Boston Center for Independent Living

Logo for Boston Center for Independent Living
Advocacy, Service, Action! 

Date Founded

1974

Industry

Advocacy

Type

Nonprofit

Mission

The Boston Center for Independent Living is a front line civil rights organization led by people with disabilities that advocates to eliminate discrimination, isolation and segregation by providing advocacy, information and referral, peer support, skills training, PCA services, and transitional services in order to enhance the independence of people with disabilities.

Services Provided

BCIL is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that has provided services to people with disabilities since 1974, when it became the second independent living center in the country. The organization was created by people with disabilities seeking full integration into society. BCIL accomplishes this by empowering people of all ages with a wide range of disabilities with the practical skills and self-confidence to take control over their lives and become active members of the communities in which they live. At the same time, BCIL engages in advocacy and community organizing to promote access and change within society.

BCIL provides the five "core services" of independent living centers:

  1. Peer Mentoring
  2. Skills Training
  3. Information and Referral
  4. Advocacy
  5. Transition

BCIL’s individual services and systemic advocacy address a number of areas critical to people with disabilities, including housing, healthcare, employment, long-term care, transportation, adaptive technology, communications, civil rights law, and education. In keeping with the disability rights slogan “Nothing about us without us,” 70% of our staff and board are people with disabilities; bringing both personal and professional experience to work.

Since 1974, BCIL has empowered persons with disabilities to become more independent while advocating for their rights on the local, state, and federal levels. It rallied around the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990. This legislation is the foundation of the efforts to improve municipal access in the city of Boston, and the basis for its settlement with the MBTA to create system-wide accessibility. BCIL has also worked to pass legislation that will create better working conditions for PCAs and programs that generate more affordable, accessible housing for people with disabilities throughout Greater Boston.

Promoting greater independence for people with disabilities is BCIL’s mission. It strives to ensure access to the mainstream community, and advocacy work fundamentally relates to personal health, human dignity, family stability and one’s ability to contribute to society. BCIL champions giving people a collective say in the decisions affecting their lives. Its independent living services are consumer-controlled, and it believes that people with disabilities must, whenever possible, unite to speak out on larger issues that affect their lives, such as housing, health care, and transportation access. BCIL advocates for full compliance of the American with Disabilities Act from the city of Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, ensuring that those with disabilities enjoy rights and opportunities on an equal basis with those without disabilities. BCIL’s goals may be ambitious, but they have the energy, commitment, experience and passion to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities in greater Boston and across Massachusetts.

How Many People Reached

BCIL serves 34 towns and cities in the Greater Boston area reaching well over 5,000 people with disabilities yearly.

 

How Are Donations Used

Donations are used to support the advocacy work and general work of BCIL.

Interesting Fact

BCIL is an organization who’s staff and board of directors are made up of over 70% people with disabilities. BCIL feels they know the disability community because they are the community too.

Where To Donate

Donate here

Contact

(617) 338-6665
contactbcil@bostoncil.org

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