JWOD CRP's: social entrepreneurs and the business of rehabilitation.

CRP's that provide work through the JWOD Program are as diverse as their constituencies and their communities.

Between the New Deal, the Great Society, and the Contract with America, a funny thing happened to community rehabilitation programs (CRP's) around the country. Driven by the forces of politics and economics, CRP's were forced to transform the business of rehabilitation into rehabilitation businesses. As public socio-economic monies continue to disappear, CRP's must find their own sources of revenue, sustain and grow them, despite and because of an increasing demand for services. Nationwide, they have evolved into a kind of vocational mutual fund built on social entrepreneurship where consumers are fully vested partners, not merely beneficiaries.

During this time, many of the CRP's that had projects operating through the Javits-Wagner-O'Day (JWOD)(1) Program have had an advantage over other CRP's because of the business requirements and related skills necessary in managing a contract with the federal government.

CRP's that provide work through the JWOD Program are as diverse as their constituencies and their communities. They are large and small, rural and urban. They can be found in the Black Hills of South Dakota, in the heart of Manhattan, on the reservations of Native Americans, and near the barrios of Miami. JWOD CRP's trade under names like the Centers for Habilitation, MDI Services, Inc., Job Works, Inc., Pueblo Diversified Industries, Tresco, Consolidated Products and Services, Inc., Fedcap Rehabilitation Services, and Pride, Inc. The value of the contracts each has with the federal government can range from a few thousand to a few million dollars.

Brevard Achievement Center in Florida has over 50 people providing shelf stocking and custodial and warehouse operations at the nearby Air Force Commissary; provides jobs for 9 people handling thousands of phone calls a day as part of the base's switchboard operation; has another 50 people providing full food service for the military dining facility; and manages a shelf stocking and custodial service on another Naval base and custodial services on yet another Army base. That's big business by any standard. The diversity of the work and contemporary job opportunities offer much to consumers who extend beyond one single disability group.

Melwood Horticultural Training Center in Maryland, using the leverage provided through the JWOD Program, has achieved outstanding success in empowering people with developmental disabilities through employment on these government projects. In just one 18-month span, Melwood added almost 200 workers and increased employees' wages by over $2 million. The center has 17 JWOD projects in the greater Washington, D.C., area providing over 390 jobs in a community setting, paying an average of $7.50 per hour plus fringe benefits to people with disabilities.

Recognized by their customers for their quality work as well as excellence in rehabilitation, JWOD's community rehabilitation programs have received countless prestigious awards for their successful provision of services and products. In the area of food services for instance, CRP's have received the Hennessy, Connelly, Rhiney, and Golden Plate Awards for excellence in food services. They've been named General Motors International Supplier of the Year for quality work with the auto manufacturer. PRIDE Industries in California is the third largest manufacturing employer in the 10-county greater Sacramento region, creating jobs for 1,700 people, 1,200 of whom have a disability. JWOD CRP's have also been recognized by colleagues for excellence in vocational and rehabilitation work. Eastway/Eastco in Ohio recently received an award from the National Community Healthcare Council in Ohio for "innovation and excellence in fulfilling the mission of community mental healthcare through the development of special programs for adults suffering from serious mental illness." Black Hills Workshop and Training Center in Rapid City received the Distinguished Service Award from the South Dakota Chapter of the American Association on Mental Retardation. Individuals with severe disabilities who learned job skills on JWOD projects have moved on to work with agencies and businesses like the Environmental Protection Agency, Cessna, the General Services Administration, and the Missouri Department of Conservation, working in varied jobs such as CAD/CAM programmer, fish scales processor, and correspondence clerk.

JWOD Then

Sixty years ago, the Wagner-O'Day Act was passed to provide job opportunities for people who were blind. When Senator Jacob Javits assured the inclusion of other people with severe disabilities with his amendment in 1971, the program, the variety of job opportunities, and the number of people served grew exponentially.

