The Nashville team recently had a unique opportunity, to give to Our Place Nashville that provides brick-and-mortar housing, called Friendship Houses, throughout the city of Nashville for adults with developmental disabilities.
When Our Place Nashville residents – known as “friends” – move into the home they immediately begin to immerse themselves in a life of new independence. For every two friends who reside at Friendship House, there are three neurotypical adults: nearby Vanderbilt graduate students and our newest population, older adults. Simple enhancements like custom shelving solutions aid in achieving organization for the individuals and can make a huge difference in the adjustment period.
“For most of the residents, living in an Our Place Nashville home is their first time moving out of their parents’ home and striving to become independent,” says Kurt Schusterman, Owner of California Closets of Tennessee & Northern Alabama. “Helping them be get organized and watching them take such pride in their beautiful California Closets system is so gratifying. I feel so blessed to be able to give back to such an underserved community in Nashville.”
“Incoming residents at our fourth Friendship House were so excited when they learned California Closets would be customizing their closets. When they moved in and saw the closets, they were even more excited because the installations enabled them to utilize their space more effectively. California Closets worked closely with one resident (who hadn’t even moved in yet) to help him maximize the space he could reach, making his life in particular a lot easier. Having a California Closets [system] also helps people who are living independently for the first time to keep up with keeping things in their rightful place…because there actually is a rightful place to put the things.“ –Carolyn Naifeh, Our Place Nashville Co-Founder & Executive Director
Our Place Nashville’s first Divinity Friendship House at Vanderbilt opened in 2015, the second in 2016. Both create an interdependent living environment comprised of residents with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (“friends”) and graduate students from Vanderbilt University, primarily from the Divinity School. Our Place Nashville opened its third Friendship House in 2019. Our Place Nashville partners include Tennessee Housing Development Agency, Urban Housing Solutions, Vanderbilt University Divinity School, Best Buddies of TN, and Capital Financial Group – just to name a few!
“The residents were very pleased with their closets. When we arrived to follow up, they even had them styled for their individual taste which was great to see them embrace the space like that!” –Lindsay Harshbarger, CC TN
