John Foley had been with The Arc of the Ozarks for 16 years before being promoted to president Sept. 23. He has 40 years of education and nonprofit experience as well as a master's degree from Missouri State University.
Q: How did you get into the field of helping the developmentally disabled?
A: I graduated with a degree in industrial arts education (from Truman State University). I took a job at State Schools for the Severely Handicapped in Hannibal, mainly because you didn't have to sign a contract, and quite honestly, I fell in love with it. That was in 1969, and I've been doing it ever since. I went to the South Central Committee on Developmental Disabilities (and then moved to various jobs). Then I went to work for The Arc of the Ozarks as vice president of operations, and I've been here 16 years.
Q: What are the biggest challenges The Arc faces?
A: The problems are finding staff ... and funding (for) programs. Funding is probably the biggest concern, but once you have the programs funded, finding the staff to run the programs and getting them trained is tough.
Q: How do you find qualified people?
A: We do an awful lot of advertising in the paper, go to a lot of job fairs and put up flyers in the college campuses. We use a lot of college students, because to work for us, you have to be 18 years of age and you have to have a high school diploma. We have (Senior Director of Development and Communications) Julie Guillebeau, whose main job is fundraising and public relations, and she's doing a great job of getting the word out.
Q: How do you deal with fundraising issues?
A: People are very careful with their money right now, and in these times we understand that. What we're trying to do is educate people. If we educate people about who we are and what we do - and we haven't done a great job of that in the past - we feel that the money will come. We also have a fundraiser in late January and early February - a hunting and fishing swap meet. We want to have people who want to sell and want to buy, and we're looking for people to give demonstrations.
Q: How have attitudes toward the disabled changed since you entered the field?
A: When I started teaching, you'd take a disabled person in the community and people would stare. I think people are much more tolerant and understanding of the disabled now, but honestly, they're out in the community a whole lot more. It used to be that if you had a child that was developmentally disabled, you were told to put them in an institution and forget about them. That's not the case anymore. We've got people on our board who have disabled children and they were told to put them in an institution and forget about them. They chose not to do that, and that was the impetus for starting Arc of the Ozarks.
