North Country Center for Independence (NCCI) - Plattsburgh, NY

Location: Plattsburgh, NY.

Mission Statement

The Mission of the North Country Center for Independence is to empower people with disabilities to live more independent and productive lives, and to promote beneficial policies and community understanding of disability issues. We serve people of all ages and income levels, and people with any kind of physical or mental disabilities.

What is Independent Living?

Independent Living Centers are independent not-for-profit agencies governed and staffed mainly by people with disabilities. They provide core services of information & referral, independent living skills training, advocacy, and peer counseling, plus other services and programs chosen and developed by each center in response to local needs. Centers for Independent Living are not residential facilities, nor do most of them offer self-contained "day programs". Instead, Centers help each person develop his or her own goals and help them marshal the services needed to meet those goals. Services are available to anyone in a Center’s community who has an interest in any disability-related issue or need.

Independent Living is:

• An approach to disability services that relies on the strength of peer-to-peer connections... people with disabilities providing help and support to one another.

• A movement to unite people with all kinds of disabilities, of all ages and backgrounds, in support of policies that promote equal opportunity, accessibility, and inclusion.

• A way of viewing the challenges of disability in terms of empowerment and consumer control, while embracing use of assistive technology, as well as well-designed and respectfully provided support services.

Funding Sources

NCCI receives Independent Living Center funding from the New York State Education Department. Additional funding comes from other grants and contracts, as well as donations from North Country businesses, organizations, and individuals who support us and the Independent Living philosophy.

NYS ACCES-VR, United Way of the Adirondack Region, Clinton County Office for the Aging, Concepts of Independent Choices, New York State Medicaid, TD Charitable Foundation, Stewarts Shops, Mountain Lake PBS, Northeast Public Radio, and individual donors throughout the North Country.