Our mission is to protect, foster, develop and advance the rights and interests of people with developmental disabilities..

History | Films | Tours | Leadership

We were founded in 1971 as a grassroots organization by a group of concerned parents. Valley Village was initially established to provide community-based, family-style housing for their developmentally disabled children who were graduating from the public school system, and to advocate for ongoing opportunities for growth and development. At that time, there were no other options for parents besides sending their developmentally disabled children to live out the rest of their lives in institutions. The parents who started Valley Village didn't want to see their children be shut out from the rest of the community.

More than 30 years later, Valley Village has grown to meet a need in the community for quality services for people with developmental disabilities. Well known as a model program, Valley Village serves nearly 400 men and women with developmental disabilities.

Valley Village operates 17 group homes and three day program facilities in the San Fernando Valley, including adult day centers; adult day health care centers; behavioral management; 24-hour nursing care; after school care; family-style group housing; and a semi-independent living program.

Films
Now you can see short films about Valley Village on YouTube, including "Meet Shawn and Mary Jo" and the construction sequence of our Sunland Adult Day Health Center by White Tree Productions. White Tree Productions' Eddie Aguilar and Jose Flores were seniors of the film program at Los Angeles' High Tech High School when they created this new video for Valley Village. The film, "Meet Shawn and Mary Jo" also features music by Simple Citizens, who are also great friends of Valley Village. We're proud to have worked with such talented artists who are already an integral part of the community.

Tours
Valley Village is proud to serve the developmentally disabled. If you would like to tour our facilities or learn more about our programs, please contact us at (818) 587-9450, ext. 120, or via email. Tours are best given in the morning before 12:00, Tuesday through Thursday, and we are also willing to work with your schedule if those times do not work for you.

Leadership
Valley Village Board of Directors and executive staff:
Board of Directors
Kitty Cooper, President
Steve Beilinson, Vice President
Brian Blake, Secretary
Judi Prejean, Treasurer
Margarita Clement
Larry Diamond
Leela Kapur
Marla Kort
Carson Schreiber
Ron Smith

Management Team
Debra Donovan, Executive Director
Phillip Motherspaw, Controller
Donna Thomas, Director of Day Programs
Barbara Smith, Director of Residential Program
Jenny Daniels Freese, Director of Development and Marketing

Our Board of Directors meets monthly on the 4th Thursday of each month. Meetings are open to the public. If you would like to attend a meeting, please let us know.