Thursday, July 13, 2017
Integrated Living Opportunities (ILO) is a non-profit organization that is devoted to helping families with special needs build supported, integrated communities that enable safe, productive, independent living options for their young adults with developmental disabilities. The idea for ILO grew from a need expressed in the special needs communities of Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. The individuals in these communities, along with their families, expressed the desire for independent living options that were inclusive, sustainable, affordable, and, above all, community based.
In January of 2014, ILO Founder and President Maedi Tanham Carney and a group of five families all gathered to discuss and explore how to create opportunities for their family members with special needs. These families were searching for options that would allow their family members with disabilities to live independently within the community, yet remain fully supported. It was also a primary goal of these families that these individuals – referred to as self-advocates – be fully integrated into the wider community, to experience true inclusivity, and to live a full life. Carney and this group of families – affectionately referred to as the founding families – participated in Center for Independent Futures™ New Futures Initiative™. From these initial meetings, and the training provided by Center for Independent Futures™, ILO was born.
4 years later, ILO is now doing what was discussed at that initial meeting. We are building supported communities, created through developing networks of support and community partnerships. We are creating community pods in which self-advocates form connections and relationships with other self-advocates and participating families, as well as the wider community. We are watching ILO self-advocates live independently and thrive in their own environments, supported but on their own terms. We are achieving the dream.
ILO’s many successes and future plans are, of course, all contingent on the hard work and support of a group of tireless individuals: our Board of Directors. We are proud to lay claim to some of the most talented professionals and advocates in the area – educators, lawyers, businessmen, and architects – all devoted to helping their adult family members with disabilities (and all adults with disabilities) realize hopes and dreams by creating supported, integrated and inclusive communities. Today, we are incredibly excited to announce that our Board of Directors is growing by one: please join us in welcoming Ian Paregol to our team. We are very fortunate to be able to draw on Ian’s extensive expertise and skill set as we plan for the future of ILO.
Biography
Ian Paregol is an individual with an impressive record of contributing to and working in the special needs community.
Since February 2016, Ian has been the Executive Director of DC Coalition of Disability Service Providers in Washington, DC. Vested with overall strategic and operational responsibility for DC Coalition, advocacy, governmental relations and public policy initiatives, and the execution of the organizational mission, Ian’s focus is to strengthen the Coalition and its members by developing partnerships, collaborating with stakeholders, advancing public policy positions, and creating educational programs that enhance the quality of services and operational sustainability of the provider community.
From Feb 2006 to Feb 2016, Ian was the Executive Director of CSAAC in Montgomery Village, Maryland where he was responsible for organizational leadership, direction, advocacy, oversight and programming of a $25M non-profit service provider supporting 300+ children and adults diagnosed with autism and their families. The position required management of governmental relations, fundraising, fiscal and operational vision so quality of services and individual outcomes always remained in the forefront of decision-making and stewardship.
Ian was also the COO of CSAAC form Dec 2004 – Feb 2006 and the Director of Children and Youth Services from Aug 2002- Dec 2004. Prior to CSAAC, Ian was a litigation attorney for Paregol & O’Mealey. Ian has a law degree from the Dickinson School of Law and a BA in Political Science and Psychology from University of Delaware. Ian is married and has 3 children.
If you would like to learn more about Ian or any of our Board of Directors, please take a moment to visit our Meet the Board Page. We are also fortunate to have an Advisory Council, additional experts and professionals to help us ensure that we are the best that we can be, and that we have access to all the tools, resources and information that we need to help our self-advocates build the best communities for themselves. Links to the bios of our advisory council can be found here.
Learn about ILO
Thanks to everyone that took the time to visit our website and read our blog today. We are so excited to have Ian on board, and look forward to achieving great things in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.
If you are interested in learning more about ILO and the work that we do building supported communities for adults with disabilities, please consider joining us on July 20, 2017 for our update seminar ILO Today: Where We Are, How to Get Involved, and Where We are Going. The seminar takes place from 7:00-9:00 at the Treatment and Learning Center in Rockville, MD. Please follow this link to register.
