About Sunflower Partners

Sunflower Partners was launched in August of 2025 by Kelly Strickland. Personal experiences taught him that no group of individuals is more eager to work, more under-employed, and has more to offer than adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

After a 35-year career in designing and building houses, neighborhoods and communities, Kelly was eager to spend more time with the Special Olympics athletes that he coaches on weekends. After creating a business plan and winning a local pitch competition, Kelly bought a pickup truck and a dump trailer and hired Sunflower Partners' first crew of workers, including 15 adults with IDD.

Long-established perceptions create roadblocks to our success. People mostly define us by our disabilities. Sunflower Partners showcases our abilities and lets us provide needed services in our community. Perhaps we'll chang a few perceptions along the way.

Every builder throughout Virginia searches for affordable and reliable labor solutions to help them meet schedules and budgets. Our construction partners have discovered that Sunflower Partners brings reliability and affordability…along with our special brand of joy to the project site. Consider the value of adding our joy to your walkthroughs and inspections!

Our Name

The Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Project was launched at London Gatwick International Airport in 2016 to provide a way to discreetly recognize travelers with hidden disabilities.

Since then, the hidden disability sunflower symbol has been adopted globally to recognize individuals with hidden disabilities who may not wish to ask for assistance.

We chose the name “Sunflower Partners” to honor this global movement, to help grow the Sunflower Network, and to brand our workforce.

Long-Term Goals

Assisted living nursing care facilities in Virginia for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities are available, but these facilities are heavily regulated and/or limited in scope, services, affordability, accessibility, and location.

This is not a local problem. In the United States, over 20 million adults with IDD live with aging parents and family members who struggle to find a safe, secure, and meaningful future for their loved ones.

Sunflower Partners provides meaningful employment for the IDD community in Charlottesville. Our long-term goal is to build an age-in-place intentional development in the city of Charlottesville that will serve our workforce and others in the IDD community.

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Have a question or project in mind? Reach out and share a few details, and we’ll be in touch soon. We’re excited to build something together! Every message is a chance to connect, serve, and show what our crew can do.

About

About Sunflower Partners

Our Name

Long-Term Goals

There is a huge demand for both skilled and unskilled labor in the construction industry. Tapping labor forces that haven't historically been fully utilized in the construction industry has been a long-standing goal of ours.

We would like to have our son be involved in this business. He currently has a very limited part-time job and spends 2 days a week as a day participant at Innisfree. I believe this program would be more fulfilling and give him more job satisfaction.

As a building contractor and parent of a special needs adult, I wholeheartedly endorse this business. There is an ongoing shortage of labor in the construction industry and a dearth of job opportunities for special needs adults in our area.

I, and other parents, will do all we can to make sure our children are responsible, so they have the opportunity to bring value to a job and succeed. In return, the workers will bring joy to the customers they serve as well as an awareness of all they are capable of.

This business is a win/win for the community and its members. The integration of our young capable adults into such a business would benefit them and the community. This will benefit the community as resources for projects for which it's difficult to find dependable and available resources.

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