Shutdown Impacts City's 'Most Vulnerable Adults'

Clinton Cox is like a lot of local men. Every other week he goes out to lunch at Bakers Square with his brother, he never misses an episode of Iron Chef and he holds down a job.

But Cox, 52, is also developmentally disabled and relies heavily on medical assistance, food support, a residential coaching program and Metro Mobility to live his daily life. It’s because of these services, funded by Hennepin County and the state of Minnesota, that Cox is able to act as his own guardian.

“It [independent living program] helps me with my shopping, managing my money, making my appointments and my cooking,” Cox said. “[Without metro mobility transportation] I’d be sitting at home all the time, it wouldn’t be very fun.”

 is a Minnetonka-based nonprofit that offers employment and training to 1,700 people with disabilities every year. Specifically, the organization provides local businesses with contracted work teams or individual candidates for jobs—Cox works here packaging goods for sale.

Independent Living

Although  the state must meet its obligations to fund Medicaid and group residential housing (GRH) programs, her ruling excluded state vocational rehabilitation services (SVRS) and semi-independent living services (SILS) that help Cox, and those like him, with daily tasks including getting to medical appointments and work, buying groceries and meal planning.

As a result, those who are developmentally disabled but living independently, like Cox, could become one of the groups hardest hit by the state government shutdown.

“I’m frustrated. I don’t know how I could live without the funding…it’s very important to help me remain independent,” Cox said. “I’d like to see them [Minnesota legislators] live the way we live. I don’t think they have consideration for people like me, they don’t understand what these cuts mean to people.”

Disability trade associations, Association of Residential Resources in Minnesota (ARRM) and the Minnesota Habilitation Coalition (MHC) have appealed former Supreme Court Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz, the special master appointed for the Minnesota government shutdown, to fund semi-independent living services, but she has not yet made a ruling. In the meantime, money for both SILS and state vocational rehabilitation services isn’t coming in.

According to  that stop in funding is a real problem—and a dangerous one.

“They have been conditioned to have this level of independence,” President & CEO of Opportunity Partners George J. Klauser said. “So if you take that away they end up sitting at home and we’re not at all convinced that they would have enough money to buy food or to survive.”

“They operate rather independently but need supports that they can count on. Things can go awry rather quickly,” Rick Hammergren, who heads up day training and rehabilitation services for Opportunity Partners, agreed. “In many ways these folks have a greater level of vulnerability than people who are in group homes.”

While Minnetonka’s will continue to receive payments for the majority of the programs that they provide including group homes, they have made a decision to continue their independent living and vocational rehabilitation services to clients during the shutdown. It’s a decision that could cost the Minnetonka nonprofit more than $100,000 a month.

“They are essential services,” Klauser said. “We’re going to continue serving clients…but take it week by week.”

In the meantime, Opportunity Partners is hoping for more volunteers and calling on all their paid staff to take on new roles. If needed, the management team is even ready to start driving vans, Klauser said.    

Transportation Woes for the Mentally Disabled

Since the shutdown, local riders of Metro Transit and Metro Mobility were assured continued uninterrupted service—though not indefinitely. The Metropolitan Council, which operates most transit systems in the metro, including several bus routes servicing Minnetonka, said the routes would run without interruption for at least several weeks during the shutdown. 

But seven days into the shutdown and no signs of the impasse at the Statehouse ending, local riders who depend on these services, like Cox, are bracing for their bus routes to get the brakes.

“It would prevent him from remaining employed. So many of our clients do not have the family support to do simple things like just get around,” said Laura Schley, a SILS specialist who’s been working with Cox for six years.

Cox, visibly anxious about a loss in Metro Mobility transportation, agreed with Schley.

“I’m really worried…I just get too confused on the bus. It wouldn’t work," he said. “I wouldn’t have no way to get to work…I can’t just go look for a job. How am I going to get around?”

And Cox isn't alone—not by a long shot. Opportunity Partners conservatively estimates that about 340 clients in their Minnetonka center alone use Metro Mobility to get to and from work and doctors appointments and that another 60 clients here use Metro Transit to get around.

Looking Ahead: Transportation

Earlier this week, the Metropolitan Council said they are bracing to lose 85 percent of its 2012-2013 Metro Transit funding when the Minnesota state legislature does finally pass its budget at the end of the state government shutdown.

The council is planning its future services based on the most recent proposal it received from the legislature—a reduction of $109 million for 2012-13 transit operations.

“The challenge we have is reducing our $129 million budget to $20 million,” Director of Service Development for Metro Transit John Levin told reporters and residents at a Met Council public meeting on July 6.

That means that regardless of the current shutdown, many local adults living with disabilities will feel the impact of the 2011 budget battle in the year to come.

“The vast majority of our clients rely on the metro bus or Metro Mobility to get around,” Hammergren said.

Budget Planning

Just as the Met Council is having to navigate the coming fiscal year without direction from legislators through a state transportation budget, nonprofits across the state, like Opportunity Partners, are also unable to plan for the future without an appropriated .

“We can’t lose sight of the fact that we’re still in the dark as to how significant future budget cuts will be,” Klauser said. “Just when the anxiety is over with the shutdown, we’ll be back to really trying to understand and absorb the significance of the cuts and how that will impact us. There has been little clarity.”

Many at Opportunity Partners also pointed out that by not funding services that keep the developmentally disabled independent during the shutdown and potentially beyond, state and county governments are being short-sighted and may end up costing taxpayers more money in the long run.

“It’s preventative medicine,” said Director of Residential Services for Opportunity Partners Doug Annett. “Independent living cuts down on emergency medicine, medication, food stamps…those are hidden costs for the state. In a big picture, these services are saving money.”

Annett said through the semi-independent living services that Cox receives from Opportunity Partners, Cox has been able to lose 40 pounds, ditch his diabetes medication, hold down a job and pay for some of his own living expenses. Annett estimates that if Cox was living in a group home, instead of on his own, it would cost the state four times as much than it does now. 

“These services help save the state money. It just makes sense,” Annett said.

Looking Ahead for Cox

Fiscally prudent or not, Cox doesn’t want to live in a group home—not just because he enjoys being independent, he said, but also because a group home wouldn’t let him keep his pet guinea, Cookie.

“I want to do what I’m capable of doing,” Cox told Patch. “I want to make my own decisions, decide on my own activities and take care of my guinea pig.”

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Follow the latest shutdown developments on Minnetonka Patch:

July 7: Minnetonka's Gunyou on 'Third Way' Committee Experience, Proposal

July 7: Committee Releases ‘Third Way’ Solution: Income Taxes for Everyone

July 6: 

July 5: Minnetonka City Manager Tapped to Solve Stalemate, End Shutdown

July 5: 

July 5: 

July 1: State of Shutdown: Replay of Final Hours

July 1: State of Shutdown: Impact on City of Minnetonka

July 1: State of Shutdown: Impact on Locals

July 1: State of Shutdown: Impact on Minnetonka Nonprofits

July 1: State of Shutdown: Impact on Minnetonka Schools

June 30: Countdown to Shutdown

June 30: Teen Clinics Await Their Fate During Shutdown

June 30: Does Shutdown Impact You?

June 29: Judge Rules on Essential Services

June 29: MnDOT to City: 'Work Must Stop for Shutdown'

June 24: Local Nonprofits, Hospitals Brace for Shutdown

June 23: 169 Project, Taxpayers: Political Pawns as Shutdown Looms?

June 23: State Shutdown Would Freeze DNR, Close State Parks

June 23: Hennepin County Battens Down Hatches for Shutdown

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