Our story

It started with parents

The Pahrump Disability Outreach Program began in 2009 around a handful of local parents who were living the same problem. Their children had disabilities, and the services those children needed were sixty miles away in Las Vegas, if they existed at all. Evaluations, therapies, equipment, respite, even a place where a family could show up and not have to explain their kid: none of it was here.

Those founding parents did what rural families always end up doing. They stopped waiting. They started meeting, sharing what they had learned about schools and benefits and Medicaid, sitting with each other in IEP meetings, and pooling money so a neighbor could get a wheelchair ramp or a tank of gas to a specialist appointment. When it outgrew a living room, they made it official and named it the Pahrump Disability Outreach Program.

Everything PDOP does today grew from that same instinct. The Life Skills Club exists because parents wanted their teenagers to learn to cook and handle money and make friends. The free advocacy exists because a parent should not have to walk into a school district meeting alone. Pumpkin Days exists because the programs cost money and this town shows up when you ask it to.

We are still parent-run and volunteer-driven. The board members you see on this site are the people reading financials on a Tuesday and hauling hay bales on a Saturday.

Our mission

To connect people with disabilities and their families in Pahrump and Nye County with the support, skills, advocacy, and community they need to live full lives here at home.

How we operate

• Zero paid staff. Everyone here, including the board, is a volunteer.
• No gatekeeping. You do not need a diagnosis or paperwork to ask for help.
• Locally funded. Party rentals, Pumpkin Days, memberships, and neighbors.
• Accountable. A working board of parents, professionals, and self-advocates.