Jerusalem! Village occupies two acres of land at Jerusalem!. Construction of phase one started in October 1997 creating four group homes for our residents, eight staff houses and a cafeteria. Phase 2 will commence in 2001.

The houses in the Village have a unique design, some with internal gardens, some with balconies overlooking the farm, others with verandas facing the central courtyard and all with beautiful red shingled roofs that are clearly visible when travelling by air into Kingston. When the construction and landscaping are completed the Village will certainly be the only one of its kind - physically and in concept - in the Caribbean.

The concept behind the Village is three-fold:

1. To provide another level of care and training for the older residents of Mustard Seed Communities.
2. To facilitate the integration of people with disabilities living in community with people without disabilities.
3. To provide inexpensive, temporary housing for deserving staff of Mustard Seed Communities.

Many of the older residents (who have been at Mustard Seed Communities since they were young) need to move from the institutional environment into one that offers a more family type setting.

They will be mixed with some of the younger children and supervised by 'house parents'. They will be trained to embody the philosophy of people with disabilities caring for each other.

Residents from Jerusalem!, My Father's House and Sophie's Place will be selected and divided into small family units living in 'group homes'. They will be taught skills and encouraged to live a semi-dependent lifestyle. Appropriate staff and their families will also be selected to live alongside the residents in the staff houses.