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Ron and Nancy #6

Nancy:  The next person also illustrates that [success]. His name is Joseph.  
Joseph is someone who grew up in an institution at a very early age.  He had 
somewhat of a Shakespearian sort of history in terms of abuse and retribution.  
You know all those dramatic things that you think, "How does someone get out 
that situation and make it?"  Joseph is someone who's going to need psychiatric 
supports throughout his life.  He also has a developmental disability.  Joseph 
has such passion about car washing. He would practice it at his residential site 
where he lived. Joseph came to us knowing exactly what he wanted to do.  Again, 
we used some connections we had in terms of this car spa that was just opening 
that we were using in our business and met with the guy, just to see what we 
could work out.  

Being a new business and again capital being an issue at times, he wanted this 
thing called an extractor that cleans the carpet very thoroughly.  We also found 
out that he had a friend who had someone in his life who had a disability. 
Again, there was that interest beyond just the business piece.  To make a long 
story short, we were able to negotiate for Joseph a wage employment, with Joseph 
purchasing this resource ownership, using the blended wages with VR, the ITA, 
and then some traditional MR funding. We were able to pull [these] together as 
part of a funding packing for Joseph.  

Joseph is an apprentice right now.  The owner flew in from Illinois. The company 
is called Blue Corp. that does training in various processes of detailing. 
Joseph just completed the first training where he's learned to use his 
extractor. There's probably three or more trainings that he'll go through as an 
apprentice.  Joseph's goal is to open his own carwash. The owner has made a 
commitment to Joseph. He already knows where there's this place. Within probably 
9 months to a year, they're going to look at being able to branch out for Joseph 
to open his own business with the support of this owner.  

The next person is Pam. Pam is someone who came from an institution many years 
ago.  Pam cannot interact with us in a conventional way.  She can certainly let 
you know her preferences, the things she likes, the things that are important in 
her life, the things that are not important in her life. She does it a very 
elegant way.  

What we found out with Pam; again trying to just pickup on cues where we can 
start, we may read that wrong, and we may have to go back and start again; but 
we noticed Pam always kept her fingernails polished and very pretty. Sometimes 
each one was a different color.  I see many people do as an aesthetic 
demonstration of what's interesting to them.  In meeting with Pam, we talked 
about that. We found out yes that was important to her.  Pam went with one of 
the staff to these convention halls where they sell products that are related to 
beauty salon products.  

She found these fingernail polishes that were in a cache, with clippers, and 
just everything you would need to keep your nails and toenails in good grooming 
shape.  She has purchased all of that.  We had this beautiful cabinet made, 
where she can display them. She has a business within a business at this hair 
salon.  

Now she also has a wage job at the hair salon. We're doing the financial 
analysis, again this is with staff who have no business background, in a matter 
of 6 months are talking so sophisticated about a business plan, market analysis, 
all of this stuff.  

I say that if I can do it and some of the staff that I work with who begin 
saying, "I cannot even balance my checkbook," are talking in such a 
sophisticated way, it is possible to change that system.  But as we were looking 
at all that, Pam isn't at a living wage yet. So we've realized she needs to put 
that kiosk in several beauty salons. 

The staff have done a marketing research of what's available within the area and 
have a portfolio about where Pam and the support staff are going to meet with 
those different companies to see if they would be interested.  Pam's even now 
talking about branching out into costume jewelry, like the finger and toe rings 
and hair pieces and that sort of thing.  I could talk on and on about how these 
models have changed the lives of the people we support and have also given staff 
a total new focus as well as energy. They see immediately that that person's 
life has changed, and they've been part of it.

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