CALENDAR WEDNESDAYS The World War II Round Table holds meetings beginning at 7 p.m. at the Father Val Hall of St. John Neumann Catholic Church located 2480 Batterson Road in Powhatan. Cumberland County Public Library
STEPS Continued from page 1A communities it serves, including Cumberland County. “I think if you asked the general public, they would think we are still the small sheltered workshop that we were back in the early 1990s. But we have 120 plus employees, a budget right at $6 million a year and provide services in a region that is about 5,300 square miles,” Harrup said. “The critical thing for me is to educate the public to the vast array of services STEPS can provide. We are not able to meet every need, but we are more than happy to field the phone calls.” STEPS has been designated as the Community Action Agency to serve Cumberland County as well as Amelia, Buckingham, Lunenburg, Nottoway, and Prince Edward counties, Harrup said. The organization actually has a footprint in 11 counties, she said, but those are the core six. In the last year, the nonprofit touched the lives of 1,089 people in the region, 175 of who were from Cumberland County.
Four pillars The services that STEPS provides are based on meeting four pillars of service: workforce development, economic development, housing and education, she said. The nonprofit provides workforce development by offering services to citizens with disabilities through a vendorship agreement with Virginia Department of Aging and Rehabilitative Services; transi-
4
Cumberland Today
will hold Mother Goose on the Loose, a new story time option for all children from birth to age 3. It meets at 10 a.m. Wednesdays. The story hour will Incorporate songs, nursery rhymes, lap-sit activities, movement and music and integrate the latest early literacy techniques into the library program.
tional work adjustment training that allows special education students to transition from the public education system into world of work; the Work Place Supports Program; assisting with job searches, and a senior community service employment program, Harrup said. The nonprofit helps economic development with its recycling center; the Victoria Job Training and Manufacturing Plant; the STEPS center in Farmville, which is a facility that can be rented out for special events; a secure document destruction business, and transportation services, she said. Under the education pillar, STEPS operates the Project Discovery program, which is a community-based dropout prevention program used in Cumberland. On Oct. 1, 2015, the nonprofit launched Head Start for 286 3- and 4-year-old children in nine counties. The preschool program targets children living in poverty with the goal of providing emotional and educational support to the children to help them be on grade level when they enter the public school system. The program began in Cumberland County with 14 children and is being well taken care of, she said, adding that the county should be proud of the school division’s support of Head Start. “The children in our Head Start classrooms are completely integrated in the elementary school population. They also are afforded all of the resources, such as art and music,” she said. “When I met with Dr. Chip Jones back in the summer to make sure he would be aware
March 9, 2016
Cumberland County Public Library will hold Reading with Ellie Mae at 11 a.m. on Wednesdays. Ellie Mae the Reading Dog visits the library to lend a friendly paw and ear for Preschool Story Time. Pre-school age children and their caregivers are invited to an hour of stories, nursery rhymes, songs and crafts.
we were taking over, he said, ‘these are our children, too.’ I cannot tell you how refreshing it was to hear that from county administration, because that is not a typical response from our service area.” Since Oct. 1, 2013, STEPS has provided services to alleviate or prevent homelessness in six counties through the Virginia Homeless Solutions program. As an EnergyShare partner with Dominion Virginia Power, the program has also helped offset heating and cooling expenses under its qualifications. Another service STEPS provides is meeting the $5,000 match needed for Cumberland to still be on the Piedmont Regional Transit public transportation route, Harrup said. It is a fixed route system with specific stops and pickups in the morning and afternoon. “We selfishly did that to make
THURSDAYS The Cartersville Volunteer Rescue Squad holds a Bingo game on the third Saturday of each month. Doors open at 4:45 p.m. and games start at 6 p.m. Jackpot depends on the number of players. All
sure our three Cumberland County employees with disabilities could maintain their employment, but we also recognized that the transportation need in rural Southside Virginia is not just a problem for people with disabilities; it is a problem for the vast majority of our citizens,” she said.
Moving forward In the fall, community developer Amy Beatson began working on a needs assessment to determine the strengths and weaknesses of its six core counties. STEPS’ board will use that information to determine what new services the nonprofit needs to put in place to best serve those communities. When researching Cumberland, Beatson, who lives in the county, said people were very helpful with helping her
proceeds benefit the rescue squad. No children under 12 allowed. For more information, call Ann at 804314-0966. Rotary Club of Farmville meets
get a more complete picture of the area and what STEPS can offer it. That information will also help prioritize the services localities and their residents need to better serve them. “I think STEPS shores people up to develop to their fullest potential hopefully. It improves the quality of their lives,” she said. “I look at the people with disabilities we employ and wonder what they would be doing if they didn’t work. “They have the same joys and frustrations that we do. It is normalizing and improving the quality of life for individuals in general. Being unemployed is not a good thing for anyone.” Harrup spoke to the Cumberland County Board of Supervisors at one of its budget workshops to discuss funding. Previously STEPS provided recycling services for the county, but Harrup had asked if instead
see Calendar > 10 the recycling could be done by a company who would have offered the service for free. This would free up that money to be offered as an allocation from the county that STEPS needs to pull down matching dollars from the state. Despite agreeing to this arrangement, Harrup said the money had not yet been donated, so she was asking for both that contribution of $10,000 and another for $10,590 to be put in the budget for fiscal year 2017. That money is needed to help pull down a Community Services Block Grant, which mandates a 25 percent local match. The board has not yet decided on the budget items. For more information about STEPS Inc., contact 434-3155909 or visit www.steps-inc.org. Laura McFarland may be reached at Lmcfarland@powhatantoday.com.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
Shown left, Monica Scott, a Title V employee from Cumberland, greets individuals and provides support in local business. Shown right, Johnny Taylor and Dana Bragg prepare documents to be shred in the STEPS Secure Document Destruction site.