Becoming Independent has been voted Best Nonprofit/Charitable Organization in the 2011 NorthBay biz readers poll.
Cami Weaver, CEO of Becoming Independent (BI), is excited the organization was voted Best by NorthBay biz readers. “It feels really good to see your readers acknowledge our work in that way,” she says.
BI, the North Bay’s largest nonprofit human services organization dedicated to people with developmental disabilities, provides opportunities that help men, women and children in Sonoma, Napa and Solano counties learn, work, make their own choices and live independently.
Before such organizations, people who are developmentally disabled people were offered special education through high school and not much else. A group of eight parents started the program in 1967. Soon after, the state legislature passed the Lanterman Act, which entitles developmentally disabled people access to government support, individualized care and personal choice. “Now, 1,300 people take advantage of our programs every day,” Weaver says. “Their lives would change drastically without us.”
What BI provides for these clients are things most Americans take for granted. Its five key programs include transportation, employment services, support for independent living in the community, resources and advocacy for families, and adult education.
The organization gets 87 percent of its funding from the state; and with threatened budget cuts, Weaver is scrambling. “Our budget problems are brutal, possibly catastrophic. We had a 4.25 percent reduction in fees for services in 2009 that continued in 2010,” she says. “What we’re facing now is a possible 25 percent cut to fees for services.”
If this happens, she says, people with significant disabilities—who need a little support to be able to live on their own in wheelchair-accessible apartments—will lose their independence. “They could have to move to a nursing home or an institution.”
Weaver has committed the last three months to legislative advocacy. One of her arguments is that not only is it more humane for people with developmental disabilities to be employed and to live on their own—it costs less. In the most extreme example, “It costs $15,000 average per year to serve somebody in the community. To institutionalize them costs more than $230,000 per year.”
So why would anyone even consider that alternative? The buildings are still there, vacant, and keeping people in institutions would give jobs to other people, she says: “It gets very political.”
An article [“Business Is the Bottom Line”] in the January 2011 issue of NorthBay biz focused on BI as a community-based service organization run like a business. As the article pointed out, BI has worked hard to cut expenses in a variety of creative ways. A wellness program including a weight loss challenge resulted in $54,000 savings in health care premiums. By going green, the organization saved on the cost of water, power and garbage pickup.
“We’re going to make this work,” says Weaver. “We can’t fail. We made a commitment to people who are affected through no fault of their own…and we’re doing what we can to maintain that commitment.”
