History of IS Living

1974: A Villa with a Vision

In 1974, Marty and Hal Warkentin opened the first “Villa” for women who were discharged from the Fairview Training Center for being “too smart,” as the State redefined the threshold for those considered to be “mentally retarded” to a score of 69 or below. Fifteen women who were displaced by this change moved into this home. At that time, Spruce Villa was the only small community program to be certified as Intermediate Care Facility/Mentally Retarded (ICF/MR) in Oregon and provided services as such until 1990.

1976-1989: Serving a Growing Need

The Semi-Independent Living Program, which served as many as 40 individuals, was added in 1976. In 1986, the organization accepted 21 additional individuals under the State’s “1988 Plan” in which others were moved into the community from public institutions that were closing. A new facility specifically designed for non-ambulatory individuals, appropriately named “Barrier Free” was created, and fifteen others were served in a multi-family apartment environment. In 1986 Spruce Villa also expanded its programs to include employment services.

1990-2014: Pursuing Integration

In 1990, Spruce Villa converted its ICF/MR certification for 22 people to a state licensed program consistent with its other programs. In 1993, the organization embarked upon an aggressive plan to procure neighborhood homes throughout the community that could provide each individual with their own bedroom and/or apartment.

2015: Joining Forces to Serve

In 2015, Spruce Villa merged with Oregon Housing and Associated Services (OHAS) to form Integrated Supports for Living, Inc. Through this, we were able to combine our resources to provide group housing to those living with disability, affordable housing, day support services (ACTIVE Oregon) and supported employment services, including Vocational Rehab contracting and integrated community employment opportunities.

2017: A New Chapter

In 2017, we started a new chapter by working with APD to open a program under a very different model. Under this model, we designed a home and support services to serve someone in an individual setting. This new model allowed us to fine-tune all supports to be most appropriate for the person, while providing this individual with the comfort of having their own home without roommates. We saw great success with this, which opened many new doors for us as an organization!

2019: Serving Youth

At the tail end of 2019, we opened our first home serving children that experience both medical support needs and I/DD, the first group home in the state with this model.

2021: Continued Growth

2020 was a challenging year for all provider organizations due to the COVID pandemic, but we have been grateful for our relationship with APD as we continued to open new programs to cover an unmet need for many individuals in our community. From the end of 2019 to spring of 2021, we opened four new programs under varying models. Our growth has been guided by the needs of our community, which led to the opening of our first Behavioral Health home.