Center for Social Change Programs Emphasize Individual Choice

By George Berkheimer, STAFF WRITER



Since 1993, the nonprofit Center for Social Change (CSC) has been working in Maryland to support children and adults with special needs, including autism spectrum disorder. Located in Elkridge, the center is a strong advocate for personal choices in community living for individuals who are developmentally, physically, psychologically and emotionally challenged.

The CSC was founded by CEO Joseph Mathew, a sociologist whose earlier career working with developmentally challenged individuals generated an interest in approaching his profession from an entrepreneurial standpoint.

"It was a simple gesture," Mathew said. "[My experience] made me think that we should have a different way of looking at things," rather than adhering to the rigors of a state-administered bureaucratic system.

Over the past 16 years, the wisdom of that decision has been borne out through CSC's success in providing various services to its clients. Today that service includes residential, vocational, supported employment, medical adult day care, therapeutic integration for children with autism, volunteering opportunities and advocacy to individuals with intellectual disabilities.

"Services to individuals are always planned in consultation with them, their families and advocates," Mathews said, and individuals who are able to speak for themselves regularly join the CSC team in planning their activities. For those unable to speak for themselves, family and staff have a say in planning activities based on each person's interests and preferences, he said.



Unique Challenges

In its early years, the center faced not only the challenge of proving the validity of its new approach, but also the challenge of overcoming resistance from an existing institutional system.

"Like anything, it is a competitive field," Mathew explained. "Established providers didn't want a new provider to encroach upon their territory."

Since then, the center's challenges and responsibilities have grown considerably, primarily influenced by the state's 2008 decision to close its Rosewood Center, one of four State Residential Centers for individuals with developmental disabilities. The state called upon the CSC to help integrate some of the Rosewood residents into a community setting.

"These were highly challenged individuals," Mathew said, recalling that some parents were actually reluctant to see their children placed in the community without a safety net because of severe behavioral problems.

Nevertheless, Mathew and his staff were able to successfully integrate more than 35 individuals from Rosewood and from the Great Oaks Center, another state-run facility which closed in 1996.

"This story inspires me," Mathew said. "Peoples' notions were wrong, and today we're happy to see that the warehousing mentality has totally changed. The closings of these institutions are success stories."

What made the difference?

"Love and compassion, and developing a good relationship that has stood up over a period of time," Mathew said. "We also realize that only through a true team effort could we have done something like this."



Life Skill Center

Rosewood employs approximately 300, with roughly 95 administrative and vocational staff members on-site in Elkridge. Turnover is a concern, Mathew acknowledged, owing to the skills and demands of the positions and the relatively pared down wage and benefits system that nonprofits like the CSC can afford.

With more budget cuts expected during this year's General Assembly session, that concern no doubt will increase.

"The Medicare rate has been lowered, there are reimbursement problems, regulations change constantly, and the population we serve is living longer," Mathew noted. "Health conditions always worsen with age, and many of our individuals are prone to be [less healthy] than the average population, so they will require more services."

At the moment, CSC supports more than 100 adults and children in its residential program that oversees community-based group housing located in Baltimore City and in Baltimore, Harford, Howard and Prince George's counties.

The center also offers vocational and social skills training, along with job seeking training, job placement services and job coaching services for both residential and non-residential clients.

While many individuals do land temporary jobs, they are also encouraged to engage in volunteer work. "In many cases it is more important to have community involvement than money," Mathew explained. "It helps greatly with establishing a sense of identity and with inclusion and community integration."

Quality assurance surveys along with independent interviews and auditing from The Arc of Howard County serve to keep the center apprised of its effectiveness.

Located at the site of a former commercial recreation property since 2005, CSC has been able to maintain an existing mini-golf course and a few other amenities to provide recreational and therapeutic opportunities for its clients. A greenhouse also allows the pursuit of year-round gardening activities.



Extensive Outreach

Although CSC's local reach is limited to a few surrounding counties, its program has been noticed by other jurisdictions outside the state.

Last year, CSC expanded services to Washington, D.C., and Mathew has received an invitation to start a similar program in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

The center also is active internationally through a subsidiary organization set up to expand programs and services to adults and children with developmental disabilities in the poorer countries of Asia and Africa.

Originally from India, Mathew has sought to partner with private organizations there and now works with private organizations in four Indian states.

"The Indian government does not have a policy or a system of support for administering services, so it is hard to control who gets the limited resources there," he said. "Our purpose is to educate people and help get rid of the stigma ... that results in being institutionalized in overcrowded conditions."

Working through the federal government's H-3 Visa program, the CSC developed an 18-month curriculum and has begun recruiting candidates from India to receive training in Elkridge. An inaugural group of seven recruits completed the center's first training session in November 2009. Although no partnership exists yet in Africa, Mathew is currently pursuing influential contacts there to help establish a similar program and is considering expansion into some former Soviet Union member-states.

In Maryland, he is still advocating for the state to close its remaining three institutions and to again partner with CSC to integrate their populations.

"Most providers don't want to accept that challenge," Mathew said, "but we have overcome that fear and successfully integrated some of the most difficult individuals that others did not want to serve, so we know we are ready."

Fortunately, he adds, community awareness and attitudes have changed dramatically since the center's residential program first began, and community integration has become more accepted than it once was.

Inclusion, he acknowledged, has been very therapeutic for everybody involved.