People Services, Inc. Story

A brief history in time:

It all began in early 1974 when a group of parents decided to develop a community service for their adult sons and daughters. In November of 1974 the Lake County Council for Retarded Children opened a licensed day program known as the Clear Lake Activities Center (CLAC) in Lakeport. They gathered in the site that is now known as the Elks Club. The original volunteer staff of two serving twelve consumers assured everyone's access to the activity center by using their own vehicles to help everybody get there. Mr. Richard Burnes was the first Executive Director and Ilene Bruch Dumont was the very first volunteer.

By 1975, the young organization boasted its first 12-passenger van. In 1976, Paul MacCready became the new Executive Director and Ms. Dumont became the director of CLAC and transportation. Three years later, in 1978, the Lake County Council for Retarded Children had become Clear Lake Association for Developmental Services (CLADS). That same year, CLADS began providing respite services under the direction of Ilene Dumont. CLADS also began its first semi-independent living program with four people. Moving into 1979 and 1980, continued growth made it clear that new service options needed to be developed. Paid work became part of the service vernacular. The early days of work were spent providing janitorial services for other non-profits at minimum wage through a state program called NOVA.

By 1981, the growth of services had reached the point that the parent organization, CLADS, realized they no longer had the resources to provide the level and variety of services needed by the consumers of Lake County. With the support and mentorship of Paul MacCready, Ilene Dumont formed a non-profit organization that is known today as People Services, Inc.

1982 brought about Ilene Dumont's first successful grant of $88,000. With the the help of this grant, People Services opened the doors of its new vocational facility: Konocti Industries. By then, the Clear Lake Activity Center had grown to 37 consumers, with 12 consumers moving over to Konocti Industries. Struggling to prove its worth to its consumers and the community, no job was turned away. Early work crews helped to glean walnuts and pears from Lake County orchards. They made novelty products from donated scrap materials. Konocti Industries and its workers truly believed anything was possible! In 1984, Konocti Industries produced and distributed its own health food bar (The No Junk Hunk) before anyone even knew what a health food bar was! Being ahead of the times, Konocti Industries ultimately had to find other ways of generating income and work. More successful grants were written by F. Ilene Dumont during the years of 1982 through 1995 providing the agency with six wheel-chair accessible vans to compliment its full service transit services for those served.

Continued growth at the activity center brought about a change in address and a new name for the Clear Lake Activity Center. The new day program was now known as the Konocti Day Training Center and moved to a site just north of Konocti Industries. Keeping pace with the changes both the Transportation and Respite Services continued to grow as well.

By the late 1980's and early 1990's, Konocti Industries’ focus became grounds maintenance, janitorial services, and woodworking. The woodworking shop produced gazebos, sheds and redwood furniture of the highest quality.

During the early years of developing work forces to hire the disabled, more successful grants were written by F. Ilene Dumont, which enriched the work training division; Konocti Industries. It received three grants from the Department of Rehabilitation for equipment and trucks, and one revenue sharing grant from the County of Lake to renovate and upgrade its woodshop.

While Konocti Industries grew in numbers and strength, Konocti Day Training Center began experiencing growing pains of its own. By 1990, Konocti Day Training Center had grown to the point that it could now open a satellite site in the city of Clearlake. Never missing an opportunity to create a new "Konocti,” both day programs became know as Konocti Instructional Services/Lakeport and Konocti Instructional Services/Clearlake. Finally, people living in Clearlake could work and learn in their own neighborhoods!

1989-90 also brought about the birth of more services. People Services could now provide Independent Living services. Thanks to another successful grant written by F. Ilene Dumont, PSI could now provide consumer focused recreational transportation services in the form of Konocti Express. The biggest disappointment during this growth period was the loss of respite services through PSI. A victim of decreased clientele and funding, 1993 also brought about a temporary setback in the closing of the Clearlake day program site. The good news was there was work for any consumer who chose to work and an array of services for those who were making other choices! By 1993, every consumer who was choosing to work with Konocti Industries had found work in the community through work crews and supported employment. The woodshop closed its doors because it no longer had workers on site.

Two years later, in 1995, the Clearlake day program re-opened its doors. Consumers were once again receiving services on both sides of the lake. KIS/Lakeport and KIS/Clearlake were now open in their present sites. KIS/Lakeport will always owe a special debt of gratitude to Mike and Linda Gosset who made the 11th Street site in Lakeport possible. 1995 also ushered the re-opening of the Konocti Industries woodshop. Many of the consumer/workers missed their old friends and insisted that we open the old KI doors again.

Being an incredible year of opportunity, 1995 also gave way to the opening of the People Services thrift store. Appropriately named, As Good As If New (A.G.A.I.N.) and Marketplace Art.

By 1999, People Services, Inc. expanded to support people with mental health needs. A comprehensive employment services and training program was developed and implemented, as well as Respite Services once again being provided by People Services, Inc.

It was 1999 that People Services, Inc. celebrated its 25th birthday! At that time, PSI had grown in numbers served from 12 to 160 and a budget of $125,000 to $2.7 million. People Services, Inc. went from operating two services to twelve distinct services to meet the variety of needs for those we serve. At that time, we employed over 80 staff and over 60 client employees.

In 2000, we began the development of a social and sexual educational program, which was geared to meet a fast growing unmet need.

In 2001, we moved our Thrift Store to its current site at 395 North Main Street in Lakeport. This allowed us to grow with increased space and more foot traffic opportunities.

