THERAPEUTIC FACILITY NEEDS ASSESSMENT

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Rochelle Callis CRPD Therapeutic Recreation Program Final Report and Recommendations September 8, 2017 page 23 other entities, is to eliminate the use of employees who cross the hours -per -week threshold. In our pool, only the two Illinois agencies retained these positions in therapeutic recreation, with one agency with 10 such employees, and the other with five such employees. These employees ("legacy" employees at CRPD) are very valuable in therapeutic recreation programs. People with disabilities, much more so than people without disabilities, benefit greatly from consistent staff. Having to use 10 - 20 hour a week employees can be effective, but using 30 or 35 hour a week employees is much more effective. This is often due to the complex behaviors that manifest as a part of disability for some participants. Number of Part -Time or Seasonal Staffs: this is another area with great disparity. Rockford and SRACLC have 200 or more seasonal part-time staffs. Eugene has 20 regularly employed during the year, and up to 100 in the summer. The California agencies had smaller numbers of part time staffs, all under 50. Pay Scale (FT): the range here varied greatly. Eugene and SRACLC had consistently high maximums for all positions. The California communities were competitive with each other but lower than Eugene and SRACLC. Rockford was lowest of all. At some agencies, Therapeutic Recreation employees are paid less than similarly titled staffs in other programs. The District should assure that is not the case. Pay Scale (P* this area also reflects philosophy. Two entities used $10 an hour for all, but most of the others offered a starting hourly rate at $13, and one at $15. Interviewees explained this as a necessity to get staff with better experience and credentials. This occurred more often in programs that viewed themselves as having a therapeutic component, or staff with therapeutic recreation credentials. Other Certifications: most staffs had CPR and First Aid. Four have staffs with specialized behavior training through the Crisis Prevention institute (CPI) and one of those is a CPl Trainer. One entity (Eugene) is paired with senior services and therefore some employees also have commercial driver's licenses and undergo random substance testing. CATEGORY 3: Annual Funding and Expenditures Last Year Revenue: the trend is low for California comparables. CRPD non -tax revenue is budgeted at $100,000, high in California. Outside of California, comparables were higher, with Eugene at $125,000, Rockford at $130,000, and SRACLC at $300,000. Property tax resources are higher out-of-state as well, with Eugene at $700,000, Rockford at $790,000, and SRACLC at $1,200,000. Last Year Expense: again, the trend is low for California comparables, with CRPD high at a budgeted $408,391. Eugene is budgeted at $730,000, Rockford is budgeted at $910,000, and SRACLC is budgeted at $1,450,000. Viewing revenue and expense, California entities are significantly lower than Eugene, Rockford, and the Illinois JPA. THE W -T GRO rIvI ff-. -C DBA RECREATION ACCESSIBILITY CONSULI ONE SOURCE. INFINITE SOLUTIONS,