WEBVTT 00:00:00.00 --> 00:00:09.86 Wagons to Waivers - Segment 8: The Beginning of the Sheltered Workshops 00:00:09.87 --> 00:00:13.30 Reba McEntire: It wasn't until the mid 70's that publicly funded programs 00:00:13.30 --> 00:00:15.73 outside the institutions were developed. 00:00:15.73 --> 00:00:18.73 The first major effort was to make employment services 00:00:18.73 --> 00:00:21.57 available in sheltered workshops. 00:00:21.57 --> 00:00:24.37 It was generally accepted that children go to school, 00:00:24.37 --> 00:00:27.57 and adults go to work. 00:00:27.57 --> 00:00:30.77 Ray Ashworth: The sheltered workshops were what we primarily targeted, 00:00:30.77 --> 00:00:35.07 simply because all the kids, hopefully, 00:00:35.07 --> 00:00:37.50 would grow up and be adults. 00:00:37.50 --> 00:00:40.50 Reba McEntire: In the beginning, the sheltered workshops were few. 00:00:40.50 --> 00:00:43.10 They were operated by nonprofit agencies, 00:00:43.10 --> 00:00:47.17 most of which were started and run by parents. 00:00:47.17 --> 00:00:49.50 In the mid 70's, the federally funded 00:00:49.50 --> 00:00:53.23 Oklahoma Planning Council for Developmental Disabilities 00:00:53.23 --> 00:00:57.43 began making small service grants to help support these programs. 00:00:57.43 --> 00:00:59.90 It was not until the early 80's that the Department of 00:00:59.90 --> 00:01:04.33 Human Services began supporting these programs. 00:01:04.33 --> 00:01:05.47 Effie Foster-Ballard: I was driving down the road, 00:01:05.47 --> 00:01:07.53 and I heard on the radio that a group of parents 00:01:07.53 --> 00:01:11.87 were meeting together to form some programs 00:01:11.87 --> 00:01:15.07 for people with disabilities in Tahlequah. 00:01:15.07 --> 00:01:21.03 I found a grant through the developmental disabilities unit of DHS. 00:01:21.03 --> 00:01:25.23 A group of us got together, we wrote the grant, 00:01:25.23 --> 00:01:29.17 got incorporated, and started the Oklahoma Production Center 00:01:29.17 --> 00:01:33.77 as a sheltered workshop for folks with disabilities. 00:01:33.77 --> 00:01:41.27 You had to raise matching funds on a 75/25 percent rate. 00:01:41.27 --> 00:01:44.50 I gave speeches at the Rotary club, the Kiwanis club, 00:01:44.50 --> 00:01:49.73 the Optimists, the Lions - anybody that would listen, 00:01:49.73 --> 00:01:53.20 and I asked for money. 00:01:53.20 --> 00:01:57.00 So, the first thing we did after we got in our rented building 00:01:57.00 --> 00:02:01.10 was that I took all the clients, six clients, 00:02:01.10 --> 00:02:04.83 went down Main street, and walking over to the front door 00:02:04.83 --> 00:02:07.27 of every business and saying 00:02:07.27 --> 00:02:10.30 "We are clients of the Oklahoma Production Center. 00:02:10.30 --> 00:02:12.90 We're newly formed in Tahlequah, 00:02:12.90 --> 00:02:16.23 and we provide services to people with disabilities." 00:02:16.23 --> 00:02:19.47 I don't know that this community was any more backward 00:02:19.47 --> 00:02:23.10 than any other community. I think it was the times. 00:02:23.10 --> 00:02:26.83 I think nobody had really called to their attention 00:02:26.83 --> 00:02:29.83 that our folks need to do something. 00:02:29.83 --> 00:02:32.07 They need a place to live, they need a place to work, 00:02:32.07 --> 00:02:33.87 and they need to have a good time. 00:02:33.87 --> 00:02:36.57 We didn't have anything when we started, 00:02:36.57 --> 00:02:38.77 but we have some things now, 00:02:38.77 --> 00:02:41.53 and we're definitely recognized in Tahlequah 00:02:41.53 --> 00:02:50.90 as people who can do a good job, and do a good job. 00:02:50.90 --> 00:02:54.50 Reba McEntire: The 1980s marked the beginning of more change. 00:02:54.50 --> 00:02:57.60 The department was renamed to the Department of Human Services, 00:02:57.60 --> 00:02:59.67 and Mr. Welfare, Lloyd Rader, 00:02:59.67 --> 00:03:03.07 decided he had been a public servant long enough. 