Happy New Year, or should I say Happy New Fiscal Year!
Together we made the lives of the people we serve better, we set target goals and accomplished many of them and those that we fell short, progress was made. We established new services and saw growth in many existing services we currently offer. Our fiscal position held strong throughout the year even when we experienced state reimbursement cuts and funding levels drop in other areas.
We expanded services into Eastern Indiana and have made significant strides in establishing our brand and quality services to the people in that area. We were awarded grant funding from philanthropic foundations that Noble had not received funding from in the recent past, and demonstrated the incredible impact we are making on the lives of those we serve.
I am sure I missed some highlights but what is most important to understand is how all this relates to our mission of Creating opportunities for children and adults with developmental disabilities to live meaningful lives.
Beginning to serve individuals in the Community Living program was a huge success this year, and I believe this has set the groundwork of continuing to see more individuals select Noble as their provider of this service. It was also great to be a part of giving several individuals moving out of State Hospital settings an opportunity to move into their own home in the community, truly experiencing a sense of independence and belonging.
Noble continued its focus on meaningful employment for people with disabilities. We started a second shift at Industries in order to give individuals that might not work well in large group settings an opportunity to work and be successful doing so. Our Community Employment program set the bar high by supporting over 80 people here in Central Indiana in their success of obtaining competitive employment in the community. Over 65 individuals in the Eastern part of the state selected Noble to support them in seeking employment and to date, we have placed 10 individuals in successful employment positions.
What an opportunity we gave 11 students in the Hamilton County area to be interns at St. Vincent Carmel Hospital throughout the school year and be able to successfully graduate with a job or a nice portfolio of job experience and resume. Our new Project SEARCH program was a huge success, and we are looking forward to continuing with the St. Vincent Carmel site and starting a new venture at Riverview Hospital in Noblesville.
We received funding to build a community garden at the East facility to bring an additional opportunity for the people we serve to learn new skills, work outdoors in a garden setting and learn to give back to our community through the partnership with Old Bethel Food Pantry. We are beginning the construction next week!
Our focus on Community Exploration is paying off because we are seeing our number of community service hours expand. We all understand the importance of community access, community learning, community volunteering and community inclusion for people with developmental disabilities so this will always be a high priority.
Our new Music Therapy program has exploded and many individuals/families love this option and are taking full advantage. By the way, I had a chance to sit through one of the Music Therapy sessions and it was fantastic. To see individuals connect, be vibrant, express themselves and take incremental steps in skill development was amazing to watch. I had never experienced a Music Therapy session and I see great things for this service.
The Indiana First Steps program totally re-organized this past year. And even though it has been extremely difficult, Noble is weathering the storm because we believe so strongly in this service to children and families. I am proud of our Therapists that they are continuing to work hard on behalf of the children/families they are serving.
We added new and exciting Camps to our menu in the summer to give kids more opportunity to experience something new or learn a new skill.
Noble’s Art program continues to thrive and what an opportunity it is for individuals to be able to express themselves through the creation of an Art piece. We are continuing to try to expand ways for us to showcase this program and talent in our community.
Thank you all for supporting Noble and taking to heart that what we are doing each and every day is so meaningful and compelling!
