Supporting Individuals with Disabilities by Caring for the Individuals Who Serve Them

Gerry Beagles • February 1, 2024

The servant-leader is servant first, it begins with a natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first, as opposed to, wanting power, influence, fame, or wealth .”


Robert K. Greenleaf

Hello Everyone, and a Happy & Healthy 2024 to you! I’ve shared with you before that I truly believe Garden Center Services has the finest, most loyal employees of any agency I have knowledge of. I would imagine any of you that have direct contact with them would heartily agree. Cindy and I, as the leaders of this fine organization, understand that the quality of the care we offer to the individuals supported by our agency is directly connected to the respect, empowerment, and compassion that we demonstrate to our staff. 

Over the past few years our agency has worked in collaboration with the associations that we are members of and the They Deserve More coalition to strongly advocate with our legislators to increase the hourly wage for our Direct Support Professionals. We were very pleased this past summer when we were informed that our activism had been successful and that the approved budget for this current fiscal year included a $2.50 an hour increase for those employees that work directly with program participants. We were fortunate to be able to give this increase to our staff early; raising their rates by $1.25 in both July and again in November last year.   This was their biggest increase in quite some time and I want to express my gratitude to each and every one of you that took part in our advocacy efforts by calling, writing, or emailing your personal legislators. It is really true that the squeaky wheel gets the grease!

There was some anxiety recently however when our state funder informed providers like us that the Department’s way of calculating our rates this year would lead to a deep cut in the number of hours our direct support professionals would be funded to work. Some providers were going to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in financial support and find it necessary to terminate some individuals from their programs. It’s unfathomable that the staff at DHS thought that agencies like ours could accept a situation where we were now able to pay staff higher wages, but that the number of hours allocated to each agency would be cut! 

Having worked at the Division of Developmental Disabilities for years and now as a community provider, I know the importance and necessity of all of us working together in unity on behalf of persons with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities to offer them the lives they deserve. There has been such an outcry from providers, families, advocate groups, and even legislators themselves, it does sound like state is now determined to address this rate setting calculation concern in a way that will lead to zero cuts in our DSP hours!

Meanwhile, here at Garden Center Services, we will continue to work tirelessly on behalf of those individuals that we are lucky enough and honored to serve.

Other Articles

By Gerry Beagles March 3, 2025
The joy and happiness of inclusiveness and acceptance were all around us, fanned by the heavy beat of 70’s rock music being played by the volunteer DJ. It was our agency’s Valentine’s dance, hosted by the varsity baseball team over at St. Laurence High School, and both the individuals we support, and the student-athletes were having a blast. One of the major changes I have personally experienced over the last 50 plus years around services to persons with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities has been the movement to see all of us as people first, realizing that it is all the marvelous differences that brings life its’ juiciness! I was very impressed with the welcoming spirit of the baseball team and their strong determination to ensure that our folks would have a terrific time. The entire coaching staff, led by head coach Pete Lotus, demonstrated true leadership as they jumped in and enjoyed the party as well. Whatever the baseball teams’ record is at the end of the season, the Valentine party was a huge W! Sadly, it only took a few days for the elation we had experienced from the dance to change into stress and anxiety due to statements and actions taken by President Trump and those that seem to be blindly following his agenda. Initially, it was the attempt to stop Federal funding that was a threat to the continuation of our services which caused intense fear and worry with many of our parents, guardians, and families. There was a short reprieve as that executive order was rescinded, only to be followed by the next gut punch in the form of a bill that would cut $880 billion in Medicaid funding, which is the main source of financial backing for disability services in Illinois and throughout the country. It has become the highest priority for all of us to communicate to state and U.S. legislators the unfathomable negative ramifications of this bill becoming law! Some of my colleagues and I are traveling to Washington D.C. next week to share our collective stories with as many congresspeople as possible. Inside the March/April special issue of The Leaflet are some heartfelt reflections by persons whose lives are uplifted daily by the services we provide. I hope you will take a few minutes to reflect on the stories they share. May you be safe, and LOUD!
By Gerry Beagles February 28, 2025
Across the many neighborhoods that make up the metropolitan Chicago area, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) rely on an array of support services to live, work and thrive. Nationally, 69% of the community providers that deliver these services are turning away new referrals while 39% are discontinuing existing services because they lack the funding needed to recruit and retain qualified workers. This puts access to services in jeopardy at a time when nearly 512,000 disabled Americans are languishing on their states’ waiting lists. Now, another crisis looms. Community-based services are almost exclusively funded by Medicaid, and in Congress, the House recently approved a budget resolution directing the committee that oversees Medicaid to slash $880 billion in spending. Such a drastic cut will all but dismantle the federal Medicaid program, leaving hundreds of thousands more Americans without the services they need. As a provider of these services, I know firsthand that every community, including this wonderful city of Chicago, is better when it includes everyone— regardless of their disability. If Senators Durbin and Duckworth and Representative Casten agree that our community is stronger when it includes people with disabilities, then they must reject any proposals to cut funding from the federal Medicaid program. Sincerely, Gerry
By Gerry Beagles January 21, 2025
Looking forward to the new year at Garden Center.
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