2013-2014 - Working with Communities & Systems I
<-- 2013-2014 MCH Competency Reflections
Jack Snook and Melva Gooden-Ledbetter are two energetic and amazingly effective professionals who talked to us about the mission of CLASS, “…to support people with disabilities as they explore options, participate in the community, and strive toward equality…we are working toward a community where each belongs”. For Jack and Melva, these aren’t just words. They have recreated a new and more efficient agency from the dust of drastic cutbacks, and fiercely protected the people they have long ago committed to serve. Although they have navigated the agency through high-level service provision changes, and hammered out policy from the top tier of administration, they can also be found shoveling sidewalks in front of the homes of the people they serve, those with disabilities, living in local communities because they are being supported by CLASS. They seem to be a model for a “wider community” agency that clearly shows us how services at a systems level can “be managed effectively and efficiently including planning, implementing, delegating and sharing responsibility, staffing, and evaluation” as described in the MCH competencies 11 and 12, “Working with Communities and Systems/Policy and Advocacy”.
CLASS offers multiple services for people and their families with disabilities:
- Community Living and Support Services Centre Services, which offers teaching and training in academic areas, community integration, Independence skills training, social skills training, and vocational support and training.
- Attendant Care ~ Providing personal assistance and emergency response systems to support adults with their goal of living in the community as independently as possible
- Residential Services ~ Providing support to individuals with a wide variety of physical and/or cognitive disabilities whose dream is to live in the community with the degree of support that they require.
- Community Partners ~ Meeting individuals in their comes and communities to support household management, organizational skills, and to offer counseling to help individuals with disabilities cope with relationships within their home as well as with others in the community at large, minimizing the risk of potential institutional placement
- Multiple Sclerosis Service Society: Program of Living and Support Services ~ A relatively new merger of agencies that address the concerns of those people with MS, CLASS is now able to provide additional supports to those with MS and their families, and to provide peer counseling, information, and referral services for those with MS or a related condition.
- Assistive Technology and Home Modification Services ~ Provides consultation, technical assistance and training for those with disabilities and for the professionals who work with them, concentrating on resources that allow people to remain in their own home.
There is not a better model for a community agency that has effectively developed and implemented comprehensive services for individuals with disabilities in the context of their own communities during a time of extreme economic shortages. Importantly, they continue to address the need for policy change at the local and state government level, and never stop advocating for “the life-long process of personal growth and development of all people”.