History

Community Living, Inc. was founded in 1979 in Frederick, Maryland, as a not-for-profit agency providing residential and support services for people with developmental disabilities in Frederick County.

Community Living began with two homes owned by the State of Maryland, each with six to eight residents. These people moved to agency homes from their Frederick-area families or the Rosewood Center and Henrytown institutions outside of Baltimore (residents of the latter were selected based on having family in the Frederick area).

Originally, Community Living residents had the option of attending one of only two day programs offered in this area - the Scott Key Center, then housed at Rock Creek School, or the Jeanne Bussard Workshop, working from an old school on Ice Street. All day program services have come a long way since then.

Today, Community Living manages 26 homes in the Frederick area, and provides in home support to numerous other individuals. We take it as a compliment when neighbors says they never realized agency homes are "special" or different in any way from others in the neighborhood.

The agency has had just four executive directors during its tenure. Staff now numbers around 150 serving the needs of the agency's more than 100 individuals. Community Living still depends on state funding, but has joined forces with the United Way of Frederick County, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and its own core of volunteer fundraisers to financially maintain a high standard of living for its residents.