In 2002, People Services, Inc. became a vendor and was funded to provide their newly developed social/sexual educational program, along with a “personal safety training” component. People Services also received a contract with the Department of Rehabilitation to serve people with mental health needs for enhanced employment training.

In 2003, People Services developed and provided a specialized “traveling camp” vacation option for those receiving Respite Services. This was such a great hit, that access to real, meaningful vacations was expanded to all clients by developing and providing specialized vacation packages under the moniker of Konocti Adventures.

In 2004, the Lake County Wine Alliance chose People Services, Inc. to be a recipient of its community fundraiser. We utilized these funds to support the marketing of our businesses that employ the disabled. This was also the year that the “Priest Family Trust” jumped on board with People Services, Inc. to match its annual fundraiser. With a match of every dollar raised we went from raising $10,000.00 annually to $15,000.00, which was then matched to support us with $30,000.00. This was a huge, major factor for People Services, Inc. to gain the means for sustainability as more challenges were faced with State funding and rate cuts.

2005 marked the second time for the sheltered woodshop to close and supported employment expanded. The woodshop workforce was aging and the capabilities to perform the tasks to make storage sheds; outdoor redwood furniture; dog houses; bat houses, etc. became too difficult. In 2006, we opened a specialized licensed day program for seniors. Sutter Lakeside Hospital Community Benefit Fund assisted with the funding, but within a year we found that we could not continue, due to a lack of referrals. These beneficial services were then blended into our existing licensed day programs.

With the continued support from Sutter Lakeside Community Benefit Fund our fundraising increased from $15,000.00 to $20,000.00, resulting in $40,000.000 with the addition of the Priest Family Trust match.

Also in 2006 we were successful in writing another Cal Trans 5310 grant to replace two of our wheelchair accessible vans with new ones.

2007 was a year of transformation and significant strategic planning for the future. We renewed our vision statement, “Dedicated to Dignity ~ Committed to Choice”; developed new brochures; kicked off an educational marketing campaign; and we acquired new trucks for our workforce. These trucks provided a visual sign to the public of the pride, quality, and hard work our grounds maintenance and janitorial crews deserve.

It was 2008 that People Services, Inc. partnered with Sutter Lakeside Wellness Center to provide a “wellness program” for the developmentally disabled. This endeavor was been very successful and had been selected by the Supported Life Institute as a presentation at the Supported Life 2009 Conference.

In 2008 we acquired our building in Clearlake that is our site for the licensed day program, Konocti Instructional Services. We also received redevelopment funds from the City of Clearlake to upgrade this site and make it a place you can be proud to attend.

2009 brought an opportunity from United Way of the North Bay to be involved in a “Capacity Building” grant. This professionally facilitated strategic planning process was perfect timing for us and blended into our “transformation” plan, as we continue to strive for excellence.

2009 was also the year we passed our accreditation survey from the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities for the 8th time receiving the highest rating possible with a three year outcome.

2009 is also the mark of our 35th birthday! Our services expanded to 221 individuals with a staff of 92. We were nominated as the “organization of the year” for the Stars of Lake County recognition. This was also the year we took our wellness center to the next level and published a facilitator’s manual titled “Healthy Me! Healthy You!

2009-10 was a time of great economic crisis within our country and state and some significant changes to the “Lanterman Act” led to changes in the delivery of services for those we serve, most specifically “respite services” for families. Our revenue decreased by 10% due to a combination of reduction in fees for services and termination or decrease in services for individuals with disabilities. Sustainability became our focus! We are a non-profit that prides itself on proactively facing future financial barriers. We plan for the here now and we prepare for the future of those we serve.

2011 continued our focus for sustainability during some significant challenging times. We enhanced our capacity building strategies and instead of “strategic Planning” we moved beyond planning to “strategic positioning”.

It was during this time that we began providing “court competency” training. This is an education and training package that ensures that the referred consumer knows the nature of the charges(s) against them, how the court system works and how they can best work with their attorney.

In 2012-13 our supported employment division organized a volunteer Business Advisory Committee to assist us in marketing our workforce and gaining opportunities to assist us in maintaining our businesses that employ people with disabilities.

In this moment in history supported living begin providing 24/7 care and supervisions to those who needed that level of help and support. This came with the challenges of coordinating with in-home support services.

This was also the year that Konocti Instructional Services at Clearlake opened its art gallery to the public. It was the first opportunity available for people with disabilities to demonstrate high levels of artistic skills that others never dreamed possible.

Not only were people able to demonstrate their high abilities in art, but also they demonstrated their ability to give back to their community by supplying significant volunteer hours to others who needed their help. This included providing support to the Senior Center Meals on Wheels programs in Lakeport, Lucerne and Middletown, Clearlake and Clearlake Oaks. Significant volunteer hours are also provided to the Lucerne and Clearlake food pantry programs. Consumers of People Services also provide many highly visible volunteer hours in helping our community through their participation in the local “adopt a highway” program, Lakeport Library and hours provided to community healthcare centers for the elderly in Lakeport.

We are extremely proud of the people we serve for being part of our communities and offering their services to others in need. Definitely a win-win!!

It has been a dream come true for many, a vision that became a reality, and mission to continue to strive for excellence in service for the many people that rely on us! We have made a difference and we plan to dedicate the future to even more and better services within our communities in Lake County. We realize and respect that the future of our target population is our future. We are always ready and willing to change, improve and develop new avenues of services. Your future is our future!