Michigan service agency for people with disabilities loses its state funding

From The Herald-Palladium in Michigan:

BENTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. - Rachael Mathison, 38, had a full-time job as a hotel receptionist when she suffered her first of seven strokes in March 2008.

The strokes were followed by two heart attacks, and Mathison's doctor told her she could no longer work.

"I had so many bills. I lost my job and my car. My apartment is two-story, and I use a walker," Mathison said, speaking slowly and struggling to find some words.

She found out about Community Connections of Southwest Michigan, a state-certified Center for Independent Living (CIL) on Napier Avenue in Benton Township. The agency helped her file for Social Security disability payments, which were approved Sept. 1, and is helping her look for a one-story house.

Community Connections helps disabled people get the services they need. In the past year the agency has served more than 400 people in Berrien and Cass counties. With a yearly budget of about $458,000, it employs disabled people who help put their peers in touch with other agencies and help them through the process of obtaining various benefits. The state has yanked all funding from Community Connections and has said a CIL in Kalamazoo will take over.

"Our services are not just for people who are born with disabilities. This could happen to anyone," said Kathy Ellis, executive director of Community Connections, which opened as a CIL in 2000.

The organization was officially notified Aug. 31 by the Michigan Statewide Independent Living Council that its designation as a CIL, and nearly $400,000 in yearly funding, is being pulled immediately. The grant money is from the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth through Michigan Rehabilitation Services.

The Aug. 31 letter says the action is based on "demonstrated failure by Community Connections to meet national standards and indicators, and to meet state CIL grant requirements."

Valarie Barnum-Yarger, Michigan SILC executive director, was unable to provide specifics about why the money and CIL designation were terminated. In a prepared statement to The Herald-Palladium, Barnum-Yarger said Community Connections was put on high-risk status in April 2008 "for continuing and significant deficiencies in the performance of essential operational functions."

Barnum-Yarger said CILs are required to meet standards outlined in an eight-page book, and she referred the newspaper to two other Michigan Rehabilitation Services executives for details about exactly what Community Connections had done wrong. Neither of them could be reached for comment Thursday and Friday.

Community Connections was told in May it needed to strengthen its board and operational plan and hire an experienced bookkeeper, Ellis said.

"We hired a CPA, and we thought we were doing great. At one time they said we were doing better and doing more things than other centers that were getting more money," Ellis said. "Then they came back and said that we had 30 days to submit some more information they wanted. We submitted a plan that included board training, financial records and a whole list of things. On July 17 they called and said 'You're done.'

"I think it boils down to the state figured out they could do away with us and give money to somebody else."

Ellis said she was told the center's documentation was "incomplete, inconsistent and unacceptable," but was not told what, specifically, was incomplete or unacceptable.

"I was shocked. We felt we did everything they asked us to do. It seemed that there was no intent on their part to have us stay open," she said. "It became clear that they had another plan, and it was about money."

Community Connections of Southwest Michigan was a CIL serving people with disabilities in Berrien and Cass counties. Ellis said the state has told her that future services will be provided by a CIL in Kalamazoo. Ellis and the agency's board president, Jeff Pierce, who is himself disabled, are afraid that an agency providing services from Kalamazoo will not be as connected with the people in Berrien County.

"Every 'case' is a person with unique needs," Ellis said.

Pierce was born with cerebral palsy and, from age 18, worked full time until he was laid off two years ago after 26 years at State Tool & Manufacturing in Benton Township.

"I had dropped my disability benefits to go to work. Now I donate my time here," he said.

Community Connections has about $80,000 in reserves, enough to operate with a bare-bones staff for about eight months, Ellis said. A paid staff of nine has been cut to three as Ellis and the board scramble to look for grant money.

"It's not about the money, it's about the people," Ellis said. "This is an organization run and staffed by people with disabilities, helping people with disabilities connect with the services they need."

Regina Kirby, 40, of Benton Harbor said she "got the runaround for years" before hearing about Community Connections. She was blinded in a car accident in March 2006.

"I was working up until that day. Suddenly I had no income whatsoever. I was so down, and my kids were hurting," she said. "This place helped me. They did the legwork for me. If it wasn't for them I don't know where I'd be right now. It was a life-saver."

Kirby and Mathison fought back tears as another Community Connections client, James Ivey of Benton Harbor, related how the organization saved his life - literally.

Ivey, 38, was born with cerebral palsy.

"All my life I was told I was going to be dumb, stupid and nothing. I heard about this place right after I tried to kill myself. I overdosed on painkillers, and I was in a coma for 92 days. When I woke up, Kathy was there, and we've been working together ever since, trying to help people with disabilities," he said. "If this place goes, everything goes. I'm a person that will not quit, because if you quit, you get nowhere."

Deborah Allain-Geisel of Coloma said Community Connections is helping her find a home for her son, Jonathan Rogalski. He is 26 and has autism.

"Everybody here advocates for us. This is an agency that really cares," Allain-Geisel said.