Opportunity Village Ambassador Kristin Allison speaks during an interview at Betty’s Village Tuesday, April 16, 2024.
Sunday, April 21, 2024 | 2 a.m.
Kristin Allison never thought she would live independently.
That is until she moved into an apartment nearly three years ago in then-brand-new Betty’s Village, a residential community for people with disabilities built in the southwest Las Vegas Valley by longtime Las Vegas nonprofit Opportunity Village.
Before living at Betty’s Village, Allison said, she had lived with her parents for 32 years.
“Betty’s Village is amazing,” Allison said at the community’s clubhouse, which houses a gym, lounge and more, and where other residents greeted each other cheerfully, and outside the sun shone down on colorful apartment buildings. “I didn’t think I was going to be able to live on my own. But now I do.”
Since the multimillion-dollar project opened its doors in 2021, Betty’s Village has been a hit among residents, said Bob Brown, president and CEO of Opportunity Village, which has served people with disabilities in Las Vegas for about 70 years.
“People love it here,” he said. “They love the community. They’re thriving, they’re tasting independence. It’s just so exciting when you see that in-person — you see somebody that’s self-actuated and actually able to be independent where everybody thought they would never be able to. It’s like watching a miracle happen right in front of you.”
It was only a matter of time before Opportunity Village wanted to make that happen again, Brown said. The nonprofit will break ground this fall on “Betty’s Village North,” as Brown referred to it.
The new complex, to be located on an 18-acre swath of land between Deer Springs Way and Thom Boulevard, will be bigger than the first Betty’s Village by about a third, with a little under 100 units available, he said. It will offer many of the same amenities, including — but not limited to — a community center, park, barbecue area and pool and spa.
“We want to build it,” Brown said from the terrace at Betty Village’s clubhouse, which overlooks the vast property. “We want to create excellence there and make sure that it has all the aspects that we have here.”
The second residential community will also be home to an Opportunity Village site to care for and train people with disabilities. A thrift store with a coffee shop and an art gallery, also will be built on the site. The nonprofit has a “storied” art program, Brown said, and the gallery will give the artists it has trained a place to show off their work.
The property, with one-bedroom, two-bedroom and four-bedroom units — the latter of which are available for people who may need 24-hour care — will provide enough beds to put a sizable dent in the waitlist for Betty’s Village, which Brown said is more than 200 names long. Monthly rental rates range from $1,060 to $2,200.
“It’s about the people,” he said. “The people make a community, and this community has shown — I think — the greater community what it should be. This is how every community should operate … It’s very collegial. People get along with each other, they know their neighbors.”
The heart of the community is probably best exemplified by “mayor” of Betty’s Village, Lizzy Samlowski.
Samlowski said that, before moving to Betty’s Village, she was in a not-so-good living arrangement with a roommate. Now, she lives on her own, cooks her own meals, hangs out with friends, plays video games and gets to see her parents when they visit.
“I like to tell people that — don’t give up hope,” she said. “If they’re trying to look for a place, I try to tell them not to give up hope and keep trying — that somebody’s out there to help.”
The demand for Betty’s Village and its forthcoming sister property is great, Brown said, because there’s never been an opportunity like it in Nevada for families of people with disabilities. It’s a huge responsibility for a parent to potentially work full-time while also providing 24-hour care for their adult child with disabilities, he said.
Betty’s Village provides a solution for families of people with disabilities trying to balance their responsibilities, he said. It not only gives parents or caretakers a respite, it also gives their loved one with disabilities the opportunity to live independently.
“They could probably be more independent given the opportunity, but who gives them the opportunity?” Brown said. “That’s the difficult thing. And a lot of parents are afraid to have that independence from their child. But we have proven over and over that, through patiently educating and teaching people how to be more independent — which is what we do at Opportunity Village — we can be successful. And those success stories are long.”
If people spent even a weekend at Betty’s Village, they would understand that there’s probably no better place in the world for somebody with intellectual disabilities to live and grow and be independent, Brown said.
The new property is slated for completion by October 2026, he said. Opportunity Village has raised just under $38 million in funding for the project, and will aim to raise another $20 million in the remaining two years of its capital campaign.
The result will be a place that “everyone would want to live,” he said, that’s marked by elegant apartments, a safe community and camaraderie between neighbors.
“We build these beautiful buildings and it feels great. It looks great,” Brown said. “But it’s the people that live here in the community — they’re the ones that are making this place so amazing. And so, that’s the beauty of what we do.”
Allison, who is an Opportunity Village ambassador like Samlowski, says she goes to the gym every day to exercise, and also loves swimming in the pool at Betty’s Village.
She’s made a lot of friends since moving in, Allison said, and they all get along.
“I love it,” she said. “Because I have the independence to live on my own.”
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