Bainbridge Island Special Needs Foundation - Stephens House

The Bainbridge Island Special Needs Foundation (operating at The Stephens House and serving all of Kitsap County) provides a dedicated, neighborhood-based hub where adults with developmental disabilities and their support networks; families, educators, and caregivers, connect and thrive. Our mission is to foster independence and community integration through a staff-led day program focused on volunteer stewardship and life-skills enrichment. We bridge the gap between our members and the community at large, ensuring every individual has a place to contribute and belong. Our curriculum-driven activities include life skills such as cooking and gardening, community integration through vocational field trips and service projects, and creative expression through music and art. Managed by a dedicated professional leadership team, Stephens House is more than a facility—it is a launchpad for purposeful living.

The Bainbridge Island Special Needs Foundation exists to offer adults with developmental disabilities a supportive environment and healthy life-enhancing activities while integrating with their local community. The Bainbridge Island Special Needs Foundation (BISNF) was formed as the result of efforts that began around 1980. Several parents of profoundly handicapped children began meeting with each other, school educators, and other community resources to identify ways that could be employed to improve otherwise likely outcomes. These initial meetings resulted in the formation of a Special Parent Teacher Organization. This group provided certain steering and advisory functions, a lobby, and sources for funding needs not provided within the structure of state education. These functions continue today under a separate banner, while BISNF's focus has targeted the transition years and those that follow involvement in the public school system. The foundation's status as a not-for-profit 501(c)3 corporation was formalized in 1999. The Stephens House was established in 2002 by the Bainbridge Island Special Needs Foundation (BISNF) as a group supported employment program that provides even the most severely developmentally disabled adults with the opportunity to learn appropriate work behavior and skills, focusing on each individuals needs and interests with the goal of finding meaningful, productive community employment.