L’Arche Greater Washington, D.C. is a community of people with and without intellectual disabilities sharing life together. We celebrate the unique value of every person, recognizing and accepting our need for one another and building relationships that transform each of us.
L’Arche is unique among residential providers in that core members and assistants (people without intellectual disabilities who support core members) live together like a family. In our four homes, two in DC and two in Arlington, we eat, play, learn, laugh, grieve, and pray together.
Countless people have come through our doors, whether to join us for one dinner or many years. At L’Arche, they find friendship and a uniquely inclusive space, where each person is loved and cared for simply for being themselves. By inviting people into our community and by going out to engage in our neighborhoods we are building a more human society, one where we recognize the gifts of people with intellectual disabilities.
We are an inter-denominational Christian community that welcomes people of all faiths or none. Our lives are based around welcome, prayer, celebration, and forgiveness. Through these practices, each member is encouraged to discover and deepen his or her spiritual life and live it according to his or her particular faith and tradition. Those who have no religious or spiritual affiliation are also welcomed and respected in their humanity and freedom of conscience.
L’Arche Greater Washington, D.C. is part of the international federation of L’Arche communities, committed to making known the gifts of people with intellectual disabilities all over the world.
