We are located in Kent, Washington, and support people living in the South King County area.
Total Living Concept (TLC) was incorporated as a Washington Not-for-Profit organization on July 26, 1982. In the beginning, TLC operated group homes, which provided congregated living options for people with developmental disabilities. Through the process of constant self-evaluation and listening to the people seeking support, TLC gradually moved away from congregated housing options and began providing individualized support enabling each person to live in their own home. The state refers to this as Supported Living. Many people choose to reduce their living expenses by sharing their homes with housemates who do not receive services from TLC, but rather are members of our general community. TLC is very proud to support people to live where they want, with whom they want, for as long as they want, according to their own personal lifestyle choices.
One may wonder how TLC can provide such individualized support without unusually high rates. The fact is the average cost of TLC’s support remains below the combined average for people with similar support needs living in King County. We do this by extensive and creative use of other community supports. For example, TLC assists all eligible people for whom we provide support in obtaining Housing and Urban Development Section 8 Housing vouchers. This allows people to meet housing costs in this area. In some cases, additional living space is secured for a housemate who provides overnight emergency support in exchange for free rent, thus reducing support hours paid for by the State. We also assist people in locating and using lower cost transportation options, obtaining food stamps, and participating in a wide variety of other groups and organizations open to all citizens.
TLC currently supports 29 people through our Supported Living contract with the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services’ Aging and Disability Services Administration. We also support up to 20 people through our Community Guides program. This program assists people who are eligible to receive services from the Division of Developmental Disabilities but are not currently receiving any services. The aim of the program is to assist people to seek out and use community options to meet some of their most important needs and life goals, which typically include work and other opportunities to make a contribution to their local communities. In September of 2009 TLC Employment Group began offering support for seeking and maintaining employment for 8 of the people whose living supports are organized by TLC. We now provide supported employment services to 11 people with continued growth likely in the coming years.
Total Living Concept enjoys an excellent reputation, both locally and nationally, as a best-in-class leader in supported living for people with disabilities. Its success can be attributed to a culture characteristically guided by an extraordinary sense of humanity and respect for the individual. Further, there exists a proactive promotion within the organization of genuine inclusion and empowerment as well as the flexibility and willingness to experiment with new ideas and solutions.
TLC employs approximately 130 with an annual operating budget is $3.75 million. The agency operates on an endowment model with a $1.5 million corpus and it receives two-thirds of its funding from the state and one-third from county contracts. TLC is sound financially and is well positioned for the future.
For more information, contact Jennifer Lengyel by using our contact page.
