FAQ of the week:
Q: Why can't CLI clients just go the workshop anymore?
Ohio's rules changed almost 10 years ago to mandate that Medicaid funds can no longer be used to pay for segregated services, except as an absolute last resort. CLI and lots of other providers worked very hard to make sure that our sheltered workshops were fun, safe, and helped a lot of people earn significant money.
However, statewide 10 years ago, almost 95% of people with DD were working in the workshops instead of community jobs-- and there was little or no evidence that people were getting community jobs after working at the workshops. This was true in other states too, such as Oregon & Rhode Island, and people in those states successfully sued the states for segregating people with disabilities. Ohio's laws changed as a result. Those new laws don't allow segregation as a regular practice.
CLI decided when we privatized 6 years ago that we were going to build services that complied with these new laws, that it was easier on everyone to use this time to figure out all the kinks so that our services are legal and the most helpful to our clients and their families.
