Our History
Kay Branz and Jane Doyle formed Center for Independent Futures out of a shared experience raising daughters with developmental disabilities. They met nearly twenty years ago and together navigated the school system, advocating for programs and experiences that would help prepare their daughters for the world beyond school .Because of lack of services in Illinois, the founders of CIF decided they needed to create ways to obtain needed services themselves. They searched to uncover and best practices and services that support families and individuals with disabilities.

Since their founding, they have worked closely with a non-profit organization in Massachusetts called Toward Independent Living and Learning (TILL) and have become very familiar with TILL’s model that enables individuals with disabilities to become active, contributing citizens and live independently within their chosen community. PLAN (Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network) in Canada introduced CIF to Personal Networks designed to enable individuals with disabilities to sustain their quality of life. And, faculty at Northwestern helped develop a process to organize interested families to work together to creatively solve issues that individuals with disabilities face.

Jane Doyle continues to serve as CIF’s Executive Director and has assembled a dedicated team made up of the board of directors, staff, professional support, family partners, corporate sponsors and foundations and private financial supporters that help CIF with its rapid expansion of services.

To view a timeline of organizational milestones click here.