New property purchased in Port Angeles

Morningside purchased an office building in Port Angeles in November and is in the throes of minor remodeling. We are slated to move in December 22nd. This venture began with the realization that we needed a more appropriate location and office design in keeping with our corporate image. On September 1st I scheduled an appointment with a local realtor (Kathy Love) to view a few properties on the market. Ironically unbeknownst to me the property we eventually purchased was once owned by current Morningside Board member, Tim Haley. Tim had purchased the building in the early 90’s and complete gutted the building and remodeled it garnering a couple of architectural wards for design and efficiency. Tim operated his architectural firm from this location and eventually sold. The building will not only meet our current need for space but for future growth as well. We will be leasing a portion of the building out to suitable tenants in the future. We are pleased with all the advantage this site offers our business.

Governor's Budget - Cuts but calls for fresh look in January

From Richard Davis WashACE Blog - This morning the governor unveiled her proposed 2010 supplemental budget, then quickly walked away from it. As expected, Gregoire said that resolving a $2.6 billion shortfall in the current biennial budget without new revenues was unacceptable. She explained her thinking in a letter to the public. Referring to the current revenue budget, she writes:

Today’s document does not reflect our values as a state. It does not reflect the Washington I know and love or the Washington I want for our future and the future of our children and grandchildren. I am convinced it is not the plan for the future that Washingtonians would choose, either.

She is required by law to present a balanced budget within current revenues. This budget will be followed by another in January, one which will restore the cuts she finds most egregious - Basic Health, levy equalization, early childhood education, development disability services and more.

Developmental Disability Services shakeout

1. Reduce County Employment Contracts by approximately 3% effective July 1, 2010. (- $2.65 million)
2. Jobs by 21 Partnership will be reduced by 75 percent in 2010 and eliminated effective July 1, 2010. (- $1.75 million)
3. Eliminate State Employment and Day Services for 200 clients who do not qualify for Medicaid. (- $1.2 million)
4. Waiver graduate employment services for 343 graduating transition students who are currently on the Basic Waiver. (+ $1.79 million)

The Governor has accepted the consultant's recommendations on the closure of institutions, and is moving forward on shutting down Francis Haddon Morgan Center in Bremerton by June 2011 and Rainier School by June 2014.

Bridge to Community – closing the Sheltered Workshop

What precipitated Morningside’s closing the sheltered workshop – client expressed need and their desire live and work like everyone else in the community. All successful companies regularly look to their customers to determine how they are going to provide great service so Morningside’s planning and moving to close the workshop really was no different. A survey conducted by Dr. David Mank formally a professor with the University of Oregon (David is currently the Director of the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community at Indiana University) surveyed our clients and 80% responded that they wanted to work in the community.
Our board, funders, leadership and leaders in the disability community joined together and pledged to move forward with a plan to move all the clients in our sheltered program to the community in 5 years. We dubbed the plan “Bridge to Community” as we were crossing over from segregated large group services to small, individual, integrated community employment.
Through a huge effort, and commitment by all parties we succeeded and on June 24, 2004 held a celebration at our old facility commemorating the monumental event that just occurred – ending sheltered services. Former Secretary of State Ralph Munro a long time supporter of our program but recognized statewide as a tireless advocate on behalf of citizens with disabilities was our keynote speaker. Dennis Braddock then the Secretary of the Department of Social and Health Services spoke as did Todd Wagner an employer as well as Jeannette Loutzenheizer the first Executive Director of Morningside. All concurred that this was indeed a milestone and a dream long held that people with significant disabilities can and should work in the community. This was indeed a true paradigm shift on how we now viewed and delivered service.

