MOUNT VERNON — Facilities and services for individuals with developmental disabilities, as well as giving them authentic choices, are ongoing concerns for those individuals, their families, advocates and other community members. Worried that New Hope Industries may be phased out if participation there decreases too much, Sadie Hunter, executive director of People First of Ohio, and Joellen Hunter, advocacy director, presented a contingency plan to the Knox County Commissioners on Thursday afternoon.
If NHI folds, the Hunters said, People First would like to rent the NHI facility, which is subleased to NHI by the County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities. MRDD leases the property from the commissioners; that lease expires April 15, 2008.
Because the building is the best handicapped accessible building in the county, Sadie Hunter said People First envisions the space as a place for advocates, children, adults, families and senior citizens to come together — those with disabilities and those without.
People First advocates, staff and disabled individuals collaborated in developing the proposed building use. They said it could be used for community events, meetings, Scout meetings, special Olympics, and art, music and drama classes in addition to specific skill training for self-advocates.
Skill training ideas included using the catering kitchen to teach cooking and catering skills; teaching home safety skills in the homelike kitchen, and setting up a mock apartment to teach basic housekeeping skills, personal grooming and laundry skills. A mock office could be arranged so individuals could learn practical secretarial skills, computer skills and paper-shredding skills.
A stage area planned for the main workshop area would be a place to showcase individuals’ musical and acting talents, and could also serve as an inservice and formal instructional area.
People First said the plan would mean employment for handicapped individuals as well. Proposed positions include three part-time receptionists, four groundskeepers and two full-time and two part-time custodians. Skilled individuals would also be hired to teach daily living skills to others.
Although Knox County owns the NHI building, the commissioners have no authority over the current occupants. However, they were in favor of the contingency plan presented by People First. They said they liked the comprehensive community use possibilities of the building, and whole-heartedly support the training aspect of contingency plan.
“The people of Knox County,” Commissioner Alan Stockberger said, “intended for New Hope [to use that space] to teach those skills.”