Lakes Country merges with Alternative Opportunities

A merger of two nonprofit organizations is bringing together the best of both groups, according to the CEO of the new organization.

Alternative Employment Opportunity Services merged Jan. 15 with Lakes Country Rehabilitation Center to form Lakes Country Resource Center.

Lakes Country helps people with physical, medical, mental or emotional issues find employment.

Alternative Opportunities Inc. is the umbrella company for Lakes Country and several other organizations.

Additional programs under the Alternative Opportunities umbrella are A.O. Community Living, Gateway Youth and Family Services, Carol Jones Recovery Center and a short-term residential center to house clients in Springfield while they receive training.

"One of the things that's real important about our organization is, whether it's Carol Jones (Recovery Center) or Lakes Country division, everything that we do is geared toward trying to support people to become more self-sufficient," said Bontiea Goss, CEO of Vocational Services for Lakes Country.

"Everything, whether it is residential support or vocational support, we're genuinely committed to trying to reduce the amount of dependence people have on government funding, the amount of dependence that they have on social services and the support system, and to try and give them the tools so that they can live more independently."

Alternative Opportunities, which receives its funding from the state and federal governments, is under the vocational rehabilitation division of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Alternative Opportunities has about 15 offices throughout the state and is governed by a board of directors.

"The merger has taken what were two good programs and taken the best of both," said Goss. "This has resulted in a service that's better than either one was on its own."

Lakes Country and Alternative Opportunities both concentrated on vocational rehabilitation services and employment placement for people with disabilities.

"Both programs focused on services to the community, to the people living in the community," she said. "When we started to discuss the merger (last year), we realized that by combining the two organizations, we could have the advantage of economies of scale, primarily in the area of administration. By reducing administrative overhead, we could take those dollars and put them into our services."

Approximately 15 jobs were eliminated as a result of the merger, Goss said. Alternative Opportunities, located at 222 E. Water St., has about 300 employees in its various programs.

Lakes Country had approximately 100 employees.

Alternative Opportunities closed its office in The Vandivort Center, 305 E. Walnut St., which was used for vocational services. Those services are now being offered at Lakes Country Resource Center, 2626 W. College St.

"On the average, Lakes Country is serving over 100 people at a time," Goss said. "That's around a 20 percent increase in the number of people we were serving before."

She believes the increase is related to the unemployment rate and the slow economy, in addition to the merger.

"When the economy is struggling, when unemployment goes up, we see a higher need," Goss said. "The irony is that what's taking place in the state of Missouri is that the economy is weak and our state government is struggling with dollars to fund services, and there's a higher need in the community."

Among those benefiting from the vocational training were Anthony Kristek and Jamie Koslowski, both of whom are hearing impaired. Lakes Country screened both of them and matched them with Springfield companies.

Koslowski has performed a variety of tasks at Montgomery Metal Craft for approximately three months. Kristek, a production assistant at Cozy Creek Candles, has been with the company for more than a year.

"Anthony and I hit it off," said Jody Lawson, owner of Cozy Creek Candles. "He's learned the ins and outs and is a good match for this company."

Programs

A.O. Community Living is community-based support for people with mental retardation, head injury and/or developmental disabilities.

The program offers behavior therapy, individualized supported living and day habilitation.

Gateway Youth and Family Services' mission is to provide family focused services tailored to children who have been removed from a home or are at risk of being removed. These services include crisis management, foster- and adoptive-parent training, and interpersonal counseling for families and/or individuals. Gateway began contracting with the Department of Family Services in 1995.

Tom Goss, CFO for Alternative Opportunities, said Gateway's goal is "to keep families together; to keep people with disabilities, whether it's mental or physical, in their communities."

Prior to the merger, Lakes Country operated Carol Jones Recovery Center, which is now a division of Alternative Opportunities. Carol Jones Recovery Center, 2411 and 2415 W. Catalpa, is an alcohol and drug treatment center for women.

According to Tom Goss, an additional 20 women and their families (a 50 percent increase) have used outpatient services at Carol Jones Recovery Center since the merger.

"We've really focused on the outpatient because you're locked in to how many women you can serve in the facility because of Medicaid rules," he said. "We had such a waiting list at the time of the merger. We're trying to serve the women as quickly as we can."