Our Program
Our Mission Statement
Moving Forward Towards Independence is committed to guiding each individual to achieve his or her highest potential by providing a safe environment that maintains a balance of challenges and support. Moving Forward fosters growth in social, vocational, and independent living skills. Working in partnership with residents and their families, Moving Forward offers a caring and responsive community where adults with learning differences can enjoy productive, fulfilling, and healthy lives.
Moving Forward Towards Independence is a residential community where *neurodiverse adults can live as independently as possible.
*the term neurodiverse includes individuals living with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Downs Syndrome, Lennox Gastaut Syndrome, Intellectual Disability, and many other learning differences.
Learn about our program
in depth.
In 2020, Dr. Gwen Palafox, whose practice specializes in young people with neurodevelopmental disabilities, interviewed Rhonda Daniels, our Executive Director until her retirement last year.
The information in this interview remains current, so we hope you'll enjoy this video and article. Settle in — this video is around 48 minutes long.
Dr. Gwen Palafox interviews Rhonda Daniels about the Moving Forward Towards Independence program. Rhonda was the executive director of the program until last year.
What families are saying
“We are profoundly grateful for the Moving Forward staff's professionalism and quality that has enabled our daughter to make such progress in learning to live independently.
“This is even more extraordinary given our family's complicated situation of living abroad.
“We always have had the utmost confidence in the staff, giving us the security and peace of mind for this arrangement to work.”
— Moving Forward Parent, living in Israel
On a kayaking outing
“As a Napa resident, I see my son once or twice a week; typically for our Tuesday night bowling league and some weeks for a Sunday night dinner. Over the years I have seen him grow in his independence, his willingness to try new things, and his ability to initiate.
“His Moving Forward Case Manager is constantly bringing my son opportunities to try new things such as new foods to prepare weekly for dinner group, and most recently, using his cell phone camera to explore the world of photography. The Case Manager provides me with regular reports so I can reinforce his efforts in conversations with my son.
“I have been especially pleased with the success of Moving Forward's job specialist in finding volunteer activities that give my son a sense of service that goes beyond his regular paid employment. The most recent manifestation of this is acting as a coach to the Napa Special Olympics bowling teams. I am forever grateful to Moving Forward and their staff for the loving guidance they have provided over the years.”
— Moving Forward Parent, living in Napa
Basketball on campus
“My daughter had been part of a number of programs as she grew up, but after she graduated from High School, we were at a loss. All the parents around us were having trouble finding their child’s ‘next step.
Luckily, our smart daughter was determined not to live at home and she focused on finding a program that would help her find a job. She has transformed into a capable adult, with a lot of help from the Moving Forward staff. I think they’re the most patient and forgiving people in the world.
I’m pretty sure that all that learning has stuck because she’s been in Community Living for years now and is very happy and fiercely independent.”
— Moving Forward Parent, living in California
Journaling class
Staff coaches resident on computer program
“My son has been a Moving Forward Resident for almost 14 years. Throughout his time - in the Transitional Program and in Community Living - he's received invaluable training, guidance, and leadership from the MF staff.
“The staff members he has worked with have been competent, compassionate, and creative. They have encouraged responsible decision-making and have offered emotional support.
“My husband and I live 600 miles from Napa, but through phone calls and email the staff has worked in partnership with us, and our confidence in their abilities and their judgment has given us peace of mind.”
— Moving Forward Parent, living in Oregon
Household skills coaching
My daughter has been at Moving Forward for five years now. She needed to start at the beginning. She learned how to do her chores to the standards of the program. At first she shut down everyone who tried to befriend her. Her case manager and the whole program had her in their eye and went out of their way to talk with her and get to know her. She started enjoying going out to dinner with the group and using her cash to pay, saving for a treat after dinner.
Progress was very slow, but it was steady. She started talking to other residents. She started enjoying her volunteer work. Her case manager talked with us every week, reassuring us that she was making progress. She started to walk around the local community. She helped the staff make dinner as did the other residents.
Sometimes she went backwards. Sometimes she broke rules. The program corrected her and gave her incentives to move forward.
I don’t know where the vast well of patience came from, but my husband and I are grateful to it every day. Now, she has a competitive job, she has friends in the program, she lives in the community and pays her own rent and buys her groceries. She goes to parties and events on campus, and even though she’s very tired of COVID, she is happier than she’s ever been.
Our daughter is proud to be an adult and act like an adult and have adult responsibilities. She has her own life and likes to remind us that we don’t need to help her. How did we get here? It’s not just the program, it’s how the program worked with my daughter to work on her own life and her own future.
— Moving Forward Parent, living in California
Baking class
“I don’t believe I’ve ever seen my daughter as happy and productive as she has been these past months. It is truly wonderful! One of our extended family members noticed how proactive, optimistic, and friendly she was at Christmas asked me if we had changed her medicine. I replied “It’s not meds, its Moving Forward!”
— Moving Forward Parent, living in California
“Our daughter has been at Moving Forward for four years, and it has been a time of tremendous growth for her. She started the program with low self-esteem, still trying to find her place in the world.
“Literally from the day she arrived, she felt a part of the Moving Forward family. That sense of belonging and support has been the common denominator in how her life has turned around in the past several years. She has gained enormously in self-esteem and in the confidence that she can handle most parts of her life independently.
“The Moving Forward staff has helped her accomplish this with its caring, loving attitude, its responsiveness to her needs, and its coaching to teach her how to navigate interpersonal relationships, job requirements (including finding a job in the first place), and the daily tasks and challenges that make up an independent life.
“We are grateful beyond description for Moving Forward’s help in shaping our daughter into the poised, self-confident young woman she is becoming today.”
— Moving Forward Parent, living in the SF Bay Area
At a Warriors game
“I am a father with a son on the autism spectrum. My now 30- year-old son has been in the Moving Forward program for the past 11 years. I have to say I could not be more pleased with his growth, progress, and maturity on every level. And he has never been happier!
“When he first came to MF, he lacked many basic life skills and the confidence to do them, and needed a lot of direction. Under the remarkable tutelage and encouragement of the wonderful staff at MF, he has learned to take care of himself, and for some time now has had and maintained his own apartment, his own car, his own job, and the self-confidence to tackle life’s curve balls with a much more positive attitude.
“He has also just completed a series of adult education courses and earned the certificates necessary to start a professional career.
“Through firm, consistent and loving direction, the staff at MF has taught him so much about all aspects of his life, all the while giving him room to be himself and grow at his own pace and in his own way.
“I am one very happy and proud parent of a very happy, productive and independent young man; the Moving Forward program gets all the credit!”
— Moving Forward Parent