forever homes
for abandoned Armenians with special needs

For nearly two decades, Natalie Bryant Rizzieri worked on behalf of abandoned Armenians with special needs.  She directed the first movement of long-term group homes in Armenia to fulfill her hope that individuals be served outside of institutional settings.  As the founder, her vision was a sustainable model that can be replicated in Armenia without reliance on an international nonprofit.  As was her hope from the beginning, three group homes are now being operated by a local nonprofit.  The model utilizes Armenian government support, private, local and international donations, self-generated income projects and public funds. Individuals with special needs are oftentimes still institutionalized in Armenia, and stigmatized as dangerous, inhuman, and shameful. But the solution of community-based group homes is working. It breaks into what is otherwise a closed system and interrupts the negative interlocking cycles of attitude and injustice by providing an inlet for hope and change on the individual, institutional and national level.