|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Casa Familia hosted its All Jazzed Up Luncheon at the Coral Reef Yacht Club in Coconut Grove on Tuesday, July 13, featuring jazz music by bass player Alex Perez.
The luncheon was held in support of the development of the Village of Casa Familia, a first-of-its-kind affordable housing community designed to serve adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) in Miami-Dade County.
Susan Holtzman, special needs advocate for Miami-Dade County, spoke on behalf of Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. Dr. Michael Alessandri, executive director of the Center for Autism and Related Disabilities, gave impassioned remarks about the South Florida IDD Community.
“This organization and their aspirations are driven by love, choice, inclusion and community,” Dr. Alessandri said.
“I plan to apply for an apartment and I hope to be able to live at the Village of Casa Familia,” said prospective resident Eric Jawitz in his remarks during the luncheon. “I currently live at home with my parents now…I would like to live in my own apartment, but I don’t make enough money to pay for rent and get the help I need.”
More than 60 supporters of the Village of Casa Familia attended the luncheon including executive director Dr. Anay Abraham, senior housing director Debbie Lawrence and board members and friends Marc Plonskier, Tom and Marie-Ilene Whitehurst, Natasha Lowell, Bonnie Crabtree, Tracey Wilson Mourning, Michele Wiseheart, Erbi Blanco-True, Irene White, Mike Allen, Annie Rose, Sonia Plana, Elena Bluntzer, Linda Jackson, Deveni Hodges-Gibson, Susan Tarbe, Janis Cheezem along with prospective residents Eric Jawitz, Alex Perez, Allen Feldman, Carolina Rossel, Jackie Rose and Nami Tandon.
The Village of Casa Familia, scheduled to break ground later this year, is a multi-phase affordable housing community for adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD). Phase I includes two residential buildings for 58 residents and an 11,000-square-foot community center in an enriched neighborhood setting in Miami-Dade County’s Kendall area providing a much-needed housing initiative where there currently are no such communities in South Florida serving individuals with IDD.
