here it makes me feel like a grownup,” said Nick Sinacori, 26, who until now has had to live with his parents at their house in Simsbury.
From the outside, Bear Woods looks much like any other newly built apartment complex, but officials at Favarh believe it’s a model that could transform housing for those with developmental disabilities.
For nearly 20 developmentally disabled young people, the new Bear Woods apartments in Canton are their first chance to live outside their families’ homes. “I feel really good to be here - it makes me feel like a grownup,” said Nick Sinacori, 26, who until now has had to live with his parents at the house in Simsbury.
Meet 14 ABA members who inspired us in 2020
Year in Review
Throughout the year, the ABA Journal profiles exceptional ABA members in its Members Who Inspire series. In 2020, we featured attorneys from across the country whose important and influential work includes using visual storytelling for legal advocacy, bringing attention to the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women, and combating racial injustice and inequity.
LaToya Bell, an assistant public defender in Houston County in Georgia, handles as many as 200 to 250 cases involving misdemeanors and traffic offenses in state court. She also played a significant role in launching the first drug court in the county and establishing a wills clinic that prepares estate planning documents for local first responders and veterans.