Opportunity Village, a nonprofit supporting people with disabilities, is now known as One Vision.

The new name was announced simultaneously in Fort Dodge and Mason City. About 70 people, including family members, clients and supporters gathered for a celebration at Best Western Starlite Village Inn & Suites for the announcement Tuesday in Fort Dodge.

One Vision began in 1971 in Clear Lake under the name Handicap Village, and it has joined together with numerous other groups over the years.

“I am truly excited about our new name, One Vision, because our name more fully represents who we are,” Chief Executive Officer Jeff Nichols said. “It symbolizes how our founders came together with a common vision that still helps guide our efforts today.”

In Fort Dodge, Northwoods Living and Northwoods Products and Services merged with the organization in 2010. The organization provides services for 156 individuals and employs approximately 160 people in the Fort Dodge area.

One Vision also operates the Village General Store in Fort Dodge, which will now be called the General Store.

“In 1994, Handicap Village changed its name to Opportunity Village to better represent who we were as an organization,” said Nichols. “A new name once again will be adopted to better represent who we are. We are no longer a single place separate from those around us.

“As our organization continues to grow geographically and our services continue to diversify, we recognized the need for a new name that will carry us into the future while still recognizing our past.”

Northwoods Living was founded in the 1980s, said Linda Smith, who served as executive director of Northwoods for nearly 20 years and is now regional director of One Vision’s southern region. Smith gave a history of the agency.

Also in the 1980s, Opportunity Village became manager of a group home in Eagle Grove that provided residential care, Smith said.

In the 1990s, “Hamilton County closed its care facility, and sponsored the development of an agency called Choices Made Independently, to assist people with disabilities to live and work in the community,” she said.

Opportunity Village became the parent agency of that group in 2001.

In 2012, the landscape of how services were provided at Opportunity Village changed as the organization began a process of transitioning individuals living in segregated group home settings to smaller homes located in communities of their choosing.

Today, One Vision continues to expand the ways it serves clients. It assists people finding employment, creating or finding housing, and supporting social, recreational and personal interests, Nichols said — “All with a focus on providing that support in a truly integrated community setting, as opposed to separated and apart on a campus at the edge of town.”

Dennis Plautz also spoke. The chief executive officer of the Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance, he is also one of the newest members of One Vision’s board of directors.

His interest in the organization is not just personal — he has a son on the autism spectrum — but also professional. Providing health care services is essential to quality of life, and to bringing more people to town, Plautz said.

“I’ve found one of the biggest impediments to economic development here is our ability, in a rural area, to get a workforce to come from more urban areas and live here,” Plautz said. “I find when talking to people looking to move here, … people with dependents or relatives with disabilities, they will want to know what we have in this area in terms of quality of life before they make a decision to come to work for a Cargill or a CJ Bio America.”

One Vision provides services to more than 550 people in locations across 30 different communities.