Stavros
Advocates for Independent Living
Stavros History
Stavros Center for Independent Living, Inc. is one of the oldest independent living centers in the country. 2006 is our 32nd anniversary. Since 1974, we have been actively advocating for the civil rights of people with disabilities--regionally, statewide, and nationally. Currently we provide independent living, PCA, and Deaf services in the Western Massachusetts area of Hampshire, Franklin, and Hampden Counties.
As a grass roots disability advocacy organization, a self-empowerment model has directed the focus of our activities. By law at least 51% of the staff and the Board of Directors at CILs must be persons with disabilities; we know about disability here through personal experience.
In 1986, we established (and continue to maintain today) offices in Greenfield (the seat of the state's most rural county) and Springfield (the state's third largest city). That same year, we added a Deaf and Hard of Hearing Independent Living Services Program that continues to provide outreach and advocacy, as well as educational programs to the Deaf community predominantly in Hamden County.
Whether it is the Stavros Board of Directors, Consumer Advisory Boards, consumers, or disabled staff members, people with disabilities have shaped our individual services, as well as our systemic advocacy.
In November of 2005, we began moving into our new building in Amherst at 210 Old Farm Road, which now houses both our Fiscal Intermediary (FI) Department (formerly at 409 Main St) and the Independent Living (IL) and Personal Assistance Services (PAS) departments from our old address at 691 South East St, where the operation began in 1974.