MARIETTA, Ga. — David and Debbie Turner of west Cobb, parents of a child with Down syndrome, know firsthand the challenges of helping a child with an intellectual disability achieve independence.
In March, the couple will open Amber Grace Community, a long-term housing community with the ability to house up to 48 adults with mild intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).
Using 35 acres on the campus of Berry College in Mount Berry, the community is named after their daughter, Amber Grace, and aims to provide her and other people with similar needs a safe place to live with supported independence, while also providing opportunities for growth.
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In addition, the community will help provide relief for caregivers and families of those living with intellectual disabilities.
“We’re really seeking to serve the caregivers or the parents of these individuals with IDD as well as serve those with IDD,” Debbie Turner said.
According to the University of Minnesota’s Residential Information Systems Project, there are approximately 2.28 million adults in the U.S. living with an intellectual and/or a developmental disability.
Growing up, the Turners said, those with IDD receive support through school programs, but the same cannot be said once they become adults.
“Individuals (with IDD) have support services all the way up through high school: they’ve got physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, (paraprofessionals), et cetera, and they have a good bit of support,” Debbie Turner said. “But when they reach the end of high school, everything stops.
“They are unemployed, and they have few, if any, opportunities for continued growth or community connection within their community, and so it’s a pretty sad plight,” she continued. “Parents often are overwhelmed and just honestly exhausted from trying to find and create a life, but there really isn’t one there to be had.”
David and Debbie Turner, who are 72 and 67, respectively, have lived in Cobb since 1979. David Turner worked for over 38 years with Chick-fil-A before retiring as vice president of operation services, while Debbie Turner was a stay-at-home mother for their four children.
The couple began the years-long journey of creating the complex in 2019 when Amber Grace, 34, wanted to find a place where she could live independently.
“She’s the youngest of four, so she saw all three of (her siblings) launch … go to college, and get places of their own, and she’s a very self-motivated, adventurous person and she really wanted to do that herself,” Debbie Turner said.
After searching across the country for a support complex where Amber could live, the couple found that many were “either too supportive or not supportive enough,” and, in 2019, they decided to create their own community where their daughter and others like her could live with independence “that is appropriate to the individual.”
When the president of Berry College heard about their vision, David Turner said, he reached out, offering them a large empty space on the campus to bring their dream to life, though Berry has no direct involvement with the community.
The process of creating this community has been a family affair, Debbie Turner said, with the couple’s three other children and their spouses serving on the Amber Grace Community Board of Directors.
“They are very committed to it,” she said. “I think they see this as part of making their contribution to this world.”
In total, there are eight houses located in the Amber Grace “miniature village,” David Turner said, which can each house six residents, along with staff who are trained to provide help to residents with IDD should they need it.
Each resident will receive their own apartment within their house, complete with a bedroom, bathroom, kitchenette and living space, and each home has a shared family room and kitchen space where all the residents and staff can spend time together.
Next to the shared common space is an additional two-story, four-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom space where staff will live.
Staff, Debbie Turner said, could range from a young couple with no kids, to a younger or older family with kids, to retired couples.
Their main goal, the Turners said, is to provide residents with a chance to live in what the couple calls “appropriate independence.”
“Most people recognize that we’re really, truly alive when we belong, when we are contributing, when we make a difference, if we show up every day. And so we are committed to finding what that looks like for each of our (residents),” Debbie Turner said. “And it might be employment, it might be an area to volunteer, it could be any number of things. But we’re going to find a place for them to engage and contribute to their community.”
Across the entire 35-acre campus, Amber Grace residents can take advantage of a variety of amenities, including a welcome center with social and office spaces; a dining hall where lunch is served daily; a salon and barber; recreation spaces that include a pool, hot tub, playground and gymnasium; and a community center that hosts the complex’s NeighborLife program, which provides personal, educational and spiritual classes.
The 16-month-long construction process to bring the village to life began in May of 2024 and concluded last November.
According to David Turner, the campus was brought to life thanks to support from public and private donors. He did not disclose the cost to build the facility.
Throughout that process, David Turner said, families from across the South — including metro Atlanta, Birmingham, Ala.; and St. Simons, Ga. — have applied for a loved one to become a resident at the community.
There are no dues or rent payments for residents, the Turners said, but families of residents are responsible for providing the “cost of care” for their family member, which includes grocery and transportation costs.
To help cover the “cost of care” for residents at Amber Grace and to help pay staff members, the nonprofit will host an annual fundraising goal of $5 million, with all the proceeds going toward keeping the facility running and financially supporting their residents.
“The whole budget will be about right at $5 million, and that’ll support those 48 neighbors,” David Turner said. “If there’s a single mom in Atlanta and they have Johnny (who’s) just a perfect candidate to live here, then she should come see us.”
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