As the service provider of choice for more than 400 adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (I/DD), Merrick is committed to continually exploring new ways to best serve those in our programs throughout all stages of adulthood. In response to the increasing needs of clients experiencing memory issues, Merrick signed a lease in August 2024 to expand our Life Enrichment Program site by an additional 2,800 square feet with plans to transform the space into a Memory Care Program.
Construction of the new space began in October and was completed in November, although a few more months were needed to fully furnish the area. With the hiring of a Memory Care Coordinator in December and final touches being made to the space, we are excited to officially launch this new program in early 2025. Though still in its early stages of development, the Memory Care Program is designed to serve up to 10 clients, offering a safe, welcoming environment tailored to address their unique needs.
As many of you already know, John Wayne Barker (JWB) will be retiring as Executive Director on July 1, 2025. While JWB has been transparent about his planned retirement date for several years, the reality of this date still feels too soon for the Merrick community. Hired on June 1, 1998, JWB will retire after 27 years of dedicated service and will undoubtedly be missed by clients, employees, community partners, and family members, some of whom have known him since his early days with the nonprofit.
Over the course of his 27-year tenure, Merrick has experienced remarkable growth, establishing itself as a leader among disability service providers in the state. A great deal of Merrick’s success can be attributed to his leadership and mission-focused approach. From the start, he has been a stanch advocate of Merrick’s mission, constantly seeking new and innovative ways to best meet the needs of the clients who choose our program. Notable highlights of his tenure include paying off the mortgage on the 3210 Labore Road building in September 2022, supporting A-Team’s legislative and self-advocacy initiatives, and opening our expanded Life Enrichment Program at 1239 Willow Lake Boulevard in November 2022.
The search for the new Executive Director officially began on December 26, 2024, and is being led by an internal search committee of Trustees and family members that will start reviewing applications in February. The selection of a new Executive Director will provide an exciting opportunity to renew our sense of purpose and mission as we look ahead to the future and the challenges it may bring.
During this month’s city council meeting, Vadnais Heights Mayor Mike Krachmer signed an official proclamation declaring the week of September 8-14, 2024, as Direct Support Professional Recognition Week. Attending the meeting were Merrick Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) Mel Deschon, Teea Gillespie, Jessica Henderson, Melony Nace, Teresa Nelson, and Rebecca Vaillancourt who gladly welcomed the city’s gesture of appreciation.
DSPs are crucial to the work of Merrick, Inc. Unfortunately, they rarely receive the thanks they deserve for the work they do.
DSPs are the heart and soul of supports for people with disabilities. They are the primary providers of community-based long-term support services for thousands of individuals with disabilities in Minnesota and provide a broad range of individualized supports, including meal preparation, medication assistance, personal care and life skills training, mobility, and work and life enrichment opportunities.
Merrick could not realize its mission without DSPs. Thus, they deserve our gratitude.
Starting Monday, September 9, follow Merrick on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MerrickInc/ to see all the ways we are celebrating our DSPs.
Amy S.F. Lutz writes (November 8) from both experience and as a disability professional showing that elimination of the 14(c) wage paid to disabled workers is profoundly misguided. Minnesota considered and rejected such a course in its last legislative session, only narrowly avoiding an action spelling widespread unemployment and disenfranchisement for disabled workers like Lutz’ son and my daughter Elizabeth, who has worked at a disabled employment center in St. Paul for over a decade.
Advocates of eliminating the “subminimum wage,” have made two major errors that would have terrible consequences for disabled adults. The policy misapprehends both the basic realities of the labor market and the standards of equity it purports to defend.
Elizabeth’s experience belies descriptions of workplaces like hers as Dickensian dens that segregate disabled people to toil at monotonous work. Far from placing them in an environment in which they are exploited, such centers protect vulnerable adults from the risks and possible abuse they would face in an unfettered job market. Her job allows her to spend full days with talented staff and with her friends and co-workers. She receives a wage based on an established record of her productivity, which is not sufficient to support her, but does not cause her federal disability income to be reduced. Some of her co-workers stay at the center while others go into the community to work at businesses such as local supermarkets, where they are carefully supervised.
Suppose the subminimum wage were ended and an employer at a supermarket faced the choice of hiring someone to stock shelves. One applicant can stock product at twice the rate of another applicant who has cerebral palsy. Both are required to be paid the same minimum wage. Who will get the job? Probably not the disabled worker. Without the subminimum wage allowance, even employers who want to hire the disabled will have a disincentive to do so. Many more such workers will never find jobs at all.
Requiring that all workers, disabled or not, be paid the same wages confuses two types of equity. One kind of equity says people who are similarly situated should be treated the same. The other says that those who are not similarly situated should be treated differently. Those advocating the elimination of subminimum wages confuse the first type of equity with the second. A worker with cerebral palsy is not the same as a worker without it, and they should not be treated as if they are.
No one would deny the right of any worker to seek employment at any wage they might be able to secure, at or above the minimum. But to deny the opportunity to work for less than the minimum wage to those disabled workers who desire and enjoy such employment will mean that many more such workers will be closed out of the marketplace and will remain unemployed and home alone. It may also cause many disabled adult employment centers to shut down, reminiscent of Reagan era efforts to close centers for the mentally ill and leave them to fend for themselves.
These are the realities which advocates of eliminating 14(c) wages refuse to recognize.
Carlisle Ford Runge
Distinguished McKnight Professor of Applied Economics and Law
University of Minnesota
