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Toronto, ON – March 6, 2026 local MPP Michelle Cooper had the opportunity to see how Reena is advancing a new, community-centred residential planning model for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) at its Frankfort Family Reena Residence thanks to a $93,800 Seed grant from the provincial government’s Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF). Reena is a non-profit social service agency focused on helping children/adults/senior citizens with developmental disabilities to realize their full potential and to integrate into the community.
“This Seed grant is a meaningful investment in helping individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities build stronger connections and greater independence,” said Michelle Cooper, MPP for Eglinton-Lawrence. “By supporting a pilot that delivers proactive, community‑centred planning tools for residents and their families, our government, under the leadership of Premier Ford, is advancing inclusion, expanding opportunities, and helping ensure that everyone can take part fully in the communities they call home.”
The OTF grant, awarded in late 2024, was to help with a project entitled: “Empowering Families: Community-Centred Residential Planning for Individuals with IDD”. It addressed a critical gap facing families who are not in crisis but cannot wait decades for traditional residential placements. The OTF grant enabled Reena to build what it describes as the “intellectual engine” for the Frankfort Family Reena Residence, which is scheduled to open in Fall 2026, ensuring individuals and families can transition into permanent homes with fully assessed, personalized support plans and greater confidence from day one.
“This project is about shifting from reactive emergency placements to proactive residential planning,” said Bryan Keshen, CEO of Reena. “With support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, we are building tools and a repeatable process that can support more families while maintaining the individualized, human-centred approach Reena is known for.”
This OTF grant has helped Reena test scalability and build standardized tools that transform a largely manual planning process into a repeatable, community-responsive model. Key outputs include: an evolved approach based on Reena’s existing fee-for-service residential model; a scalable four-stage Assessment Process designed to support high volumes of families without losing personalization; standardized tools, including the Independent Residential Practice Program (IRPP) Preparation Toolkit and assessment rubrics, creating a repeatable “blueprint” for planning and assessment in future housing projects.
Reena will launch the Independent Residential Practice Program (IRPP) in April, offering a three-day, two-night “test drive” in a real-world accessible apartment. This practical stage validates whether a support plan works in reality, not only on paper, before a permanent transition into a home. The project was shaped through deep engagement with families and the broader community: 100+ virtual discovery calls to hear housing journeys, successes, and fears; targeted surveys capturing the “staggering” reality of the housing journey for people with IDD; tools refined through direct feedback and lived experience, focusing on real barriers rather than perceived ones.
In terms of numbers: 385 families initially expressed interest in this model; 104 families shared their journeys through discovery calls and surveys; 23 individuals were identified for the first wave of practice stays.
