FL Nonprofit Working With Adults, Kids With Disabilities Plans Expansion Projects

SARASOTA, FL — With the spring groundbreaking of its ninth single-family group home for adults with developmental disabilities, the Haven continues the expansion of its work in the greater Sarasota community.

The latest facility, Jake’s Place, is a 6,000-square-foot home with eight single-room suites with private bathrooms.

The organization dates back to 1954, Brad Jones, president and CEO, told Patch. “Basically, back then there was no services for kids with disabilities."

So, a group of parents came together to operate a small preschool out of a Sarasota-area airport hangar.

In the early 1960s, the group sold enough fruitcakes to buy a 32-acre campus.

“We used to be in the middle of nowhere, but now it’s blown up around us,” Jones said. “The area has grown around us and we’ve grown with it.”

Today, the primary campus is within walking distance to the University Town Center, Nathan Benderson Park, Mote Marine Aquarium and other destinations.

Now, the Haven offers services from birth into seniorhood, he said.

There are about 60 students in the preschool and the organization also runs Haven Academy, which works with those ages 14 to 22. The adult day care program assists about 350 at the Sarasota campus, as well as another 60 in Venice.

But the residential facilities are the nonprofit’s “most in-demand program right now,” Jones said.

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There’s a wait list of nearly 400 people.

“We’ll never be able to meet the waiting list,” he said.

The Haven’s model is a little different from other facilities, Jones added. “When someone moves in here, it’s for life. What happens when an adult son or daughter has a disability and (parents) can’t care for them or (the parents) pass away, God forbid? What happens to them? This is essential to these parents and families.”

In addition to Jake’s Place, a $1 million donation allowed the Haven to buy 3 acres down the road. On this property, the organization will build 10 single-family homes and a community center.

“We realize we can’t keep building here (at the main campus,)” he said. “But without places like the Haven or other facilities they would be pretty much homeless.”

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