Promise in Brevard offers lots of promise

Mother-and-son duo Betsy and Luke Farmer have always marched to their own drummer.

When Luke, who was born with Down Syndrome, needed a school that could help him achieve his highest potential, mom Betsy got to work She discovered in the 1980s Brevard offered limited resources for children with special needs.

Betsy took matters into her own hands and launched the Space Coast Early Intervention Center, a preschool where kids with and without special needs play alongside each other.

When Luke needed gainful employment, his mother again stepped up to the plate, this time to create the Brevard Business Leadership Network, which expanded employment opportunities for individuals with special needs.

As Luke grew into an adult, Betsy realized how badly he, like all young people, wanted to strike out on his own. Group homes did not offer the solution Luke and Betsy wanted, so the pair got to thinking.

The result is Promise in Brevard, a model community that has drawn attention for its inventiveness and design in a setting where residents can live, work and thrive amongst neighbors who care.

“We get calls from all over the country from families who are interested in having their children be Promisers,” Betsy said.

Parents of young adults with special needs worry about what will happen to their offspring once they are no longer able to care for them. Promise in Brevard assuages their fears by offering a home their children can call their own for the rest of their lives.

“They will be able to age in place,” Betsy said.

The concept behind Promise was developed with the assistance of a group of young individuals known as the Dream Team, who provided their input from the amenities to the floor plans.

“We asked them to dream big and they did,” Betsy said.

The team of future residents worked closely with Promise’s designers since day one. Amidst 39 acres in West Melbourne, the Promise concept encompasses a 150-seat dining room, zero-entry saltwater, heated pool and therapeutic spa, brick pizza oven and summer kitchen, poolside snack bar, vocational, continuing education and employment opportunities, a creative arts center, a culinary arts program, fitness center, 5,000-plant hydroponic garden for farm-to-table produce, doggie day care and park and a nine-acre condo subdivision where parents of residents can opt to purchase their own nests close to their children.

That’s just for starters. The plan also calls for a video production studio, a disability-friendly bed and breakfast, a 15,000-square-foot equestrian center and therapeutic riding program, a full-sized gym for Special Olympics/Paralympics events and disability-friendly hair and nail salon.

“This place is like a resort,” Farmer said.

Indeed it is, and what is even better is that this happy place is affordable, for the housing development was funded primarily through the Florida Housing Finance Corporation. Promise in Brevard has also developed a variety of social enterprise concepts that offer Promisers, as the residents are called, a chance to work to pay for their own support services and to purchase items they want.

Promise’s first social enterprise, the Promise Treasure Thrift Shoppe, opened in 2013 in West Melbourne. The store currently has 10 Promisers on its payroll and provides vocational training for another 50 young adults. This summer, the Promise Café & Bakery will open adjacent to the Space Coast Field of Dreams in West Melbourne. Gannett Foundation awarded $100,000 to the Promise Creative Arts Center, also anticipated to open this summer with art classes for Promisers as well as for the general public.

“My goal is for every resident to have a job and be productive,” Betsy said.

Although Promisers’ average age is 32, some of the 126 residents are as young as 18. The oldest resident is 53. All will enjoy a safe and nurturing environment for many years to come.

Residents can opt to live in a one-bedroom unit, or go the roommate route with two, three or four-bedroom complexes where each Promiser has his or her own bedroom and bath. Luke, for example, lives with three other roomies, and each has imbued their unique style to their bachelor pads.

Since it is affordable housing, residents are expected to pay 30 percent of their income.

The community was also designed to nurture each resident out of their shells.

“They had been used to hanging out in their rooms all day, but now they have so much to do,” Betsy said, who lives on-site as resident advisor.

Farmer believes the wonder that is Promise in Brevard could never have been realized without divine intervention.

“This is really God’s work,” she said.