Our Guiding Statements
Our Mission
L’Arche North Carolina cultivates inclusive communities where people across the spectrum of intellectual and developmental disability identities live and flourish together.
Our Vision
We envision a just society where diverse people with and without disabilities thrive.
What is life at L’Arche like?
At L’Arche, we find the sacred in our shared humanity and daily life, and seek to nurture the spiritualities of all people. All of us, whether or not we live with I/DD, desire a sense of belonging.
L’Arche North Carolina hosts inclusive programs friendships are formed, and every gift is celebrated. Our goal is to open a home where meals are shared and a sense of welcome and inclusion are lived out.
Our friends at L’Arche St. Louis produced this video to tell the story of what life is like at L’Arche. Take a look to see the kind of community we envision.
Why this work?
The Triangle needs us.
Our world, state, and region lack enough safe and supportive communities for adults with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities to live out the kind of life L’Arche communities nurture.
L’Arche North Carolina purchased our first home in July 2023. We are beyond excited about this exciting milestone. This home is located in South Durham. Renovations will begin in Fall 2023. We hope to welcome our first Core Members and Assistants in 2024. We recognize the great need for affordable housing and quality care; for this reason, we share that this is our first house and not our last house.
In North Carolina, thousands of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities are waiting for affordable apartments, group homes, family care homes, and other types of community-based living. State and federal funding does not meet the needs of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Further, the low wages offered for employment in this field make it difficult to find providers of quality, long-term care.
In addition to seeing this great need, it is our belief that every individual deserves a place of belonging and a life filled with meaning. Thus, we are establishing a L’Arche community in North Carolina. We are actively building community through our events (on Zoom and in-person) and local meetups.
L’Arche is a federation of communities throughout the world where people with and without intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (I/DD) live together. People with I/DD consistently face housing shortages in North Carolina, and the residential options available are often inadequate, particularly for those with higher levels of need and who require continuous care. We eagerly await the day when we can open our doors to our first core members and welcome them home. We aspire to be a community of many communities, and by uniting together we are stronger not despite our differences but because of them.
Our network
L’Arche North Carolina is accountable to the high standards of L’Arche USA and L’Arche International.
L’Arche North Carolina is a part of L’Arche USA which is a part of L’Arche International. L’Arche communities in the United States provide homes and workplaces where people with and without intellectual disabilities live and work together as peers; create inclusive communities of faith and friendship; and transform society through relationships that cross social boundaries.
L’Arche is a world-wide social movement, bringing about 5,000 individuals with a disability into the heart of their societies, making their voice heard, providing a true home and the opportunity to develop their unique gifts to the fullest. Today, there are 147 member communities of L’Arche in 35 countries. They are united by a common vision and a shared mission expressed in the official Charter of L’Arche.
The Federation seeks to foster solidarity among communities, ensure unity in diversity, establish the conditions for membership, and to create conditions for trust, service, dialogue, and mutual support.
