QuickTake:

Alvord-Taylor provided supported living services to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The organization recently transitioned individuals to other programs in Eugene and Springfield due to financial challenges. 

A Springfield-based nonprofit organization that supported individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities since 1974 has closed. 

Alvord-Taylor provided 24-hour services to individuals living in group homes and also supported people living in their own homes. The organization closed June 30, executive director Mark Herbert told Lookout Eugene-Springfield. 

The organization has vacated its administrative office near the intersection of Highway 126 and Mohawk Boulevard and is transferring its group homes in Eugene and Springfield to Oregon Supported Living Program (OSLP), a Eugene-based nonprofit that provides similar services. 

Herbert said Alvord-Taylor’s expenses were exceeding its revenues. The program was almost entirely government-funded and he said state-set funding rates did not match inflation. 

“And so, what we determined is that the best way to support the individuals that we support, which is our critical priority, was to look for an opportunity to transition those individuals to other programs,” Herbert said. 

He said Alvord-Taylor started the process in December and worked with the state to notify each individual and their family that their current provider was going away and to give them options to choose their new care. He said 57 people were transitioned to new programs, 35 in group homes and 22 people in supported living. 

Herbert said the majority of individuals the organization was supporting have transitioned to OSLP, and some went to other agencies in the area. 

Most group home residents staying put

When a nonprofit dissolves, it is required to distribute its assets to another qualified charitable organization. 

Herbert said Alvord-Taylor is transferring its properties to three nonprofit organizations. These include StablePath Community Services, which provides financial management and other services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and Mainstream Housing, a Eugene nonprofit that provides affordable housing options for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

The 24-hour supported residences are being transferred to the third organization, OSLP. 

“I think that the closing of Alvord-Taylor was a pretty unfortunate thing that happened, but in the grand scheme of how it all played out, I see this as a pretty massive win for the [intellectual and developmental disabilities] community in Lane County, but also just how nonprofits can work together to make sure that when we’re missionally aligned, that we can make sure that we’re providing a place for the communities that we support to land,” Jesse Belcher, executive director of OSLP, told Lookout. 

He said that it was “a pretty massive undertaking” for his organization. 

“But when we sat down and we talked about what this would look like, we really tried to maintain focus on the people that Alvord-Taylor was supporting and trying to find a way that they could continue to receive support in the homes that they’ve been living in for years,” Belcher said.

He said almost everybody that Alvord-Taylor supported in a 24-hour residential setting didn’t have to move to a new home. 

OSLP has assumed responsibility for 10 homes and is operating a program at an 11th home that another nonprofit took ownership of. 

Belcher said about 110 Alvord-Taylor employees applied for and were hired by OSLP. Herbert said the organization had about 180 employees when it closed. 

Alvord-Taylor had a budget of just under $13 million for the fiscal year ending June 2025, according to a tax form filed with the Internal Revenue Service. 

Herbert said the organization will submit a dissolution plan to the state for review. After all expenses have been paid and funds distributed, the board of directors will be dissolved.

Herbert was the organization’s executive director on a contract basis from 2017 to 2020 and then came back in April 2025.

When asked how it felt to have to close Alvord-Taylor, he said it was “heartbreaking.” 

“When I came back in April to try to help them, that was certainly not the intent,” he said. “But when I realized that it was, it was very, very important to me that we managed that transition in a way that we minimize disruption to our most important stakeholders, which in order, are the people we supported, our employees and the community.”