Access Living

What Access Living does

Access Living (legal name: Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago) is a 501(c)-style nonprofit founded in 1980 and headquartered at 115 West Chicago Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, with 51-100 employees. The organization operates as a center for service, advocacy, and social change for people with disabilities, led by people with disabilities, and serves Chicago-area residents with disabilities across housing, healthcare, transportation, legal rights, youth development, economic justice, criminal justice reform, and arts and culture.

The core service portfolio comprises Home and Community Based Services (personal assistants, community supports, Independent Living Technology Program, money management classes), Housing Services (counseling and nursing-home transition support), Legal Services, Youth Programs (Early Start, YIELD the Power), and the Survivors of Gun Violence Program. The Disability Inclusion Institute (DI2) is the fee-for-service consulting arm providing disability education, accessibility assessments, and digital accessibility testing against WCAG 2.2 standards to corporate, nonprofit, and civil-entity clients. Grassroots organizing is delivered through six coalitions: DRACH (housing), Cambiando Vidas (immigrant/Latinx), AYLP (race and disability), People Over Profit (economic justice, launched fall 2024), the Taskforce on Health Care Equity, and Power to the People. Technology surface is limited to a WCAG-conformant website (AA/AAA on most pages) and accessibility features; there is no mobile app, no disclosed API, and no documented AI/ML capability.

The business model is nonprofit and grant-funded: services are provided at no cost to eligible individuals, with operating revenue derived from donations, grants, and Medicaid reimbursement. GTM is primarily direct service delivery in the Chicago metro plus a small enterprise consulting channel through DI2. The organization is HIPAA-compliant as a covered entity handling protected health information and holds no patents or registered trademarks.

Name

Access Living

Legal name

Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago

Website

https://accessliving.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1980

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Access Living is a Chicago-based nonprofit, founded in 1980, that delivers disability services and advocacy — including housing, legal, healthcare, youth programs, and accessibility consulting — to Chicagoans with disabilities, funded by donations, grants, and Medicaid.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Disability Services

NAICS

Services for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities (62412), Individual and Family Services (6241)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Disability Services & Independent Living Support (BPAGAEAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Disability Services & Assistive Solutions (Accessibility, Assistive Tech) (BPAGALAM), Housing Transition & Supported Living Navigation (EDAKANAK)

Keywords

• Disability services
• Independent living support
• Disability advocacy
• Accessibility consulting
• Community organizing

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Access Living operates a center for service, advocacy, and social change for people with disabilities, delivering independent living support, housing counseling, legal services, youth programs, and gun-violence survivor services in the Chicago metropolitan area. It also runs consulting, training, and digital accessibility testing through The Disability Inclusion Institute (DI2) for external organizations. The organization pairs direct service delivery with community organizing groups and policy advocacy campaigns.

Product overview

Access Living is a center for service, advocacy, and social change for people with disabilities, led by people with disabilities. The organization operates as a multi-service nonprofit offering a portfolio of interconnected programs organized under distinct divisions. Core service areas include The Disability Inclusion Institute (DI2) providing consulting and training on disability inclusion and accessibility; Home and Community Based Services enabling independent living through personal assistants and technology support; Housing Services supporting transitions from nursing homes; Legal Services; Youth Programs; and the Survivors of Gun Violence Program. The organization also runs extensive community organizing groups including People Over Profit (economic justice), DRACH (housing rights), Cambiando Vidas (immigrant/Latinx disability rights), AYLP (racial justice intersection), and the Taskforce on Health Care Equity. The Arts & Culture Project promotes disability arts, while the Diversion and Reentry Program addresses criminal justice reform. These programs collectively serve Chicagoans with disabilities through direct services, advocacy, organizing, and accessibility consulting.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Home and Community Based Services Services enabling people with disabilities in the Chicago metro area to live independently in the community, including personal assistants, community supports, money management classes, and an Independent Living Technology Program. Offered at no cost to eligible individuals, funded in part by Medicaid.
• Housing Services Housing counseling and transition support for people with disabilities, including assistance moving out of nursing homes into accessible community housing and help maintaining that housing.
• Legal Services Legal assistance and advocacy for people with disabilities on disability rights, discrimination, and access-to-services matters.
• Youth Programs Programs for young people with disabilities, including Early Start, YIELD the Power Workshops, and other youth development initiatives.
• Survivors of Gun Violence Program
• Survivors of Gun Violence Program Support services for disabled survivors of gun violence, in its second year of operation and co-hosted with SEIU Healthcare.
• The Disability Inclusion Institute (DI2) Consulting & Training Consulting and training division providing disability education, accessibility assessments, customized workplace inclusion training, and web accessibility testing to nonprofit, civic, and corporate clients.
• Web Accessibility Testing Digital accessibility consultation, evaluation, and remediation service for websites, portals, apps, and other digital content to ensure compliance with WCAG 2.2 standards, offered through The Disability Inclusion Institute.
• Diversion and Reentry Program Policy advocacy and support services to reduce mass incarceration and recidivism for people with disabilities, including the Accessible Public Safety Campaign and the Accessible Public Safety Advisory Council.
• Arts & Culture Project Promotes innovative art by and for people with disabilities, supports artists with disabilities, develops new audiences, and increases public access to disability arts and culture through events, workshops, and a permanent art collection.
• People Over Profit (POP) Community Organizing Group Economic justice community organizing group advocating for legislative and policy initiatives at the intersection of economic and disability justice, including guaranteed income and marriage penalty elimination, established fall 2024.
• Disability Rights Action Coalition for Housing (DRACH) Grassroots organizing coalition advocating for accessible, affordable, and integrated housing for people with disabilities, partnering with the Chicago Housing Initiative and Lift the Ban coalitions.
• Cambiando Vidas Community Organizing Group Community organizing group building power among immigrants and Latinx people with disabilities, addressing the intersection of disability rights and immigrant justice.
• Advance Your Leadership Power (AYLP) Community Organizing Group Community organizing group examining the intersection of race and disability, particularly Chicago's emergency response systems and their impact on people with disabilities who are people of color.
• Taskforce on Health Care Equity Organizing group working to improve healthcare equity and home and community-based services for people with disabilities through advocacy, education, and policy campaigns.

