Nonotuck’s Neighborhood AUGUST 2026
Julie Morse takes in a view at a Central Mass lake with her Shared Living Caregiver Prudence Nabagasera. Read more about Julie's Shared Living Journey in this month's enewsletter!
etter ro eischner
eorge
ood ay Nonotuck Community he stories in this month s newsletter remind me that the true measure o our work is ound in the lives the eo le we su ort are able to e erience. Julie Morse s story brings that idea into es ecially shar ocus. hen Julie and her amily came to Nonotuck they were acing a serious crisis. oday Julie shares a home with Prudence Nabagasera where she is thriving rebuilding skills en oying music and dancing going on adventures and making choices about her own li e. er re erences matter. er communication is understood. She is included in decisions about her own li e. She is surrounded by relationshi s rooted in dignity res ect and a ection this is what home looks like. ecutive ice President o erations ngela Proco io Rahilly recently re lected on nearly our decades in human services and on her own e erience sharing a home with Carrie ona since . er testimony o ers an im ortant reminder that services alone do not create a good li e. Peo le thrive when they are known valued connected given time to build relationshi s and o ered meaning ul o ortunities to contribute. s ngela ut it Real uality is re lected in the everyday lives eo le are able to live. Nonotuck Resource ssociate hat rinci le also guides how we think about rights and inclusion. uring isability Pride Month Nonotuck welcomed ngela Clark and nn . Lynch rom the Massachusetts ttorney eneral s ice or a thought ul conversation about disability rights discrimination civil rights rotections and the res onsibility we all share in building more inclusive communities. was grate ul to see so many members o our sta artici ate and engage in that discussion. Nonotuck Resource ssociate nd it is e ually resent in the way we a roach accountability. ur recent S licensure review e amined more than indicators across Nonotuck involving sta Shared Living Providers and eo le we su ort throughout the organi ation. et what struck me most about the re aration or that review was the deliberate e ort to understand those standards through the lens o Nonotuck s values. Licensure is im ortant. ccountability is im ortant. Strong systems are im ortant. ut ultimately those systems should hel us better su ort each erson to have a sa e authentic meaning ul li e. Nonotuck Resource ssociate hank you to Prudence erri Cheri ylan and the uburn team and to everyone across Nonotuck who works every day to create the conditions where eo le can build good lives. ho e you en oy this month s newsletter. eorge . leischner President and C Nonotuck Resource ssociates
eeting the o ent esti on on h red i ing or nearly our decades ecutive ice President o erations ngela Proco io Rahilly has worked alongside eo le with intellectual and develo mental disabilities witnessing irsthand the evolution o disability services in Massachusetts. Since she and her amily have shared their home with Nonotuck Board member Carrie Bona through Shared Living an e erience that has ro oundly sha ed both her ersonal and ro essional understanding o su ort relationshi s and community. n the ollowing re lection ada ted rom ublic testimony ngela draws on both ers ectives to e lore the ower o belonging and why the true measure o uality is not sim ly the services eo le receive but the meaning ul lives they are em owered to build. ood a ternoon and thank you or creating this o the uture together. My name is ngela Proco io Rahilly and serve as erations at Nonotuck Resource ssociates.
ortunity to listen learn and imagine ecutive ice President o
ut be ore any o that m a Shared Living rovider. Since my amily and have shared our lives with the same remarkable woman who chose to make her home with our amily. hat relationshi has been one o the greatest oys and rivileges o our lives and it continues to sha e the way think about su ort relationshi s and community every single day.