In the old days, the primary work of a JWOD CRP (not unlike other community rehabilitation programs outside of the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Program) was located in a place. The typical job was centered on manufacturing as a source of employment. Indeed, as recently as 10 years ago, over 70 percent of the jobs (provided through CRP's associated with NISH in the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Program) were manufacturing ones--projects that involved the production of items like paper clips, plastic utensils, military uniforms, ponchos, first-aid kits, and bandages for the federal buyer.

JWOD work provided two components essential not only to the type of developmentally disabled consumer primarily involved in the JWOD project, but to the community rehabilitation program managing it as well: a steady source of revenues (and wages); and, within well-defined government specifications, a freedom to control the outcome. Quality work, ontime delivery, and a fair market price meant a happy government customer and predictable levels of income for rehabilitation budgets used to wild (and often political) "market" fluctuations. Ten years ago, there were only 241 CRP's associated with NISH in the provision of goods and services to the federal government through the JWOD Program. These projects employed 12,000 people with severe disabilities.

JWOD Today

Today, over 80 percent of the JWOD jobs in CRP's associated with NISH are in services--providing work in recycling, data entry, administrative services, switchboard operation, patient escort services, grounds maintenance, and much more. The majority of JWOD work is performed within the community--at hundreds of military and federal buildings nationwide.

Due to the fact that employees involved in these types of service work are covered by the Service Contract Act, consumers working in these JWOD jobs receive a menu of health and welfare benefits as well. These benefit packages may include vacations, sick leave, health insurance, a pension plan, credit union memberships, paid holidays, life insurance, and bonus pay.

JWOD commodity work also produces benefits for its employees. In a recent survey of NISH-associated CRP's, 81 percent of those individuals with disabilities working on JWOD product projects receive benefits of some kind ranging from vacation and sick leave to health insurance and pension plans.

Through that same survey of JWOD CRP's, statistics paint a vivid image of a contemporary rehabilitation enterprise. A look at finances reveals a great deal. Of those community rehabilitation programs involved in the JWOD Program, 44 percent indicated that the bulk of their income comes from business revenue. Only 29 percent of the CRP revenues came from rehabilitation income. Two percent of the money is generated by donations and fundraising and seven percent of their income comes from a combination of grants, rental income, investments, gains on sales of assets, and training programs for the nondisabled.

In the same survey, the participating CRP's indicated that 821 people with disabilities had moved from JWOD contracts to supported employment sites during fiscal year 1996. The survey indicated that 45 percent of JWOD jobs are considered by their referral sources as supported employment placements. Survey figures also established that individuals working on JWOD contracts experience a reduction in public assistance because of their JWOD earnings. Forty-four percent have experienced a reduction in Supplemental Security Income (SSI); 13 percent in Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI); 7 percent in Medicaid; 6 percent in Medicare; 18 percent in food stamps; and 3 percent in Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). The number of people with disabilities working on JWOD contracts who no longer receive benefits due to JWOD earnings totaled close to 1,500.

JWOD is as timely and valuable today as it was six decades ago. JWOD work constitutes less than one-half of one percent of the federal procurement opportunities. With the federal government outsourcing more and more of its work, the future of this kind of employment for people with disabilities and this source of revenue for the CRP's managing the projects seems assured.

The importance of employment and training programs such as JWOD has been underscored in the National Council on Disability's report, Achieving Independence: The Challenge for the 21st Century. Listed among recommended employment goals are the following:

* "The President and the Congress should ensure that people with significant disabilities, including those with developmental disabilities, are provided with opportunities and programs to support them in working in inclusive settings at real jobs for real wages."

* "The Congress and the President should develop and fund initiatives to promote innovative employment and entrepreneurship among people with disabilities."

Congress and the President offer these today, through the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Program.

Social Entrepreneurs 

Two years ago, the Roberts Foundation published a report, New Social Entrepreneurs, on the planning and startup of nonprofit businesses nationwide. The authors of this report define "New Social Entrepreneurs" as nonprofit managers "with a background in social work, community development, or business, who pursue a vision of economic empowerment through the creation of social purpose businesses intended to provide expanded opportunity for those on the margins of our nation's economic mainstream." One of the five case studies highlighted in the report is that of Rubicon Programs, Inc., a CRP involved in JWOD work. The report states that through the JWOD contract work at Scagg's Island Naval Base near Vallejo, California, "... it became clear to Rubicon that larger building and grounds contracts had greater potential than small general maintenance work--both as a successful training opportunity and [as] a business venture." Using JWOD as a linchpin, Rubicon has developed an organizational culture that is "both a social services agency and an economic development agency." This combination, again from the Roberts Report, "makes [Rubicon] an effective, innovative agency and has allowed it to be an uplifting and positive place for staff and participants."

