Transcript

Interviewer: Nancy, could you share with us a little bit about where you came from and how you arrived at offering self-employment or supportive employment services.

Nancy: In 1999, we actually had four sheltered workshop programs, I'm ashamed to say. We had different experiences in how we went about trying to disassemble that whole process. One of the workshops we just closed down. We had done a lot of reading and we just decided to take the risk and we just closed it down and integrated it with one that was existing. Another one, we converted it to a community-based resource. The third one, we had more of a struggle. It actually became a community focused kind of butting of heads. We wanted to be very respectful of the families. Nobody knows what someone goes through. We knew families were struggling, but they wanted this segregated program. We tried to compromise and tried to figure out what we could do to move that along. It wasn't happening anywhere, so we just made a value-based decision and said "We're not going to offer this anywhere within in our system."

Someone was kind of in the wings waiting to start a new sheltered workshop, which he opened up and the folks went there. So that is the program that is closest to being a pure community-based program that we have. It's very small. It's in a business park. We've got most of the folks that are out in the community, most of the day. They may spend a little time in the morning when they get there kind of getting organized and getting transportation to where they're going. But, it was not without pain. It was a very difficult process. All three were very, very different, in terms of how we were able to work that out. I will say that with the one that was the most difficult, there was a faction of staff who was threatened by the change. They kind of organized to align themselves with families. It's real important to make sure that the staff are on board, as well as the leadership as you move forward, or it just puts families in a position that is painful for them.

Interviewer: This is a four-year process. Would you say you are still engaged in this change?

Nancy: Definitely. We've stopped the work activity. We're opening up a business incubator in some of the space that we have that had been a sheltered workshop.

Interviewer: What is a business incubator?

Nancy: It is where individuals who want to start their own business, can come and have access to secretarial staff and Xerox machines. They can develop a portfolio. They would have a phone line where they can make business contacts. They can have space to have a business meeting. We are in this process of shifting from what it used to be. We don't want it to be that way anymore. What supports are we going to put in place so that we can further some of those efforts?."

Interviewer: Thank you.