Easterseals Midwest
At Easterseals Midwest, we're changing the way the world defines and views disability by making profound, positive differences in people's lives every day.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Easterseals Midwest supports more than 4,800 people with developmental disabilities as the live, learn, work, and participate in the community. For most of the 20th century, people with developmental disabilities lived isolated in large institutions and spent their days working in sheltered workshops earning sub-minimum wages. Unfortunately, many with disabilities still do not have the supports they need to thrive in the community. Easterseals counters this injustice by providing person-centered care, which accounts for each person's inherent right to choose where to live, where to work, and to pursue his or her own happiness.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Autism Services
Autism now impacts one in 68 children, affecting communication, social, and sensory-processing development. Early diagnosis and consistent application of behavioral techniques help children with autism be successful in school, at home, and in the community.
Easterseals Midwest's autism assessments and therapeutic interventions focus on the whole person including direct interaction, observation, and parental input. A variety of clinical services and therapies are available to families, including Applied Behavior Analysis and communication, music, physical, speech, and occupational therapies.
Parent training is essential for a child’s success. Easterseals Midwest provides an intensive parent training program to teach parents how to understand and interact with their child and in-home parent education and training to address issue-specific behaviors.
Easterseals Midwest's Community Living Services offer varying levels of support to allow people with autism to live independently in the community. These services include housing support, respite care for care givers, socialization and friendship programs, and employment programs.
Employment Services
Easterseals Midwest helps teens and adults with development disabilities find and maintain competitive employment that fits their skills and interests.
Our teen programs focus on exposing young people to work experiences that will allow them to transition from high school to competitive employment and include summer and year-round employment programs.
Our employment programs for adults with developmental disabilities fall into three stages. The prevocational phase allows for career exploration, skill development, and the building of an individualized employment plan. Job search and onboarding services support clients in creating resumes, applying and interview for jobs, and negotiating the initial period on the job. Once the employee gains a high level of independent, retention services are provided on an as-needed basis and through periodic check-ins.
We also offer a more intensive job training program for people who need additional support. Community Connections trains individuals at 26 volunteer sites with the goal that within two years, participants will be ready to follow the path to competitive employment described above.
Early Childhood Services
Easterseals Midwest provides Early Childhood Services in Kansas City to children with and without developmental disabilities. We operate an early education center that is able to provide interventions for children with developmental disabilities as well as high quality early education. Children with development disabilities receive a customized plan that incorporates physical, occupational, and speech therapy, as needed. These services are also provided at the early education center or in homes for families whose children are not currently enrolled in the education center but do have a developmental delay or disability.
We also offer a Home Visitation program to outreach parents with newborns through 36 months. Typical services include home safety checks, developmental screenings, literacy training and free books, parent education and coping strategies for stress, and linkages to additional community resources. The goal of the program is to identify developmental delays and intervene early, leading to healthier children.
Community Living Services
Consistent with our mission to help people with development disabilities live in the community, Easterseals Midwest provides a range of services to meet the housing and daily activity needs of our clients. There are three levels of support. The Individualized Supported Living program and the Shared Living Program provide people with disabilities 24/7 care, either by paraprofessionals or a live-in companion.
For clients with less intensive needs, ESMW operate three apartment buildings staffed with workers that provide up to 8 hours of individualized support each day and are available 24/7 for unexpected needs.
Must less intensive, our Independent Supported Living Arrangements provide up to nine hours of support a week to clients living in homes and apartments of their choice. Through an intake and an evaluation tool that measures ability to live independently, ESMW Community Living Trainers approve clients for this level of service only if the client is able to live on their own with less than 10 hours of support in a week.
Where we work
Affiliations & memberships
CARF Accreditation 2017
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of participants who gain employment
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
People with disabilities
Related Program
Employment Services
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of clients living independently
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Community Living Services
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of clients served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Number of clients placed in internships
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Employment Services
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Easterseals Midwest helps individuals with developmental disabilities—including autism—learn, live, work and participate in the community.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
At Easterseals Midwest, we believe that our communities are stronger when we include individuals with development disabilities-including autism-as our co-workers, classmates, friends, and neighbors. Through our customized programming we offer the tools and support for individuals to learn, live, work, play and act in our community. We have create a lifespan of programs that includes early childhood, autism, employment, and community living services in order to provide the best support possible for those we serve no matter what age or stage of life they find themselves.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Easterseals Midwest is part of a nearly century old network of exceptional disability services providers and locally has provided services for individuals with developmental disabilities—including autism—for over 50 years. Easterseals Midwest is a CARF, International accredited agency and has consistently received the highest level of accreditation from this body for the last several decades. In fact, Easterseals Midwest's Autism Services were the first autism program accredited in the state of Missouri. Our most recent CARF survey notes our organization "has many strengths that contribute to its extensive positive impact in the community and in the lives of the clients served."
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Easterseals Midwest helps over 4,000 individuals and families each year make progress towards and meet their goals for independence and inclusion throughout our service area. We strive to be a leader in the field of delivering exceptional services and are committed to learning and growing to make our services the best available.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Easterseals Midwest
Board of directorsas of 08/22/2022
Greg Meier
ROI CPS, LCC
Term: 2022 - 2022
Judy Kent
Scott Ririe
Jacqueline Bardgett
John Bardgett & Associates
Lynn Wallis
Luke Thompson
Ed Spalty
Christine Schlomann
Keith Petti
Kathy Kopach
Brian Kinman
Corey Hamilton
Theresa Guest
Jeff Fischer
Jenny Crowe
Ruqayyah Cherie Bailey
Sharon Abel
Lydia Padilla
Christina Green
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data