Another community rehabilitation program heavily involved in JWOD, Toolworks, Inc., was founded in 1975 with the mission of providing vocational training to adults with disabilities. Along with this mission was the vision of developing an agency that could be self-supporting. Toolworks wanted to be a place where people with disabilities could do real work for real pay. In the 1990's, the idea of a nonprofit agency being viewed as a mission-based business is as commonplace as is the idea of people with disabilities engaging in community-based employment. However, in 1975, these were not common beliefs. As a small nonprofit with no parent organization or national affiliation, Toolworks struggled for years. It took on its first JWOD project at the Post Office/US Court of Appeals in San Francisco in 1985. Not only was this contract larger than any other contract Toolworks had at the time, it was for services provided within a registered historical landmark that housed the judges of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. When an earthquake hit in 1989 and forced the closure of this building, Toolworks had already learned some valuable lessons: Toolworks had gained confidence in taking on such a large project and succeeding as had its employees with disabilities. During the time that Toolworks had worked at the Court of Appeals, the decision was made to close its facility-based employment and begin developing a community-based supported employment program. In many ways, according to Donna Feingold, President of Toolworks, "JWOD was a catalyst to these positive changes. More importantly, people are earning good wages in an environment that is both supported and integrated. Individuals are proud of their work ... and have gone from being tax users to taxpayers. JWOD has played a crucial role in Toolworks' success and expanded abilities to not only serve more people with disabilities but to serve them better."

Since that time, Toolworks has steadily grown. Shortly after the Court of Appeals closed, Toolworks began another project through JWOD, providing custodial services at San Francisco's Phillip Burton Federal Building. At this site, Toolworks currently employs 65 people with severe disabilities who earn an average of $10.75 per hour, in addition to full benefits and a pension plan. Several other JWOD contracts, including grounds maintenance ones, have been added--all providing more employment opportunities for people with severe disabilities. During the last fiscal year, Toolworks served 243 people with disabilities and had revenues of nearly $4 million. The largest expense incurred was for client wages, which, with benefits, came to almost $2 million. In one targeted study, Toolworks estimates that the government saves an average of $252,000 a year in supplemental subsidies as a result of individuals with disabilities working on JWOD contracts and that Toolworks employees with disabilities contribute back $196,000 in state and federal taxes.

Examples of CRP's that utilize the opportunities provided through JWOD employment exist throughout and even outside the continental United States. Laura Robertson, President and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Honolulu (GIH) echoes the sentiments of her colleagues: "Utilizing the JWOD Program as a means of assisting people with disabilities to become employed has helped [Goodwill] to increase services at a time when state funds are less available. In lieu of reducing services, JWOD programs enable us to continue providing additional means of employment for people [with disabilities]. The success of our government contracts under JWOD in Hawaii has allowed us to expand our federal contracts to include state ones. In conjunction with the Governor's Office and the State Procurement Office, we recently established a partnership to provide employment to people through CRP's." The Partnership in Employment Program (PEP) allows community rehabilitation programs like GIH to work directly with state governments to develop contractual opportunities.

These comments are echoed by Rick Coleman, President and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Orlando (Florida), who says: "With the contributions of JWOD contracts, Goodwill has been able to direct additional resources to developing complementary programs such as the Self-Sufficiency Center, where direct placement services have helped find jobs for more than 800 people since 1994."

