178.656. Organization of centers, board of directors, staff--services provided--disabilities served--compliance with local laws and ordinances required. - Missouri Statutes

Organization of centers, board of directors, staff--servicesprovided--disabilities served--compliance with local laws andordinances required.

178.656. 1. Centers for independent living shall becommunity-based nonresidential programs designed to promoteindependent living for persons with disabilities. Such centersshall be organized as nonprofit corporations with persons withdisabilities comprising at least fifty-one percent of thegoverning board of directors.

2. At least fifty-one percent of the staff of such centersshall be persons with disabilities.

3. The center shall provide to persons with disabilitieswithin the center's target population and their families thefollowing independent living services:

(1) Advocacy;

(2) Independent living skills training, which shall includebut shall not be limited to health care and financial management;

(3) Peer counseling;

(4) Information and referral to all inquirers includingthose from outside the center's target population.

4. The center may provide or make available, but is notlimited to, the following:

(1) Legal services;

(2) Other counseling services, which may include nonpeer,group, and family counseling;

(3) Housing services;

(4) Equipment services;

(5) Transportation services;

(6) Social and recreational services;

(7) Educational services;

(8) Vocational services, including supported employment;

(9) Reader, interpreter, and other communication services;

(10) Attendant and homemaker services; and

(11) Electronic services.

5. To qualify as a center for independent living under theprovisions of sections 178.651 to 178.658, centers shall serve atleast four of the following types of disabilities:

(1) Mobility;

(2) Orthopedic;

(3) Hearing impaired or deaf;

(4) Vision impaired or blind;

(5) Neurological;

(6) Mental retardation;

(7) Developmental;

(8) Psychiatric or mental; or

(9) Learning.

6. Centers shall make maximum use of existing resourcesavailable to persons with disabilities and shall not duplicateany existing services or programs in the geographic areas to theextent that such services or programs are available through otherstate resources. Such centers shall, however, provideinformation and referral to assist persons with disabilities inobtaining available services and shall coordinate, wherefeasible, the delivery of such services.

7. Centers shall operate in compliance with all applicablelocal laws and ordinances.

(L. 1988 H.B. 975 § 4)