AbleLight opens day programs for those with developmental disabilities

Editor’s note: This report was updated to clarify the relationship between AbleLight and Foothills Gateway.

FORT COLLINS — For decades, Northern Colorado nonprofit Foothills Gateway has offered day programs for people with developmental disabilities. Some have attended programs offered through Foothills for 40 years.

Until now.

Foothills Gateway is now the case-management agency and community-centered board for Larimer County and, as such, is no longer able to provide both case-management and day-program services. It closed its day programs Feb. 29.

Enter AbleLight, a Wisconsin-based nonprofit that for 120 years has provided services for people with developmental disabilities. It opened its day programs a week later and began to offer services; it will hold a grand opening Tuesday for its center in Fort Collins.

“We’re a faith-based organization serving people with developmental disabilities,” Keith Jones, president and CEO of AbleLight, told BizWest. “Most of our work is in Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Washington…,” he said. Colorado is home to the organization’s largest grouping of programs among the 12 states where it operates, he said.

“When we heard Foothills Gateway was closing day services due to case management laws, we started to talk,” Jones said. 

“This is very much driven by our mission, to honor and continue the work of a fine organization,” he said.

Jones said that AbleLight offers residential programs in other locations, and it has thrift stores in Wisconsin where 30% of store staff have developmental disabilities. “We’d like to expand thrift stores to Colorado,” he said. AbleLight is based in Watertown, Wisconsin, just outside of Milwaukee.

AbleLight will operate its programs in Larimer County from familiar space at 301 W. Skyway Drive, Suite 101, in a location that housed Foothills Gateway’s former day program. It will offer continuity of service to participants from that program if accepted into the program as well as enroll new participants.

Jones said the day programs like those it will offer “are indispensable for individuals with disabilities; they serve as a vital link to the community, an extension of their support network, and often provide a lifeline against isolation and loneliness. We thank Foothills Gateway for its thoughtful and proactive approach in making this change and leasing the space for our program to begin.”

Several of the former Foothills staff have been retained and will continue to operate the new program. Services will begin with about nine staff members, said Michelle Olsen, communications officer for the organization.

The program will have about 30 participants to start; at one time, Foothills had about 200. Olsen said the organization plans to rebuild participation.

AbleLight also has Colorado operations in Colorado Springs, Englewood, Grand Junction, Denver and Littleton with 151 staff members in the state. It offers residential homes, host homes, employment support, community connections and other services in those locations.

Throughout the 12-state region where it operates it has 1,300 employees serving 914 people.

Day programs play a role in addressing social isolation and loneliness experienced by people with developmental disabilities. Research in a 2014 review published in the “Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities” suggested that up to half of people with developmental disabilities experience chronic loneliness.

A peer-reviewed report released in 2022 by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine highlighted the consequences of social isolation and loneliness, revealing links to depression, poor sleep, impaired immunity and increased risks of premature death as well as various health conditions, including dementia by 50%, stroke by 32% and coronary heart disease by 29%.

“Our programs serve as a gateway to the community, offering individuals with developmental disabilities opportunities to acquire new skills, forge meaningful connections and enjoy a positive and engaging atmosphere tailored to their individualized support plans,” Andrea Aldinger, area vice president for AbleLight’s operations in Colorado, said in a written statement. “Through excursions, recreational activities, volunteer opportunities, cultural experiences and a diverse range of social activities, participants are empowered to explore their interests and embrace life to the fullest.”

The open house Tuesday will be from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. and will include tours, refreshments and giveaways.

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