Who is Served

One segment of people with disabilities served by the CRP's and provided employment opportunities through JWOD are people with mental illness--a constituency called "the fastest growing segment of the supported employment population," according to a recent research report compiled by Drs. Wehman, Kregel, and West. In 1992, the National Institute on Disability and Re habilitation Research (NIDRR) held a consensus conference to address the "unacceptably high" rates of unemployment among people with long-term mental illness. Among the conclusions published from that conference, according to a study titled A Legacy of Failure and published by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, were the following: "... static approaches to vocational rehabilitation services are not generally successful in meeting the needs of consumers with severe mental illnesses. Those approaches that are tailored to the specific needs of each consumer in this population tend to be more successful. Consumers with severe mental illness require long-term interventions." CRP's involved in JWOD find that employment training on JWOD projects offers the perfect threshold to entrance into supported and competitive placement for these individuals. This could explain why the number of individuals with mental illness successfully working in JWOD CRP's has grown over the last 10 years.

According to a survey undertaken by NISH 2 years ago, 44 percent of those working on JWOD projects have mental retardation as the primary disability and 22 percent have mental illness. The remainder represent the following disabilities: hearing impaired, visually impaired, traumatic brain injury, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, orthopedic disability, and cardiac disability, or various combinations of the above. Indeed, 66 percent of those working in JWOD jobs have secondary or tertiary disabilities.

The diversity of individuals served in CRP's involved in JWOD is perhaps best illustrated through the work of two JWOD agencies.

Vocational Guidance Services (VGS) of Cleveland, Ohio, has nearly 3,500 new consumers referred to their agency each year. While a majority of these are referred from state agencies and other organizations or service providers, nearly one-half are self-referrals recruited either by previous consumers or as a result of the agency's public service and outreach efforts. Many have not initiated efforts to gain eligibility for benefits under the Ohio Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation prior to coming to VGS. In addition, VGS has a Consumer Advisory Council, one purpose of which is to recruit new consumers.

In Baltimore, Maryland, The Chimes provides vocational, educational, habilitative, residential, and clinical services to over 2,000 people with developmental disabilities and other special needs. Over 300 of these are involved in JWOD work.

Consumer Choice

The Roberts report on New Social Entrepreneurs states the following: "One of Rubicon's goals is to prepare its participants for worklife in the community. Staff and trainees within Rubicon's businesses meet regularly to discuss work-related issues. Site meetings occur at least once per month to discuss progress....Individuals enrolled in any of Rubicon's services are fundamentally involved in designing and monitoring their own plans for moving out of homelessness or overcoming their individual barriers. They work with their counselors and case managers to design individualized plans that work best for them and meet their own needs and interests. This involvement in the delivery of their own services is an involvement that continues throughout the training participants receive in the businesses."

The goals of consumer choice, independence, self-determination, and quality of life are the goals of JWOD participating CRP's. The Committee for Purchase from People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled (CPPBSD), the federal agency charged with overseeing the JWOD Program nationwide, published a report that cited "Exemplary Placement Programs." The report describes successful placement strategies for nine nonprofit agencies participating in the JWOD Program. The nine agencies profiled in the report placed 3,218 consumers in community-based employment during the 12-month period for which figures were available. The CPPBSD report found that "The (JWOD) Program recognizes the need for a mix of training and employment opportunities to serve individuals at varying points in their vocational development. The operations [described in this report] balance each consumer's strengths and abilities with their [sic] goals and aspirations, working with them to develop their individual plan."

Employment Outcomes

The commitment of JWOD CRP's to weave a tapestry of employment options for consumers is solid. One successful JWOD CRP, Peckham Vocational Industries, Inc., of Lansing, Michigan, offers the following possibilities for their consumers: a Job Club, an Entry Level Skills Training Program, Supported Employment, Partnership for Employment, Transitional Training Program, Rehabilitation Technology Services, Pathways and WorkFirst Programs, and an Employment Development Center. In 1990, Peckham received the J.M Foundation's Search for Excellence Award for the agency's outstanding community-based employment development program. The J.M. Foundation, a private donor providing grants to vocational and other rehabilitation programs serving individuals with disabilities, selects awardees based on cost-effectiveness and measurable benefits to persons served.

