About RCIL
With almost 1000 employees providing service in 26 counties in Upstate New York, the Resource Center for Independent Living (RCIL) is the largest of 37 independent living centers (ILCs) in the state and one of over 400 nationally.
RCIL is a community-based nonprofit agency offering a wide range of independent living and advocacy services for and -- most importantly -- with people with disabilities. Our underlying assumption? That there should be "no limits" placed on people, regardless of disability. The basic human right of participating in society as a self-determining individual must extend to all citizens. Each of us has the capacity -- and responsibility -- to be a proud, contributing member of our community.
In other words, who knows better what an individual needs and wants than that person him/herself? At RCIL, we recognize that disability is simply part of the human condition. People should not be pitied or set aside simply because they fall outside the spectrum of what's considered "normal." As other minority groups have shown, "normal" is -- and should be -- an ever-expanding category.
We believe that disability should be seen as a human experience that makes each person unique -- something to be recognized and celebrated, rather than a reason to shun and segregate one another.
What makes RCIL different?
There are many organizations created to support and serve people with disabilities -- state vocational rehabilitation agencies, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, sheltered workshops, senior centers, home health care agencies, and organizations focused on specific disabilities. Growing out of the disability rights movement, independent living centers were created with the explicit goal of integration and advocacy -- for example, people with disabilities comprise, at minimum, 51% of RCIL's Board of Directors, thus putting policy and advocacy decisions in the hands of the people those decisions directly impact.
At RCIL, we serve people of all ages, with all types of disabilities. Our approach is holistic, our services are comprehensive and consumer-directed and, when our staff and consumers identify areas of the system that need change, we tackle these through public policy initiatives, legislation, and advocacy. In other words, we are committed to breaking through systemic barriers in order to provide people with the basic human right to live a rich, self-directed life.
What does RCIL do?
Our core independent living center functions include peer counseling, independent living skills training, information and referral, and individual and systems advocacy. In addition, RCIL offers a wide variety of programs and services, all focused on the central goal of expanding individual rights, options, and potential. The agency also serves the community at large as a clearinghouse for information regarding disability issues, other service providers, adaptive technology, and as an expert and consultant on the Americans with Disabilities Act and barrier-free architectural design.
Check out our Disability FAQs, learn more about RCIL's Programs and Services, or contact RCIL for more information.
How is RCIL organized?
RCIL itself is an independent living center, which has a collaborative relationship with the Learning Disability Association of the Mohawk Valley (LDA). These two nonprofit organizations share many common objectives, such as full integration and opportunity for people with all types of disabilities, and derive a great deal of benefit from their close affiliation.
Always open to innovation, RCIL started the full-service staffing agency Columbia Place Associates in order to provide the community with a fresh choice for temporary and temp-to-hire employees. As a for-profit company, Columbia Place Associates is not directly associated with RCIL, but instead was developed with a unique business model. This agency, which serves companies and individuals with and without disabilities, feeds all its profits into the RCIL Foundation.
The RCIL Foundation is the fundraising arm of this family of organizations, developed as a flexible, supplemental source of funding for RCIL's existing programs and future innovations. Overseeing the RCIL Foundation and Columbia Place Associates is RCIL, Inc, which is a supporting organization involved with planning, compliance, and quality control.