00:03:03.07 --> 00:03:07.60 But Mr. Rader's shoes would be particularly hard to fill. 00:03:07.60 --> 00:03:10.20 George Nigh: Suddenly we have a vacancy in the director's position, 00:03:10.20 --> 00:03:15.90 and I'm thinking, there had been some crises in the agencies, 00:03:15.90 --> 00:03:19.53 there were those who wanted this direction or that direction, 00:03:19.53 --> 00:03:23.27 and I was thinking "How can I bring stability 00:03:23.27 --> 00:03:26.87 to an agency that's kind of fluctuating right now?" 00:03:26.87 --> 00:03:30.77 How can you bring credibility to an agency? 00:03:30.77 --> 00:03:33.50 It's by the appointment of picking out a person 00:03:33.50 --> 00:03:36.60 who can bring their credibility. 00:03:36.60 --> 00:03:40.60 Now you can find a lot of people who had the talent to do it, 00:03:40.60 --> 00:03:42.30 but you also have to have the person, 00:03:42.30 --> 00:03:43.97 at that stage in government, you had to have 00:03:43.97 --> 00:03:46.17 a person who brought personal credibility. 00:03:46.17 --> 00:03:48.53 I said "Who would that be?" 00:03:48.53 --> 00:03:51.73 And I said it would be Henry Bellmon. 00:03:51.73 --> 00:03:55.73 Can you imagine being the head of an agency 00:03:55.73 --> 00:03:57.83 with the experience of having been in the legislature, 00:03:57.83 --> 00:03:59.70 having been chairman of a political party, 00:03:59.70 --> 00:04:02.20 having been Governor, having been a United States Senator, 00:04:02.20 --> 00:04:06.70 and you're the agency head? Wow. 00:04:06.70 --> 00:04:09.60 And he did it well. 00:04:09.60 --> 00:04:13.63 Reba McEntire: Upon taking the job at DHS in 1982, 00:04:13.63 --> 00:04:18.00 Bellmon conducted studies of all the agency's programs. 00:04:18.00 --> 00:04:20.83 When he looked at mental retardation programs, 00:04:20.83 --> 00:04:25.17 he was concerned that the institutions were not up to standards, 00:04:25.17 --> 00:04:27.93 and there were limited community services. 00:04:27.93 --> 00:04:31.13 So, Bellmon went in search of someone with experience 00:04:31.13 --> 00:04:34.37 who could lead the state in a new direction. 00:04:34.37 --> 00:04:38.10 Jean Cooper: I came to Oklahoma in 1983, and Henry Bellmon 00:04:38.10 --> 00:04:41.03 and Bob Fulton had asked for some assistance 00:04:41.03 --> 00:04:43.93 from the state of Texas, where I was acting as 00:04:43.93 --> 00:04:47.20 the deputy commissioner for mental retardation. 00:04:47.20 --> 00:04:48.53 They came down to visit 00:04:48.53 --> 00:04:50.97 and wondered how we had started community services 00:04:50.97 --> 00:04:54.00 and how we did that in Texas. 00:04:54.00 --> 00:04:58.23 Reba McEntire: As a part of a major restructuring of DHS, 00:04:58.23 --> 00:05:01.03 Bellmon elevated developmental disability services 00:05:01.03 --> 00:05:04.17 on the agency's organizational chart, 00:05:04.17 --> 00:05:06.87 and it became a division within a year. 00:05:06.87 --> 00:05:11.17 Jean Cooper became the first director of that division. 00:05:11.17 --> 00:05:15.10 Jean Cooper: Well, at that point, almost all of the services were institutional. 00:05:15.10 --> 00:05:21.87 There were about 1,800 consumers in the three institutions. 00:05:21.87 --> 00:05:24.27 There were like two group homes in the whole state, 00:05:24.27 --> 00:05:26.57 two in Oklahoma City, Dale Rogers was there, 00:05:26.57 --> 00:05:31.37 and I think there were like 14 sheltered workshops, 00:05:31.37 --> 00:05:36.50 and that was the extent of the services in the state at that time. 00:05:36.50 --> 00:05:40.37 Reba McEntire: Cooper set out to immediately bring about major change. 00:05:40.37 --> 00:05:43.03 She brought in staff and worked to bring the institutions 00:05:43.03 --> 00:05:45.87 up to federal standards, while planting the seeds 00:05:45.87 --> 00:05:49.23 for community options for families. 00:05:49.23 --> 00:05:52.43 Jean Cooper: A big part of the plan was to try to develop 00:05:52.43 --> 00:05:55.53 new community services, and mostly that was group homes. 00:05:55.53 --> 00:05:57.60 We had a lot of help from Donna Nigh. 00:05:57.60 --> 00:06:01.47 It was a huge team effort, folks trying to work together. 00:06:01.47 --> 00:06:04.87 Back in those days, we had 14 people in the state office, 00:06:04.87 --> 00:06:14.73 and we managed to do all that.