CEO Breakfast imformative and fun

We had a great employer turnout for our CEO Breakfast on October 27th. Danny Stusser from the Coffee News was our guest employer speaker. Danny told of his personal experience in hiring individuals with disabilities and how Morningside is his first option in looking for a good employee match with his firm. Danny said that his employees from Morningside are the most loyal and conscientious workers he has. Want to be a part of our next CEO Breakfast? Contact Jonathan Pleger at 596-3539

Growth of the Sheltered Workshop Movement

As I watch the health care reform process unfold I am struck by how significant legislation enacted in the Other Washington can change how we do business right here. Watching the current debate I am reminded of the passage of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973. It was the impetus for us to move from therapeutic arts and crafts to industrial based sheltered employment in the 1970’s and 1980’s because of the influx of federal money which propelled the growth of facility based services. Funds were made available for not only a wide array of services but grants were created for building and equipment purchases. This, coupled with the establishment of a nationwide network of college based centers to train staff, propelled our industry into areas not previously dreamed.
Laws were passed both at the state and national level that gave purchasing preference to sheltered workshops which boosted the number, type, and complexity of contracts available for us. The growth of sheltered workshops was phenomenal with some agencies manufacturing very complex items for the military, aerospace and electronics industries. Often where the agency was located typically reflected the type of work the workshop performed. For instance programs in central Washington were involved in wood products, manufacturing items such as tree spreaders, bins and pallets to move product for the orchard industry. Programs in the greater Seattle area were involved in manufacturing sub-assembly for the aerospace and electronics industry as well as packaging. There developed an entrepreneurial spirit within sheltered workshops; a belief that within reason you could bid and produce anything.
During this time laws were also enacted governing and regulating sheltered workshops primarily in the area of wages paid to working individuals with disabilities. The laws were to protect both the worker and competing companies. Additional legislation also promoted the growth of public benefit corporations (such as Morningside).
Eventually the unprecedented growth made referring an individual to a sheltered workshop too easy even though the workshops were increasingly placing individuals with disabilities into jobs outside the sheltered program. At the time it was believed that a person needed to learn a variety of skills and produce at a certain rate before they were helped to find a job. As a result, people with disabilities got stuck in the system with little expectation of working in a community job like family members and friends. This frustration, coupled with the development of a strong self-advocacy movement, pushed for integration in all aspects of life. This caused the service providers, led by those we serve, to examine sheltered workshops programs including the reason for their very existence. And this examination led directly to Morningside’s Bridge to Community - which will be the focus of my next blog.

Reflections

In the spring of 1969 I had the opportunity to help my dad set up a new workstation at Eastside Handicappers (later called Custom Industries) located in the Kirkland Presbyterian Church. We were moving in a blister pack machine used to package wax color chips for Pourett Candle Manufacturing. (This was a booming company at the time that manufactured and sold candle molds and supplies for a growing arts and crafts industry. Pourett recently went out of business according to Google…my how times do indeed change.)
I remember it seemed odd to set up such an industrial piece of equipment in a church multipurpose room where the existing looms and ceramic kilns looked so much more appropriate for this serene setting. This was really an example of the first transformation in our industry by moving from therapeutic arts and crafts to contracts with industry. The same transformation happened here at Morningside. At one time we had quite the cottage industry including a store in town selling items woven on our looms or fired in our kiln. In my office I still have a ceramic owl that we made given to me by Helen Carlson who thought I should have it soon after I started working at Morningside.
We’ve come a long way since 1969 and those days in the church basement filled with looms and kilns and packaging machines. But one thing hasn’t changed the future is still filled with promise – limitless in the possibilities and the reality the individuals with disabilities working and earning a living like anyone else.

Starting a Blog

A couple of years ago I followed two blogs religiously: Bert Stovers “Reporting for Duty” and Melissa Plaut’s “New York Hack”. They were very interesting and I could hardly wait for a new post particularly in Bert’s case where he was a National Guard helicopter pilot who got called up to fly in Iraq and he relayed his whole experience from being notified to his time in Iraq and return home. I even started a Blog with my son called “Andy and Me” but he lost interest in updating the blog with his dad and before you knew it our blogging days were over. So what possesses me to now start a blog – well two words Social Networking – a rather new phenomenon in business to connect with others using various forms of technology – blogs, Facebook, Twitter etc. So on the eve of my 20th anniversary at Morningside I thought this a good time to reflect on the changes in vocational rehabilitation from the viewpoint of a community rehabilitation program.