Target Community & Educational Services, Inc. broke ground Monday, Oct. 26, on a new group home at the corner of Kate Wagner Road and Washington Road in Westminster. It is designed so four longtime participants can live there for the rest of their lives.
Target Community is a Maryland nonprofit that supports adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities through residential services, employment opportunities, day programs and other individualized supports.
The existing house on the property will be demolished and replaced with a new accessible residence. The organization says the home will use universal design principles, meaning it is built to accommodate changing physical abilities and support needs, so residents would not have to move as they age.
Architectural renderings of the planned residence on display at the Oct. 26 groundbreaking. The sheet is marked “for design review only, not for construction.” (Photo: Target Community & Educational Services, Inc. Facebook page)
Dr. Matthew Ramsey, Target Community’s president and CEO, said in a video posted to the organization’s Facebook page that the home is “the evolution of Target’s group home.” He said it is built for participants who are aging and “have different needs than they did 20 or 30 years ago.”
“Target’s value is that our participants age in place,” Ramsey said, adding that as their needs change, “our structures need to change” to keep meeting them.
The future residents are Susan, Sally, Donald and John. Donald, Susan and Sally attended the groundbreaking and turned the first shovels of soil, according to a Facebook post. John will join them when construction is complete. Donald has been part of Target Community for more than 40 years and was one of the organization’s earliest participants, according to the organization.
Three of the home’s future residents at the Oct. 26 groundbreaking at Kate Wagner Road and Washington Road in Westminster. (Photo: Target Community & Educational Services, Inc. Facebook page)
Ramsey called the project “expensive” but “needed.” He did not give a cost in the video, and Target Community has not said what the project will cost, how construction is being funded or when it will finish. The organization is asking the public to donate through its 2026 Annual Appeal, which it says will help pay for furnishings, personal spaces and gathering areas in the new home.