Association for Community Living (ACL)

Individual and Family ServicesColorado, United States11-50 Employees

The Association for Community Living (ACL) is the Arc Serving Boulder & Broomfield Counties. We are a nonprofit organization providing independent advocacy to people with intellectual & developmental disabilities, their families, & their allies. 
We are are an incorporated chapter of The Arc, and the affiliated chapter of The Arc of the United States serving Boulder and Broomfield Counties.

Mission: The ACL promotes attitudes, practices, programs, and policies that enable people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to be included as a natural and integral part of community life.

Vision: All communities welcome and value the contributions and participation of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The ACL is part of a civil and human rights movement established in the 1960s in response to denial of public education and concern about routine institutionalization of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), and their subsequent abuse in institutional settings. The ACL was instrumental in achieving the right to public education and community based support services.

These rights are now protected by law, but it can be very difficult for people with IDD to access complex and fragmented health and long-term care systems, public assistance programs, the legal/justice system, public schools, higher education systems, and employment opportunities. People with IDD also continue to find it difficult to be included in community arts, music, recreation, and leisure opportunities. The ACL is working to change societal attitudes so that people feel included and welcomed in their communities.       

The ACL approach to advocacy is multifaceted. We work to break down barriers and change societal attitudes that result in exclusion and injustice by providing individual advocacy, public policy/systems advocacy, community capacity building, and through our sponsorship of the self-advocacy movement.

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