About

CILSWF is solely dedicated to empowering people with disabilities, regardless of age, in Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee Counties. We offer services that assist people with disabilities, we help them acquire skills, find services, housing, transportation, employment and physical access to public and private facilities as the means to achieving a quality of life.

The Center for Independent Living of Southwest Florida has been providing consumers with disabilities an accessible link to their life’s goals since 1992. With a consumer driven agenda, our focus is on providing various core services to assist them in achieving their goals. Our mission is to help persons with disabilities achieve independence and self-determination in their lives. In doing so, the following are noteworthy action items we have employed:

• With 80% of our consumers having as their #1 goal to either improve or acquire independent living skills, we have concentrated our efforts to expand our Independent Living Skills class agendas.
• We have initiated a Job Skills program offering training in all aspects of the employment processes including resume writing, the job search, the interview, and actual on-the- job training skills.
• We have partnered with local businesses in advocating for our consumers actively seeking jobs.
• Our volunteer base has been expanded by 20 % to accommodate the need for additional personnel to satisfy our training needs.
• To subsidize our additional financial requirements, we have expanded our horizons in acquiring community grants.
• For consumer socialization goals, we operate a clubhouse where they can engage in activities and games that encourage socialization skills.
• We have added an ASL interpreter to our staff to expand our deaf services both internal to the CIL and external in the community.

Almost 100% of the consumers that attend and enroll in several of the myriad of the independent living skills classes they have requested. Realizing their independent living skills goals, our consumers inform us of their class requirements; and, quite simply, we develop the agendas and offer them.

The following listing comprises a selection of the class offerings:

• Our cooking classes include everything from meal planning, grocery shopping, diet and nutrition fool values. Model classes are held weekly with consumers directly involved in the menu choices and food preparation.
• With an overwhelming desire to either acquire or improve their reading skills, we offer several gradations of reading from the basic phonics to the skilled reading comprehension classes. Reading classes also include mastering language arts.
• With an emphasis on everyday problem solving, our math classes span the scope from simple math to measurements, calculator use, kitchen math, etc.
• To prepare our consumers for living independently, we offer money and budgeting classes.
• Since we live in an electronic age, our computer classes help our consumers acquire skills for job searches, online banking, internet searches, etc.
• To teach our consumers how to maintain an orderly household using eco-friendly cleaning products, we offer green cleaning classes as we are sensitive to those with chemical sensitivities.
• On an individual basis, we may offer select consumers coaching on setting up household budgets, prepare for driver’s education tests, or GED testing.

We are lead by a team of dedicated Board of Directors, charged with the responsibility to govern the corporation. CILSWF is responsible to the stakeholders, or everyone that can be affected by our services in the local communities.