In-depth coverage
The Springfield News-Sun is committed to covering jobs and the economy in Clark County. For this story, the paper spoke to local county officials and United Rehabilitation Services about a new program serving adults with special needs in Springfield.
By the numbers:
25 — Number of residents the new center will serve
3 — Number of staff initially
1956 — Year URS was founded
3,000 — Number of children and adults URS serves annually overall
United Rehabilitation Services has expanded its services for adults and seniors with disabilities in Springfield as county agencies have had to cut back similar programs.
The new program can serve up to 25 adults now and hopes to eventually double that, said Dennis Grant, executive director of the Dayton-based nonprofit organization.
Increasingly private entities like URS are stepping in to provide services for individuals with developmental disabilities after a series of failed levies and state and federal changes slashed the number of clients Developmental Disabilities of Clark County could provide for, said Marty Fagans, director of Quest Adult Services.
The new URS center, at 2963 Derr Road in the Moorefield Shopping Center, will focus on providing activities for adults through an adult services day habilitation program. That includes art and computer classes, Grant said, as well as partnerships with organizations like the Springfield YMCA and Boonshoft Museum of Discovery to provide exercise and other activities.
United Rehabilitation Services has operated a community employment program in Clark County for about eight years, which provides work experience and job placement services for high school students and adults with disabilities. The new center also includes an office for that program.
“This was kind of a new venture for us,” Grant said. “Developmental Disabilities of Clark County indicated to us they were in need of providers to come to the community and assist them in providing services for adult day programming.”
Agencies like Quest previously played a bigger role in providing similar services in Clark County, but the state and federal governments are making changes in how those services are provided and paid for, Fagans said. Two recent attempts to pass a levy for Clark County Developmental Disabilities have also failed.
Quest offers programs like employment training, adult learning and other services to assist adults with developmental disabilities. It had as many as 170 clients a year ago, Fagans said, but now only about 55 or 60. Programs like URS, TAC Enterprises and Strive at CRSI are being sought to work with them instead, he said.
“Those folks have all gone out to private providers,” Fagans said. “No one lost any services, they’re just not getting it from the county anymore.”
The new URS site in Springfield currently has about eight clients, but that figure is expected to grow quickly, said Tim Jones, adult services director for URS. The organization spent about $20,000 to renovate the 2,500 square-foot office on Derr Road that had been vacant for about three years.
It currently employs three staff members in Springfield, Grant said, but that could grow as it is expecting to add a second location or move to a larger space as early as next year.
Sharon Caudill’s daughter, Ashley Caudill, graduated from the Northeastern Local School District and has attended a similar United Rehabilitation Services program in Huber Heights for about a year. The new location is more convenient, she said, and the program has been beneficial because it has allowed Ashley Caudill to socialize with other adults and take part in activities like cooking classes and exercise programs.
“They’re trying to get their clients involved,” Sharon Caudill said.
There is likely more of a demand for services than it can initially provide, Grant said, so the agency plans to expand quickly over the next couple of years.
“We’re starting small but our intent is to grow and add capacity next year,” he said.
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