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Day Programs For Disabled, Kids Don't Cut It
United (our) Way
Not With The Program
The Capital Times :: FRONT :: 5A
Monday, August 2, 2004
By Pat Schneider The Capital Times
"We were in shock."That's how Richard Berling describes the reaction around MARC - Madison Area Rehabilitation Centers - to United Way's decision to cut off funding to the agency providing day programs and employment to developmentally disabled adults.
Berling, MARC executive director, said he has no quarrel with United Way's stated emphasis on preventing problems rather than simply providing relief.
But the work MARC is doing is preventative, he said.
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"We hope the prevention of incontinence, the prevention of injury, the prevention of isolation for the severely developmentally disabled is as important as the targets they have," he said.
"We see the prevention of incontinence, etc., for these people as critical as the prevention of domestic abuse as a social cause," Berling said.
United Way this year ended funding for MARC, to which it last year gave $15,500.That's a small portion of the agency's budget of $3.7 million, Berling admits.
But the cuts from United Way come as MARC and other local agencies serving the developmentally disabled have seen their allocations of state funds - funneled through Dane County - stall.
The five MARC centers in Dane County offer personal care, feeding, clothing, ambulatory assistance and other aid in day programs, to some 290 developmentally disabled adults.
Employees at the 52-year-old agency are organized under AFSCME, but workers have not had a raise in three years because of diminishing funding, Berling said.
As wages of workers are frozen and health insurance premiums rise, "our focus is saving staff resources," he said. The agency lost four staff positions this year.
Having adequate money to pay workers is important to maintain staffing levels and foster trusting relationships with the agency's clients, Berling said.
United Way officials have said they don't want to fund "sheltered workshops" any longer, he said.
But the work situations offered through MARC - mostly bench assembly tasks for local companies - are therapeutic, Berling maintains. "It makes them feel good, lets them interact with others - it's what you do to reach people," he said.
Many other MARC clients do not participate in the paid work activities United Way is no longer supporting.
"We are working to maintain health and safety for people whose independence is measured in hours, not days or weeks," he said.