There are as many different successful outcomes offered through employment through CRP's involved in JWOD projects as there are a variety of jobs offered. One of the most innovative, perhaps, is demonstrated by Maryland's Melwood Training Center. Through a unique partnership with state and county governments and the franchising corporation, Melwood converted a deteriorated food outlet on a U.S. Navy facility into a first-class, quality eating facility and workplace. As a result, 12 people with developmental disabilities went to work there with worker participation in profits and franchise ownership as a goal. Melwood took advantage of the relationship built on the success of a long-term JWOD contract on the Navy base to identify and realize this unique employment opportunity.

While JWOD CRP's have been moving people with disabilities from Javits Wagner-O'Day work as well as other agency programs into nonfederal government community placements for years, only now is research generating the figures to support it. In FY 1997, 2,508 JWOD employees working on NISH-associated projects were placed into nonfederal government competitive and supported employment opportunities. Eighteen hundred and fifty people were promoted within the direct labor classification, 243 promoted to management or supervisory positions and over 15,000 received raises.

Salaries for those individuals working on JWOD contracts have risen considerably over the last 10 years. Today, the average hourly wage for workers on JWOD jobs in NISH-associated CRP's is $6.79--a figure that compares well with other employment programs, and is higher than comparable supported employment wages in all but one state in the country, where Massachusetts reports a mean hourly wage of $7.05 (Wehman, Kregel, & West). Direct labor wages paid through JWOD work in the last fiscal year totaled $150 million. In the report on New Social Entrepreneurs, the Roberts Foundation found that "Rubicon's wages are at or above prevailing wages for the landscaping and baking industries and provide health and other benefits not often available in these fields."

According to the Occupational Training Center of Burlington County, Inc. (OTC), in Mt. Holly, New Jersey, "JWOD programs are effective because trainees are able to earn high training wages that enable them to gain independence from costly federal and state programs." In a report conducted by OTC, statistics indicate that approximately $480,000 is saved annually from the expenditures of Social Security and Medicaid as a direct result of one JWOD food services contract alone. In that same survey, the center discovered that reductions in social security and unemployment on all OTC JWOD contracts totaled $812,328 annually and contributions to Social Security and payments of state and federal taxes resulted in contributions of $387,942 annually. The total positive economic impact of JWOD programs on savings to the taxpayer and earnings for people with disabilities at this one CRP alone was found to be over $1.2 million each year. The Javits-Wagner-O'Day Program is in many ways the original return-to-work option for people with disabilities.

OTC states in a report, "The acquisition of JWOD contracts in conjunction with other job training programs (i.e., recycling, state custodial, and bench assembly) enables the OTC of Burlington County to stand at the forefront of vocational rehabilitation. The diversity in job training programs allows OTC to provide the most appropriate placement for people with disabilities." OTC provides services to more than 600 people with disabilities and its trainees earn the highest wages among rehabilitation facilities in the state. They have JWOD projects at McGuire Air Force Base, the Camden and Trenton Federal Courthouse Buildings, and at the General Services Administration's Northeast Distribution Center. In addition to receiving the highest level of national accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF), OTC's job training programs have received numerous state and national awards. The center received the Outstanding Facility of the Year Award by the New Jersey Association of Rehabilitation Facilities in both 1989 and 1994.

In the 1996 survey of NISH-associated CRP's, results indicated that close to 13,000 people with disabilities were placed directly in both competitive and supported employment programs (65 percent into competitive employment and 35 percent into supported employment jobs).

JWOD & Others

In a University of Wisconsin-Stout pilot study, titled Community Resources Accessed by Community-Based Rehabilitation Programs, the chief executive officers at 20 different community-based vocational rehabilitation organizations in Minnesota and Wisconsin were interviewed to determine organizational financial support, types of services provided, and the effect of SSDI and SSI on consumer participation. Among the primary findings of this study were: "Almost half of an organization's budget was earned through subcontracts, prime manufacturing and sales....This implies that these organizations made an important contribution to the business climate in their communities. In fact, some rehabilitation organizations are among the major employers in small communities." Three of the CRP's surveyed were ones involved in the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Program. "Observation of work environments and consumers lead to the conclusion that these organizations differed little from small- or medium-sized competitive industries." In this climate, the importance of the type of training and employment to people with disabilities offered through JWOD cannot be understated. Also from the Stout study: "Perhaps the greatest benefit is to the consumers who gain experience in a modern business setting indistinguishable from many other workplaces."

