Options Foundation Inc. is a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit organization dedicated to providing quality, affordable housing options for mentally ill adults. Options Foundation was established in 1994 with their first HUD Independent Living Project, offering twenty, two-bedroom apartments serving forty individuals, opening in February 1999. Options further expanded to serve a total of 138 mentally ill adults. The variety of housing options includes licensed group homes, a licensed personal care facility and multiple independent living facilities with supportive services.

Options Foundation engages in a vigorous outreach program with frequent and regular contact with discharge planners at mental health facilities, homeless shelters, and other places where homeless mentally ill persons are found. The population we serve is primarily severely mentally ill. Once a candidate for Options Foundation residency is identified, our Case Manager works with the person to establish disability eligibility or other sources of income. The work to obtain our housing continues with the logistics of moving. We provide transportation to move the individual from his current location to an Options Foundation Facility and assist with initial expenses. In addition, we assist with clothing, furniture, food, and other needs to establish a residency.

Once the individual is moved in, he or she becomes a part of a supported community designed to empower the resident to stay in the Options facility. Specifically, we provide twice a day nursing services to ensure the resident's mental illness is controlled by his medication. We encourage and support the resident's participation in therapy. Our tenant facilitator also makes sure the residents are able to access public facilities as needed.

Northshore Options,  located in Mandeville, Louisiana, is an alternative school providing academic instruction and counseling to adjudicated youth from ages 12 - 17. Students pursue regular education including LEAP and GED preparation classes and may receive Carnegie units for high school level. Northshore Options provides individual, family, and daily group counseling. It also provides a behavior modification program, recreation, field trips, and community service. For additional information about Northshore Options, contact the Program Director at (985) 727-1453

in 1995 and 1996, the Department of Transportation awarded Options Foundation two grants for handicap vans. Both were used within the City of Baton Rouge for the transportation of physically handicapped citizens. The state Office of Mental health of the Department  of Health and Hospitals has awarded Options Foundation a contract to promote the understanding og mental illness and to reduce the stigma attached to it.