Cascade Connections

For over 40 years now, our nonprofit organization has been working toward its mission of empowering people with disabilities to enhance their quality of life. Cascade Connections was founded in 1976 by a group of parents from the Lynden area who wanted a home for their adult children with developmental disabilities. The agency has since grown to serve hundreds of individuals with a broad range of skills, interests, and abilities. We now operate a variety of different programs specifically designed to fit our community's needs. Our programs include Cascade Connections Supported Living, Cascade Christian Home (our group home), Home Care, Training, and Vocational Services. 

Cascade Connections promotes opportunities for everyone through community partnerships as well as service excellence. We help community members get to know the great people we support and all that they have to offer. We also serve Whatcom County employers by connecting them with applicants who bring considerable value and diversity to local businesses. We take pride in being a resource for local employers on disability-related issues.

Our Values

Cascade Connections uses the following values to ensure that we are doing all we can to support the people we serve. Our ideas, standards, and practices have changed and will continue to change over time. However, the people we serve remain at the heart of every decision our organization makes. We constantly evaluate new ways that we can serve more people without compromising the quality of services we offer. 

• Service Excellence: Maintaining quality staff and services requires wisdom, expertise, respect and integrity. 
• Integrity: Doing what we say and taking responsibility for our actions and words. We hold each other accountable to the Mission and Values of Cascade Connections. 
• Empowerment: Striving to provide people with tools, skills, and connections to build a more positive future. 
• Competencies: Delivering services that meet physical, emotional, spiritual, mental, social and environmental needs. 
• Christian Leadership: Adhering to bring glory to God and serve humankind. 
• Servant Leadership: Leading by example and putting others’ needs and desires before our own. We are humble stewards of organizational resources: human, financial, and physical. 
• Equal Opportunity: Supporting personal growth through power and choice, competence, health and safety, positive relationships, status, and integration. All people are created equal. 
• Individualized Services: Providing services from a person-centered perspective. Community belonging is a two-way street, and everyone benefits from inclusion. We seek to partner together to create a barrier-free community.

Our History

Cascade Connections originated in 1976 and founded a group home in Lynden, Washington in 1980. Called Cascade Christian Home, this home supported 12 individuals with developmental disabilities. Over the years, Cascade Connections has expanded and adapted to community needs in various ways. 

The Cascade Connections’ Supported Living program was created to serve those folks who lived in the original group home and were ready to move into their own apartments. This allowed people with developmental disabilities to have the support they needed to live independently in their community. At one time, Cascade Connections also operated a children’s home in the Mt. Vernon area. This home is no longer in operation, but many of the people who lived there are now supported through Cascade Connections Supported Living Program. In 1991, the nonprofit changed its name to Cascade Christian Services to reflect its expansion from one group home to two group homes and a new supported living program.

Cascade Connections began serving people vocationally in 1992 out of a need for two individuals living in the original group home. Their new positions led to more referrals and more job placements. Cascade Connections began contracting with the Whatcom County Health Department to provide long-term vocational support services for individuals with developmental disabilities. Later, Cascade Connections eventually also became a provider for services through the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, allowing us to provide services for people with a greater variety of disabilities such as brain injuries and mental health disorders.

Cascade Connections eventually began providing home care services, which allow staff to support people to live in their own home, either alone or with family. Our home care aides support people in meeting their daily needs such as cooking, cleaning, personal care, shopping and appointments. Home care aides serve children through senior citizens. 

Pine Street home, another adult family home, opened in the Lynden area in 2007. This home served up to six gentlemen to live in a home owned by Cascade Connections. This home was staffed 24 hours in order to ensure people receive sufficient support to live independently. Pine Street Home has since closed, but most of the individuals who lived there are now served by Cascade Connections Supported Living.

The youngest department within our agency is the Training Department. Over the many years of providing services, our country, our state, and our county have added additional training requirements. Cascade Connections created our Training Department out of a need to ensure that we are able to hire and train the best employees in our area. This department offers training to all new staff, as well as community members. Staff are able to come into our organization and gain the skills, abilities, and confidence necessary to provide the best support services possible. 

In 2014, our agency focused on re-branding, which included changing the organization name to Cascade Connections. We changed the name and reorganized internally in order to open opportunities for future growth, while still keeping the Christian values that have made the organization strong and unique. These changes allowed the agency to offer more services to a wider, more diverse audience, some of whom did not receive services previously.

Our Services

Our residential programs include Cascade Connections Supported Living/CCSL, our group training home (Cascade Christian Home/CCH), and Cascade Connections Home Care. Our non-residential programs include Vocational Services (VOC) and Cascade Connections Training.

Our CCSL and CCH staff support individuals with developmental disabilities to live as independently as possible in their own homes and to thrive in their communities. Employees provide supports to make that possible, including, though not limited to:

• Bed and mobility transfers
• Community integration
• Cooking and cleaning
• Financial support, budgeting, and bill paying
• Housework and laundry
• Meal planning and preparation
• Medication management and supervision
• Personal hygiene assistance, including bathing and dressing
• Positive behavior supports
• Respite services
• Shopping for groceries and clothes
• Support making and attending medical appointments

Our Home Care program offers similar services to seniors as well as people with disabilities. Home Care services offerings include:

Personal Care:

• Personal hygiene assistance
• Medication reminders
• Diet monitoring and meal planning
• Walking assistance

Housekeeping:

• Laundry and ironing, vacuuming and dusting
• Preparing meals and washing dishes
• Caring for pets and plants

Companion Care:

• Caring companionship and conversation
• Help with hobbies (scrapbooking and games, gardening, sports and news, etc.)
• General shopping and errands
• Transportation and appointments

Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care:

• Customized care plans
• Constant client monitoring
• Supervising of medication and daily activities
• Fostering of supportive communication
• Promoting a positive environment
• Providing meaningful activities

Our Vocational Services program supports adults with developmental disabilities in finding and keeping jobs. Our VOC staff also develop relationships with local businesses to encourage them to consider hiring people with disabilities. Some of the specific tasks that Vocational staff might do include:

• Help with getting and keeping a job
• Job coaching and on-site support
• Goal setting and career consulting
• Resume writing and interviewing skills practice
• Empowerment and advocacy 

The Cascade Connections Training department offers both classroom and online certifications as well as continuing education classes. Cascade Connections instructors are Department of Health-approved to provide Washington State Department of Social and Health Services-required training for staff and family members. The Training Department provides dozens of classes, including all classes needed for home care aide certification and state testing. Continuing education courses offer hands-on opportunities to learn new skills or sharpen current skills.

To learn more about how Cascade Connections makes a difference in people's lives, please check out our website, our newsletters, and our social media pages (Facebook and Instagram)!