About Us
The Garlington Foundation, formerly Kevin Antoine Garlington Foundation, exists to provide a compassionate bridge for individuals working toward greater independence, stability, and meaningful participation in their communities. We believe every person deserves the opportunity to discover their strengths, pursue meaningful goals, and build a life with greater purpose, confidence, and connection.
Today, our work is centered on community-based supported employment and support services for individuals with intellectual and developmental challenges and transition-age youth. We meet each person where they are, providing individualized support that encourages choice, self-determination, skill development, and lasting progress.
Our supported employment services take a practical, hands-on approach to helping individuals prepare for, obtain, and maintain meaningful employment in the community. Support may include employment discovery, résumé development, interview preparation, job searching, employer engagement, workplace readiness, on-the-job coaching, transportation support, and continued assistance designed to promote long-term employment success.
Our community support services extend beyond employment. We help individuals strengthen the skills, confidence, routines, and community connections that contribute to greater independence in everyday life. Services are person-centered and shaped around each individual’s abilities, preferences, goals, and circumstances.
As The Garlington Foundation grows, our vision extends beyond our current programs. We are building toward a broader continuum of community-based services designed to support individuals experiencing hardship, instability, illness, homelessness, or major life transitions. Future areas of service include case coordination, recuperative care, housing and supportive services, and other programs that help individuals move from periods of vulnerability toward greater stability and independence.
Case coordination will help individuals navigate services and resources while developing practical plans that promote stability, accountability, and progress.
Recuperative care is part of our long-term vision to provide a safe and supportive environment for individuals who need additional time and assistance following hospitalization or other medical events before safely returning to independent living.
Housing and community support services will further that continuum by helping individuals address barriers to stability, strengthen independent living skills, connect with appropriate resources, and remain engaged within their communities.
Whether through employment services today or the broader continuum of support we are working to develop for tomorrow, the principle behind our work remains the same: people deserve to be seen for their potential, supported according to their individual needs, and given meaningful opportunities to move forward.
Rooted in integrity, compassion, and efficiency, The Garlington Foundation works to restore dignity, create opportunity, and inspire hope. Our mission is to add value and make a ridiculously positive impact in each life we serve.
Delivering compassionate community support services that reinvigorate growth and stability, and strengthen each individual’s connection to a healthier, more purposeful life.
“I know what it is to need help, want help, and get help, so I’m here to serve.”
— Mr. Kevin Antoine Garlington, Founder of The Garlington Foundation
About the Founder
The Garlington Foundation is led by Founder and President Kevin A. Garlington, whose background brings together a lifelong commitment to community service with professional experience in direct human services, agency leadership, business operations, accounting, and administration.
For Mr. Garlington, service began long before it became his profession. As a youth, he worked closely with his mother’s nonprofit women’s shelter, gaining early exposure to the realities facing individuals and families experiencing hardship and instability. He also spent much of his childhood volunteering through the ministry at City of Refuge Church in Gardena. These experiences introduced him at an early age to service, compassion, community responsibility, and the importance of showing up for people during difficult periods in their lives.
His interests in leadership, communication, and advocacy continued throughout his education. At Downtown Business Magnet High School in Los Angeles, Mr. Garlington was recognized as a respected intellectual and became an accomplished member of the school’s inaugural debate team, representing the school during its first year of competitive debate. He was also active in journalism as a writer for the school newspaper, served as Co-Editor-in-Chief of the yearbook, and participated in the AVID college-readiness program. His student leadership included serving as Vice Chairman of the School Site Council/Shared Decision-Making Council and as President and Co-Founder of the Black Student Union.
Mr. Garlington later pursued higher education at several institutions, including Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans and Marymount College in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. His educational experiences both in and outside California, together with his early community involvement and subsequent professional experience, contributed to a leadership philosophy grounded in continued learning, practical experience, service, and organizational development.
Professionally, Mr. Garlington has spent years working directly with individuals with intellectual and developmental challenges in their homes, workplaces, and communities. His experience includes supported employment and workplace assistance, independent living and skills development, medical and community accompaniment, family support, intake and assessment activities, service documentation, and collaboration with Regional Center service coordinators.
His experience eventually expanded from direct service into agency ownership and leadership. As co-owner of a Regional Center service provider, Mr. Garlington oversaw services for approximately ten individuals and a team of approximately twelve direct support professionals. His responsibilities included daily operations, staff scheduling and training, quality assurance, human resources, payroll, insurance compliance, intake assessments, service coordination, and implementation of requirements established by Regional Centers and the California Department of Developmental Services.
Mr. Garlington also brings substantial experience in accounting, administration, and business operations. His professional background has included staff accounting, accounts payable and receivable, payroll administration, financial reporting, human resources, policy development, employee onboarding, and project operations. This combination of direct-service and administrative experience has shaped his belief that compassionate service must be supported by strong organizational systems, accountability, efficiency, and responsible stewardship.
Today, Mr. Garlington brings these experiences together through The Garlington Foundation. The Foundation’s current focus is community-based supported employment and support services for individuals with intellectual and developmental challenges and transition-age youth. Its long-term vision extends into a broader continuum of services, including case coordination, recuperative care, housing-related support, and other community-based programs designed to help individuals achieve greater stability, independence, purpose, and belonging.
The Garlington Foundation represents a continuation of a commitment to community service that began early in Mr. Garlington’s life and has evolved through education, direct service, professional leadership, and entrepreneurship. At the center of that work remains a simple belief: every individual has value, potential, and a right to meaningful opportunities and support.
That commitment is reflected in the Foundation’s mission: to inspire hope, add value, and make a ridiculously positive impact in each life we serve.
