Our Mission

The Jermik Ankyun Foundation provides safe, community-based homes and compassionate support for adults with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, empowering those transitioning from institutional care to live with dignity, belonging, and hope.

History

Jermik Ankyun Foundation was established in 2008 to create a community-based, dignity-centered alternative to large institutions for adults with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities. That same year, the Foundation opened its first small group home, providing not only a safe place to live, but also personal space, relationships, opportunities to make choices, and a genuine sense of belonging.

Since 2017, Jermik Ankyun Foundation has worked in partnership with the Government of Armenia through the state-funded community-based small group home service. This partnership has made the Foundation’s experience an important part of Armenia’s deinstitutionalization process, demonstrating that long-term support can be provided in small, person-centered environments that are integrated into the community. Over the following years, the Foundation expanded its work to three small group homes. As of 2026, Jermik Ankyun provides permanent homes and round-the-clock support to 42 adults with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, many of whom previously lived in institutions or lacked a family home and a stable support network.

Today, Jermik Ankyun is more than a residential service provider. It is becoming a center for the development of rights-based social service practices, creating and applying practical models for autonomy development, person-centered planning, supported employment, and community inclusion, including the Support Without Control approach and the B2E initiative.

More Than Just Shelter

At Jermik Ankyun, we believe the most critical question for a person in transition is not just whether they have shelter, but whether they have a place where they will truly be accepted. We see our residents not merely as “people in need of care,” but as human beings with unique names, stories, abilities, and the fundamental right to a future.

Our Impact

By opening our first small group home, we have provided more than just hot meals and clothing; we established a stable, humane environment where individuals could feel they were no longer alone.

In these homes, our residents do not simply reside; they live. They enjoy:

• Personal Space: Personal belongings, privacy, and a home environment.
• Autonomy: Daily routines, responsibilities, and the freedom to make their own choices.
• Community: Meaningful relationships and shared joys within a place they can truly call home.

The Path Forward

The next chapter of our history is to transform this experience into a measurable, replicable, and scalable system, enabling more people across Armenia to leave isolating institutions and build lives shaped by their own choices, capabilities, and dignity.

While we are proud to support 42 individuals, many others remain in large, isolated institutions, cut off from community life and the opportunity to live with dignity. We believe that a dignified life is not a charitable gift, but a human right.

We are striving to develop services that assist our residents with supported employment, skills development, personal decision-making and more. To achieve our goals, we need community involvement and participation.

Opportunities to Support and Get Involved

Every contribution, large or small, helps us provide a brighter future for adults with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities. Below are some of our current priorities where your support can make a meaningful difference. Whether through a donation, your expertise, or your time, your support can help transform lives. Together, we can ensure that every individual has a warm corner to call home and the opportunity to live with dignity, purpose, and hope.

Employment Services: The B2E Program

We believe that everyone who wants to work should have access to employment opportunities that reflect their interests and capabilities.

Jermik Ankyun Foundation’s B2E Supported Employment Program provides a structured pathway for adults with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities from employment readiness to supported and, whenever possible, independent paid work. The program combines an individualized assessment of each person’s needs and capabilities with vocational skill development, real work assignments, personalized job coaching, and the gradual reduction of support as the person becomes more confident and capable. Through B2E Levels A to D, each participant can progress at their own pace from pre-employment preparation toward supported or independent employment in the community. The purpose of B2E is not simply to help people find jobs. It is to strengthen confidence, financial independence, social relationships, and a meaningful sense of purpose and belonging.

Your support will help us expand vocational training, create new employment opportunities, and guide more people toward dignified and meaningful work.

New Home Improvements and Post-Move Adaptation

Following our recent relocations, our residents are continuing their lives in two new community-based residential settings: the Arshakunyats Group Home in Yerevan and four separate, single-story homes in Nor Kharberd.

These new settings provide safer, more comfortable, and more community-oriented living conditions. However, moving into a building is only the first step in turning it into a genuine home. We still need to complete essential renovation, accessibility, and safety improvements; furnish and personalize residents’ bedrooms and shared spaces; obtain necessary household items; and improve the surrounding outdoor areas. It is equally important to support residents through the adaptation process, helping them establish new routines, become familiar with their neighborhood, strengthen their sense of security, and experience the new environment as a home that truly belongs to them.

Your support will help us create more than improved living spaces. It will help create homes where each person can live with dignity, make choices, and feel a genuine sense of belonging within both their home and community.

Workshop Expansion and Reopening

Jermik Ankyun Foundation currently operates a sewing workshop where residents develop practical skills, create handcrafted items, and participate in meaningful vocational activities. We previously operated pottery and carpet-weaving workshops as well. However, both programs had to be suspended during the relocation of our group homes. We now have a dedicated 120-square-meter space at our Arshakunyats Group Home in Yerevan. Once renovated and properly equipped, it can accommodate two fully functioning vocational programs: pottery and carpet weaving. The reopened workshops will serve not only residents of our group homes but also other adults with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities living in the surrounding community. They will provide opportunities to develop vocational skills, express creativity, build social connections, and potentially participate in income-generating activities.

Join Our Board of Directors

As the Jermik Ankyun Foundation continues to grow, we are seeking passionate individuals in the United States to join our Board of Directors. Board members help strengthen our mission by providing strategic guidance, expanding our network of supporters, and helping us build partnerships that create lasting opportunities for the people we serve.

With your support, we can renovate this space, reopen both workshops, and create sustainable opportunities for meaningful work and participation for more adults with disabilities.

Our Locations

For a printable overview of everything above, download the information document below.