Government at its Best

The Javits-Wagner-O'Day Program reflects the best of what government has to offer--fulfilling a need of government, its appetite for goods and services, by serving people who need jobs. The formula used to direct JWOD is a winner too: A small cost-effective federal agency (18 people, $1.8 million budget annually) for oversight, two nonprofit organizations--which are self-sustaining--to assist in the implementation of the program, and a network of community rehabilitation programs that know the needs in their communities and are dedicated to serving their neighbors and citizens with disabilities who live there. Vice President Gore's National Performance Review Report, titled Creating a Government that Works Better and Costs Less, states that "across all levels of government, we need collaborative, community-based, customer-driven approaches through which providers can integrate the full network of services." The Javits-Wagner-O'Day Program does just that.

The flexibility within the JWOD Program enables, rather than encumbers, integration with other government initiatives, such as Welfare-to-Work and Return-to-Work. In a number of JWOD CRP's nationwide, many individuals leaving the welfare program are finding jobs as part of the nondisabled portion (up to 25 percent) of individuals working on a JWOD project. In this way, they receive skills training and can also be moved out into competitive employment when ready. Presently, over 160 JWOD CRP's are listed as part of the federal government's Welfare-to-Work website as referral sites.

Rubicon Programs, Inc., was cited in the New Social Entrepreneurs Report for its quality performance record in government contracting. In a section that summarized the benefits of this evolution to social entrepreneurialship under the heading "The Quality of Work is Higher," the study states: "Rubicon's Building and Grounds Service has won an award as the highest quality maintenance contractor in the western region from the federal government's General Services Administration. The award was for any contractor, whether for-profit, non-profit and irrespective of the workforce." Perhaps the Roberts Report says it best: "Government... contracts can play an important role in assisting the nonprofit to establish its enterprise as a viable business. Rubicon Programs, Inc., was in the unusual position of being able to capitalize on its status as a nonprofit agency serving (people with disabilities) in order to secure large government contracts for its Buildings and Grounds business. These (government) contracts helped Rubicon build a credible track record to then secure other business contracts."

Notes

(1.) Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act: The law that makes possible the employment of people with severe disabilities by awarding federal contracts to community rehabilitation programs (CRP's) by providing goods and services to the federal government.

(2.) NISH: Formerly known as National Industries for the Severely Handicapped, NISH is one of two national nonprofit agencies working with community rehabilitation programs nationwide to obtain and maintain employment and training opportunities for people with disabilities through the JWOD Program. The other is the National Industries for the Blind. Among those members serving on the NISH Board of Directors are representatives from The Arc; Jewish Vocational Services; United Cerebral Palsy Associations; National Easter Seals Society; and Goodwill Industries International. At present, there are approximately 550 community rehabilitation programs associated with NISH, with close to 30,000 people with severe disabilities employed on JWOD projects.

Bibliography

[1.] Achieving Independence: The Challenge for the 21st Century (1996). National Council on Disability.

[2.] A Legacy of Failure (1997, January). J. Noble, Jr., R.S. Honberg, L.L. Hall, & L.M. Flynn.

[3.] Community Resources Accessed by Community-Based Rehabilitation Programs: A Pilot Study (1996). W.E Johnson, K.F. Botterbusch, & F.E. Menz, Stout University of Wisconsin.

[4.] Exemplary Placement Programs (1995, March). Committee for Purchase from People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled.

[5.] New Social Entrepreneurs: The Success, Challenge, and Lessons of Nonprofit Enterprise Creation; A Progress Report on the Planning and Start-up of Nonprofit Businesses (1996, September). The Roberts Foundation, Homeless Economic Development Fund.

[6.] Supported Employment Research, Expanding Competitive Employment Opportunities for Persons with Significant Disabilities (1997, June). P. Wehman, J. Kregel, & M. West, Virginia Commonwealth University.