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Stephen H. Morgan is the executive director of the Arc of Baltimore, a not-for-profit organization formerly known as the Baltimore Association of Retarded Citizens.
The organization seeks to help retarded and developmentally disabled citizens in the Baltimore region develop their potential and live as independently as possible in the community. Morgan oversees the organization's myriad of programs, which include community living, foster-care, vocational training and employment efforts.
Morgan began his 30-year career with Arc as a camp counselor in 1972. He became an instructor and then worked his way up the administrative ladder to his current position in 1985. He holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and a master's in clinical psychology from Loyola College.
What is the Arc of Baltimore? How large is it?
If you combine all of the programs that we operate in the Greater Baltimore area, we serve in the neighborhood of 2,000 individuals. We have about 650 paid employees. Our annual budget right now is around $38 million.
You also have volunteers?
We do. They're involved in governing the organization, as volunteer board members and as committee members. Other people volunteer to work directly with our clients in our recreational programs and daily programs. Others may assist us in fund-raising or office work. In a way, they are our ambassadors to various segments of the community -- the business community, the neighborhoods. That's critical.
How is Arc's budget financed?
Our principal source is state funding, through the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. And, increasingly, our community-based programs are eligible to receive a complement of federal funding. So, it's a state-federal partnership. The money flows to us through the state agencies, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, but, then, they're able to be reimbursed for a substantial share of the cost from the federal government through the federal Medicaid program.
Considering the state's $1.2 million budget deficit, are you concerned about your funding?
It's hard to say at this point, because it appears that the fate of future funding of a lot of human and social-service programs depends on the state's ability to raise additional revenue. And, of course, the approaches to that are a very controversial thing now, with the slot machines and certain tax provisions on the table.
My guess would be to say that we are not at risk of having our funding for the people we currently serve cut back, but we've been pretty steadily each year receiving increased funding for serving new folks who are on waiting lists for community services. And that continued growth, if you will, could be at risk over the next couple of years.
Is there a large demand for your services that is not being met?
Yes. And we're in the last year of a five-year initiative begun by the Glendening administration. The goal was to virtually eliminate the waiting list, but it has turned out that although that's been a very successful initiative, new individuals have come onto the waiting list almost as rapidly as people have gone off.
The estimate is the community-services programs that we have in place now probably are addressing only half the need that is out there. One of the reasons there is such burgeoning need has to do with the population demographics and the Baby Boomers, who are now 49 to 57 years old. Because there are so many people in that age bracket, there is a correspondingly large group of folks of that age with developmental disabilities who need services.
And then, if you add a generation to figure in the age of their parents, it's pretty easy to see that the caregivers, the people who have often been lifelong caregivers to those developmentally disabled people, are aging and dying and often needing long-term care themselves.
Therefore, their adult children who have developmental disabilities now are requiring our services. Arguably, when we age out through this generation of Baby Boomers, the waiting list should be more manageable.
Many of your clients are seniors?
People, particularly in the residential community-living programs tend to be older. Ten percent are over 70 years old, and 50 percent are over 50 years old.
How difficult is it to train seniors to be independent or to function independently in society?
The organization seeks to help retarded and developmentally disabled citizens in the Baltimore region develop their potential and live as independently as possible in the community. Morgan oversees the organization's myriad of programs, which include community living, foster-care, vocational training and employment efforts.
Morgan began his 30-year career with Arc as a camp counselor in 1972. He became an instructor and then worked his way up the administrative ladder to his current position in 1985. He holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and a master's in clinical psychology from Loyola College.
What is the Arc of Baltimore? How large is it?
If you combine all of the programs that we operate in the Greater Baltimore area, we serve in the neighborhood of 2,000 individuals. We have about 650 paid employees. Our annual budget right now is around $38 million.
You also have volunteers?
We do. They're involved in governing the organization, as volunteer board members and as committee members. Other people volunteer to work directly with our clients in our recreational programs and daily programs. Others may assist us in fund-raising or office work. In a way, they are our ambassadors to various segments of the community -- the business community, the neighborhoods. That's critical.
How is Arc's budget financed?
Our principal source is state funding, through the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. And, increasingly, our community-based programs are eligible to receive a complement of federal funding. So, it's a state-federal partnership. The money flows to us through the state agencies, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, but, then, they're able to be reimbursed for a substantial share of the cost from the federal government through the federal Medicaid program.
Considering the state's $1.2 million budget deficit, are you concerned about your funding?
It's hard to say at this point, because it appears that the fate of future funding of a lot of human and social-service programs depends on the state's ability to raise additional revenue. And, of course, the approaches to that are a very controversial thing now, with the slot machines and certain tax provisions on the table.
My guess would be to say that we are not at risk of having our funding for the people we currently serve cut back, but we've been pretty steadily each year receiving increased funding for serving new folks who are on waiting lists for community services. And that continued growth, if you will, could be at risk over the next couple of years.
Is there a large demand for your services that is not being met?
Yes. And we're in the last year of a five-year initiative begun by the Glendening administration. The goal was to virtually eliminate the waiting list, but it has turned out that although that's been a very successful initiative, new individuals have come onto the waiting list almost as rapidly as people have gone off.
The estimate is the community-services programs that we have in place now probably are addressing only half the need that is out there. One of the reasons there is such burgeoning need has to do with the population demographics and the Baby Boomers, who are now 49 to 57 years old. Because there are so many people in that age bracket, there is a correspondingly large group of folks of that age with developmental disabilities who need services.
And then, if you add a generation to figure in the age of their parents, it's pretty easy to see that the caregivers, the people who have often been lifelong caregivers to those developmentally disabled people, are aging and dying and often needing long-term care themselves.
Therefore, their adult children who have developmental disabilities now are requiring our services. Arguably, when we age out through this generation of Baby Boomers, the waiting list should be more manageable.
Many of your clients are seniors?
People, particularly in the residential community-living programs tend to be older. Ten percent are over 70 years old, and 50 percent are over 50 years old.
How difficult is it to train seniors to be independent or to function independently in society?
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