The Richland County Board of Developmental Disabilities received a generous donation from the Knights of Columbus at their September meeting, as well as an update on the role of county boards of developmental disabilities.
Representatives Art Gideon and Ron Ahles of the Knights of Columbus Council 8357 at Resurrection Parish in Lexington presented a check for $505.60 to go towards Richland Newhope’s Gift Fund. This past summer, council members collected donations from customers at Wayne’s Country Market and Geyer’s Market in Lexington and from Walmart on Possum Run Road. Knights of Columbus Council 4448 from St. Mary’s of the Snows on Ashland Rd. in Mansfield also donated $320. The Special Olympics have earmarked the donation for use.
“Next year we’ll try to get a little bit more money,” said Ahles with a laugh.
Both Knights of Columbus councils raised the money as part of their annual “Measure Up” campaign, which involves all Knights of Columbus Councils in Ohio. They’re among several local councils that support Richland Newhope and its programs; over the years, money donated to the gift fund has been used to provide various supports for individuals with developmental disabilities, such as the purchase of wheelchairs and other adaptive equipment.
“It was a pleasure to do this, we would do it again and we will do it again,” said Gideon. “I do have a granddaughter that goes to Newhope and you people and the teachers and even the custodians, you do a great, fantastic job for the county of Richland, and it’s wonderful. I’ve never had so much appreciation from the people that teach my granddaughter. We as a whole as the Knights of Columbus wanted to honor you people, and this is something small but it’s something we wanted to do for you.”
The Executive Director of the Ohio Association of County Boards of Developmental Disabilities Bridget Gargan told the Richland County Board of DD in late June the role of county boards of developmental disabilities could be a lot different in the coming years. Richland County’s Superintendent Liz Prather said since that time the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities Director John Martin has engaged in a strategic planning leadership group meeting, and has outlined a few upcoming changes.
“Everyone is kind of in a circling pattern,” said Geneva Cummins, president of the Richland County Board of Developmental Disabilities. “We know there are some things that are going to occur in the next few months, and we’re ready to see what those are going to be. It’s very complex as far as getting any definitive answers right now, even the powers of be don’t have access to the information. It’s frustrating as well for them.”
Instigating the change is the Olmstead Decision – a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1999 that stated people with disabilities should be fully integrated into their communities in all areas, including education, housing, and employment. Prather said employment was one possibility outlined by Martin, with the vision that in 10 years 50 percent of working-age adults would be employed in a community integrated setting.
“Right now it’s 25 percent in the state, and they want to increase it to 30 percent within two years,” said Prather. “It sounds doable.”
Host homes and shared living was another possibility outlined by Martin, where an individual instead of receiving greater services in their family home would actually move into another family’s home and share their services. Prather explained the reasoning for this would be to ease the strain on a family’s budget and also create closer relationships.
“We’ve had some success with that, a young man met somebody at Raemelton and they became friends, and when he needed a place to live the mom of his friend said maybe this will work out in our home,” said Prather. “That’s perfect, they already had the relationship and people cared for each other and wanted to help.”
Prather said discussions are still ongoing regarding the proposed changes, with more details revealed during their November meeting. She stressed that services are not going to disappear, but rather the system is evolving, giving people choices and integrated services rather than segregated services.
“I think it always takes somebody really pushing that’s really far out there to move the system; it doesn’t mean everything will go that far it just means we’ve got some work to do,” said Prather. “We’ll certainly be talking a lot more about this when we meet in November. I don’t think we’ll have much definitive by that time, but the department will have general goals and some of these benchmarks. I feel good about the 2015 plan; in 2016 and beyond we’ll be getting more information.”
