Essay on Group Living Inc: Providing Assistance & Empowerment to Adults with Disabilities

Introduction

Group Living Inc is a non-profit organization that was founded to provide normalization skills and living skills to adults with developmental disabilities (Group Living Inc., 2020). The mission of the organization is to assist each individual to attain the highest level of independence possible in their varying capabilities (Group Living Inc., 2020). The primary component of the service of the organization is assistance and empowerment. The organization receives most of its revenue for its various activities and events from well-wishers or donors. Additionally, the donors can channel their tax directly or check through Group Living Inc., 700 Main St, Suite 200, Arkadelphia, and AR71923 (Group Living Inc., 2020). Moreover, the donors can also donate through their credit card or PayPal or print and mail a Donation Form to Yukiko Taylor, PO Box 159, Arkadelphia, and AR71923 (Group Living Inc., 2020).

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The organization specializes in providing services for adults with disabilities. The other sources of funds include reimbursement for meals through the USDA Child and adult care program. The meals that the organization program offers are at a reduced price or free for the persons approved by the organization for assistance. The group is in strict compliance with Title VI and Title VII of the civil rights act and is operated, managed, and delivers services to its members without any bias (Group Living Inc., 2020). All individuals with queries and complaints, especially on discrimination, can write to the United States Department of agriculture, the office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 (Group Living Inc., 2020).

Qualification Criteria

For one to qualify for any of the programs that Group Living Inc., offers other than Medicaid Waiver, one must between the age of 18 and 21 or above. Additionally, one must possess skills, self-help skills, and have a developmental disability; Intellectual disability-autism-cerebral Palsy-epilepsy (Group Living Inc., 2020). The organization does not practice any form of discrimination. The organization accepts all individuals from all walks of life irrespective of their race, color, sexual preference, or national origin. All individuals with the stated disabilities are accepted into the system. All the activities and programs that take place within the organization are under guidance by the civil rights act of 1964 (Group Living Inc., 2020). All those who are eligible for assistance on Medicaid, or other health care or any other human service by the organization are accepted and are protected by the Office for Civil Rights in the United States Department of Health and Human Services (Group Living Inc., 2020).

Crucial Components

The organization is segmented into different parts. These components include adult development center, beehive store, house cleaning services, Lucas gardening, Medicaid waiver services, and residential (Group Living Inc., 2020). The adult development center deals with providing instruction in a variety of daily living skills. The clients are given a chance to get involved in music, crafts, art, and any other recreational activities such as field trips and exercise. The beehive store provides training and employment for a number of clients within the organization as a resale shop. The resale items are donated by the citizens of Arkadelphia and the surrounding areas (Group Living Inc., 2020). At the Beehive, they learn good work habits, including schedule keeping, following directions, reporting to work on time, getting along with co-workers and supervisors, working in the midst of distraction, among others. There are several tasks that they also engage in. These tasks include sorting, pricing, hanging, cleaning, stocking, sacking, and arranging merchandise, among others (Group Living Inc., 2020).

Regarding house cleaning services, the supervised crew of the client cleans businesses, homes, and churches in Arkadelphia and its surrounding areas (Group Living Inc., 2020). In Medicaid waiver services individuals several home and community-based services. The program is aimed at doing away with the need for institutionalization and allows the clients to live relatively normal lives within the least restrictive environment. The Lucas Gardens was opened in 2005 for use by the residents of Lucas Gardens (Group Living Inc., 2020). Within the residential component, the clients receive help to help them afford and live in their own homes or apartments. Based on the individual needs of each particular client, the organization is able to calculate the amount of help that each of the individuals require. There are different kinds of support that the organization gives to its clients in this regard. Assistance can include the following; paying bills and money management, nutrition and meal planning, shopping, transportation, and community access (Group Living Inc., 2020).

Notices

The organization has well-detailed discrimination and grievance notice procedure. Group Living Inc. is governed by all civil rights provision of federal states that strictly points out that there should never be such discriminatory instances (Group Living Inc., 2020). The complaints about the same can be channeled to the office mentioned above and immediately follow up done about the instance. Also, there is free language assistance to persons with limited English proficiency available upon request (Group Living Inc., 2020). The clients of Group Living have a grievance procedure that they can use to channel their grievances and issues or the challenges they encounter and which they feel that the organization can do something about. The process is comprehensive and covers even the parents or guardians of the clients. The procedure starts from the executive director of Group Living, then to board meeting, then appeal to the Arkansas Developmental Disabilities Board and finally to the chain of law should all the other levels of grievance resolution fail (Group Living Inc., 2020). At each level of solution, there should be elaborate documentation for the matter for records and purposes of reference in the present or the future.

Events

The organization hosts several occasions to help them achieve their goals. The primary goal is ensuring that the people living with disabilities have access to a relatively normal life. Some of these events include the gala event that is conducted each year. However, there have been numerous adjustments for this year due to the novel corona virus pandemic (Group Living Inc., 2020). The organization is taking all the necessary precautions on the potential impact of the corona virus. The Beehive and Arkadelphia garden is closed at the moment. The adult development center is only accepting those clients who cannot live by themselves at home. The others have been requested to stay home (Group Living Inc., 2020). The cleaning services and bingo are also closed at the moment.

Frances Maclean Adult Development Center

This is a sub-branch within the organization. The adult development center is located at 705 Main Street in downtown Arkadelphia (Group Living Inc., 2020). In this subsection of the group living, adults with developmental disabilities are taught life enhancement skills. Some of the skills that these adults are taught include health and safety skills, money management, reading, and necessary math skills. The adult development center also provides clients with community service opportunities. There are several activities that the clients may engage in, such as maintaining the flower beds. There are also field trips and recreational activities that the clients participate in with exuberance and great vigor. All the clients within Frances Maclean Adult Development Center (ADC) receive daily lunch provisions by the organization (Group Living Inc., 2020).

Reference

Group Living Inc. (2020). Group Living. Retrieved from https://www.groupliving.org/2020