{"id":173925,"date":"2023-08-10T10:26:13","date_gmt":"2023-08-10T14:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/?p=173925"},"modified":"2023-08-10T10:26:13","modified_gmt":"2023-08-10T14:26:13","slug":"best-buddies-in-va-dc-participants-enjoy-independent-living","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/vadc\/independent-living","title":{"rendered":"Best Buddies in VA &#038; DC Participants Enjoy Independent Living"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\">[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=&#8221;173926&#8243; img_size=&#8221;full&#8221; alignment=&#8221;center&#8221;][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;22px&#8221;][vc_column_text]<strong>Excerpt from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/dc-md-va\/2023\/06\/24\/best-buddies-living-dc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Washington Post<\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Vincent LaMonaca was 23 and living with his parents in Falls Church when he decided to move into the Union Market apartment building.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was time for me to live independently and I felt I was ready,\u201d he told me.<\/p>\n<p>His mother, Barbara LaMonaca, said she and his father worried about whether it was safe for him to live in the city and get around on his own. She said he was 17 months old when they first had him evaluated for developmental delay, and throughout his schooling he received special education services. When they started looking into housing options for him, she said, they couldn\u2019t find anything that offered what he gets through Best Buddies Living: a chance to live independently with support, surrounded by friends.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/dc-md-va\/2023\/06\/24\/best-buddies-living-dc\/\" class=\"hb-button hb-default hb-default-button no-three-d\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"-webkit-border-radius: 2px;-moz-border-radius: 2px;border-radius: 2px;\">Read the full story at washingtonpost.com<\/a>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A roommate arrangement that is at once ordinary and extraordinary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":173926,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"vadc-single-post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[504,505],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Best Buddies in VA &amp; DC Participants Enjoy Independent Living - Best Buddies International<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/vadc\/independent-living\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Best Buddies in VA &amp; DC Participants Enjoy Independent Living - Best Buddies International\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A roommate arrangement that is at once ordinary and extraordinary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/vadc\/independent-living\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Best Buddies International\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-10T14:26:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/va-2023-living.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jeremiah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"jeremiah\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/vadc\/independent-living\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/vadc\/independent-living\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"jeremiah\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/#\/schema\/person\/8dce929426db178a0f482077614820de\"},\"headline\":\"Best Buddies in VA &#038; 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