About The Hearth

Colorful homes and historic architecture in New Orleans, Louisiana

About The Hearth

Coming Soon

​The Hearth will be a residential community where individuals with disabilities live alongside and share their lives with homemakers and co-workers, in a nurturing home-like setting focused on mutual understanding and personal growth.

Unlike traditional group home settings where rotating staff filter in and out of the homes, Hearth homes will be run as a small family-style home with live-in homemakers, support staff, and approximately three to four differently-abled individuals. Homemakers will provide a stable, healing environment for The Hearth’s residents to flourish throughout adulthood.

Colorful homes and historic architecture in New Orleans, Louisiana

Mission + Vision

The Hearth will be the next extension of Raphael Village’s commitment to creating a lifelong, loving, and holistic community for differently-abled individuals. The addition of The Hearth is rooted in the Camphill movement’s concept of life-sharing — this residential community will provide a setting where people with and without disabilities choose to live together in a mutually supportive environment and accompany each other through life.

The Hearth is a vital component of the urban village we envision for Raphael Village, one where individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities are able to be present, active, and engaged within the community through the arts, service, work, and daily life.

Admissions Criteria

The Hearth residential program is designed for young adults (ages 21-40) with mild to moderate intellectual and developmental disabilities that may include, but are not limited to, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Down syndrome, or other intellectual disability.

Residents should be:

  • independent in aspects of personal care (bathing, toileting, eating)
  • behaviorally and medically stable (not injurious to themselves or others)
  • independently mobile
  • able to integrate within a small ‘family’ setting

Our Work in Progress

View the location of the future homes that will make up The Hearth at Raphael Village.

Stay Updated on Our Progress

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