Rainbow Village Properties, Inc.

Promise Community Homes currently owns and maintains 86 homes, serving 300 adults with developmental disabilities.

Our model finds safe, suitable homes for individuals with developmental disabilities, purchases and customizes the houses to enable these citizens to live in a home of their own. Promise Community Homes/Rainbow Village homes are outfitted with all the necessary safety and environmental modifications for the individuals to live safely, with long-term low costs, and customized with financial support to fit their capabilities. We include all required maintenance so our residents, and their families, live worry free. This model is recognized by the federal government for economical and safe housing, allowing these citizens to beneficially participate in society.

Most of our residents come from the lowest socioeconomic levels. Many of the individuals we serve have public administrators or serve as their own guardians. Our residents qualify for Medicaid Waivers and receive social security income for the disabled to pay their living expenses. Each PCH/RBV home is purchased based on the location and the needs of the residents. We determine the amount of rent they can afford from their limited social security incomes for the disabled.

Our model allows the residents to be able to live in an affordable house that will be monitored and renovated as needed, so they can age in-place in a neighborhood home that meets their needs. Through fundraising, we are able to modify homes to meet the changing mobility and medical needs of our residents. Fundraising also allows for routine and expensive maintenance projects. These residents and their loved ones can be assured that they will have a home to call their own and their families will have peace of mind.

Today there is an identified population of more than 4,000 adult-children with intellectual and developmental disabilities in nursing homes or living with parents over the age of 65 in the State of Missouri. PCH/RBV's mission is to serve this fragile population by insuring they have a proper and well-managed home of their own thereby enhancing the quality of their lives, integrating them into communities, and reducing the number of those on the Greater St. Louis Metropolitan region wait list.

The concept for Rainbow Village (RBV), now called Promise Community Homes, began in the mid-1960s with nine families who wanted to provide suitable residential settings for their children with developmental disabilities—to help improve the quality of their lives. Most importantly, the founding families wanted to ensure that their children had a home and care once they could no longer provide it for them. The only option for families at that time was a nursing home or institution.

By 1978, seven group homes, the Wolff Community Center, and a Respite Care Center were opened on nine acres of land in St. Louis County. The success of that initial program led to the expansion of neighborhood homes throughout St. Louis County, St. Charles County, and St. Louis City. From there, our program began to grow.

From 2014 - 2019, the organization experienced substantial growth with the purchase and modification of 20 houses, providing forever homes for an additional 60 individuals in the St. Louis Community bringing our total number to 330+ residents. As of 2023, PCH owns and maintains 86 neighborhood homes. Some homes did not meet our standard of housing (i.e. split-level homes with stairs that were not universally accessible). Now PCH is on course to continue to provide accessible neighborhood homes where anyone can safely age in place.

Our residents desire to have some degree of independence in houses located in neighborhoods close to families, ideally in their hometowns. Our residents are proud to live as independently as possible, enjoying their own homes and yards. And, they enjoy being part of a community. Promise Community Homes also owns and operates the Wolff Community Center, a community center that supports children and adults with physical and/or developmental disabilities. The facilities in the Wolff Community Center are comprised of a heated therapeutic pool (one of only two in the region), a commercial-grade kitchen, a gym, offices, and a day program for aging adults with IDD. We are changing lives - one home, one community at a time!