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• MacArthur Safety and Justice ChallengecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018In 2018, the MacArthur Safety and Justice Challenge awarded Access Living a one-year planning grant to research, analyze, and report on how to reduce the incarceration of people with disabilities, with an initial focus on the Cook County criminal justice system. This partnership has evolved into ongoing work on the Accessible Public Safety Campaign.
• Chicago Housing InitiativecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDRACH (Disability Rights Action Coalition for Housing), Access Living's housing advocacy group, works with the Chicago Housing Initiative coalition to expand and protect subsidized or affordable rental housing in Chicago.
• Lift the BancoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDRACH collaborates with Lift the Ban coalition, which advocates for expanding affordable rental housing protections in Chicago.
• SEIU HealthcareminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSEIU Healthcare co-hosted the Survivors of Gun Violence Resource Fair with Access Living, entering into its second year of support for disabled survivors of gun violence.
• Illinois Reparations CommitteeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPeople Over Profit (POP) is part of the Illinois Reparations Committee advocating for the Illinois Future Fund that will create a state-funded Guaranteed Income Program.
• Research Partners (Various Academic Institutions)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAccess Living engages in research partnerships with academic institutions, involving people with disabilities in research design, implementation, and evaluation. The organization evaluates partnerships based on availability, capacity, and alignment with organizational values and research principles.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Disability:IN: National nonprofit driving disability inclusion in business. Closest peer to Access Living's Disability Inclusion Institute (DI2) consulting/training arm, with overlapping corporate clients and WCAG/ADA compliance work.
• National Council on Independent Living (NCIL): The national membership association of Centers for Independent Living (CILs). Access Living is a CIL member, making NCIL the closest umbrella peer in the independent living movement that Access Living embodies.
• Equip for Equality: Illinois's federally designated Protection and Advocacy (P&A) system for people with disabilities. Direct regional peer providing legal advocacy and disability rights services within Access Living's same service geography.
• Disability Rights Advocates: National disability rights legal center pursuing impact litigation and policy advocacy. Comparable to Access Living's Legal Services and policy advocacy divisions, though more litigation-focused.
• ADAPT: National grassroots disability rights community organizing network. Strongly comparable to Access Living's organizing model (DRACH, POP, Cambiando Vidas, AYLP) and shared mission of independent living over institutionalization.
• The Arc of the United States: National nonprofit advocating for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Highly comparable to Access Living as a multi-program disability services and policy advocacy organization, though operating at a national rather than regional scale.
• Paraquad: St. Louis-based Center for Independent Living providing independent living services, advocacy, and disability rights work. Closely mirrors Access Living's CIL service model in an adjacent Midwest geography.
• Center for Independent Living of North Central Florida (and broader CIL network): One of the hundreds of federally funded Centers for Independent Living nationwide. Representative of the broader CIL peer set that delivers the same four core services (IL skills, advocacy, peer mentoring, transitions) that Access Living provides.

Regional players

• Perkins School for the Blind: Long-established disability services and education organization offering consulting and accessibility programs. Comparable mission and consulting/training overlap with Access Living, though anchored in a different region and focused on blindness/deafblindness.

Broad incumbents

• Level Access: Established digital accessibility platform and consultancy offering WCAG/ADA compliance testing and remediation. Most direct commercial peer to Access Living's DI2 Web Accessibility Testing service, though at greater scale and as a for-profit.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/accessliving
• Facebookfacebook.com/accessliving
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/access-living

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Access Living