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h red i ing ro i e u ie orse e ore Cheri ardiman a roached Nonotuck about su orting her sister Julie Morse through Shared Living the amily was acing a crisis. Julie had moved through several rou omes and Shared Living arrangements that hadn t worked out. hile her latest rovider gave ade uate notice the hosting agency could not immediately identi y an alternative rovider. Julie was sel harming and struggling on many levels. She had lost a dangerous amount o weight since leaving Cheri s home in com ounding the roblem she was regressing in skills she had long since mastered. er rimary care hysician and amily believed that she was ailing to thrive. etween this and her already long list o health challenges she actually uali ied or alliative care. os ice was even a consideration. Re erred by disability rights advocate and Nonotuck community member Cheryl Ryan Chan Cheri contacted Nonotuck. She irst s oke with President and C eorge . leischner then ice President o Residential Services ebra Schnare and inally ylan ukowski rogram director in Nonotuck s uburn o ice. hey connected us with ylan who was e ually delight ul. e had his team and we met every single member o that team m not kidding. e ore Julie moved in we met every member o the team the recruiter case manager nurse clinician and ylan Cheri says. n one month they knew what she needed and o ered us three di erent lacements which is unheard o . know how long things take. he wheels o social services move ain ully slowly. Nonotuck recogni ed it as the emergency it was and res onded in a way never thought ossible she continues. am dee ly a reciative o the entire team that ut this together. ithin that month ylan and the uburn team ound what Cheri describes as an e traordinary match a orcester home with Shared Living Provider Prudence Nabagasera and housemate erri. hen tell you things moved ast was in a state o shock. ithin those days Julie was not only laced she was laced in the very best residential setting o her li e beyond what even rovided as amily Cheri says. t is the most er ect lacement. kee inching mysel to make sure m not dreaming.
h red i ing ro i e u ie orse ont he ositive e ects were almost immediate. ithin two weeks o moving in with Prudence and erri Julie began gaining weight eventually sur assing ounds. Julie had always loved ood but had lost a great deal o enthusiasm or it be ore moving in with Prudence. Prudence and erri hel ed rekindle that enthusiasm with resh high uality meals and Julie loves watching them cook. Cheri believes Julie can taste the love ut into those meals and e eriences that love in all that ha ens with Prudence and erri. Julie is ha y and regularly oins Prudence and erri or community outings and e tended amily events. She is uickly regaining some o her lost skills. hey o er her a degree o stimulation didn t know was ossible. Julie thrives on that Cheri says. She loves community sho ing going out to eat adventures day tri s she s a high stimulation erson. t home Julie erri and Prudence en oy listening to music and dancing. Julie es ecially loves the eatles and lton John. hey also go out to dinner take walks and embark on day tri s throughout New ngland. long the way Prudence kee s Cheri connected through regular te t messages and hotos. hey send me ictures that move me to tears Cheri says. ten years.
haven t seen Julie that ha
y in more than
Just as im ortant Julie is given o ortunities to make her own decisions with the right amount o su ort. Rather than making choices or her Prudence and erri look or ways to give Julie a voice and e ress her re erences in ways that honor her autonomy. hey understand that non verbal is not non communicative and they strive always to understand what she is e ressing. ne e am le came when Prudence wanted Julie to have a chair in her bedroom where she could sit while getting dressed. nstead o sim ly urchasing one Prudence took Julie to a local urniture store and let her try every chair she wanted. Cheri remembers receiving a series o te t messages showing Julie testing them out. Some she clearly didn t en oy. thers she seemed to tolerate. hen she ound one that brought a smile to her ace. Prudence bought that chair. t was a small decision that re lected something much larger Julie s re erences mattered and her home should re lect her choices. hey are enormously res ect ul o her dignity and her choices Cheri says. o me that s the core o who Nonotuck is that dee res ect and dignity or all eo le. Prudence and erri embody that every single day.
Nonotuck nd icensure rt re r tion n many ways this year s licensure review at Nonotuck is a vivid reminder o how much we continue to evolve as an organi ation. New de artments ste ed into leadershi roles virtually every sta member contributed and most im ortantly Nonotuck s core values carried us through every challenge. very two years Nonotuck undergoes a com rehensive licensure review by the Massachusetts e artment o evelo mental Services S . Led by Nonotuck s uality nhancement eam the rocess brings together sta rom across the organi ation rom Program irectors and Care Managers to uman Resources the iscal Clinical and de artments Shared Living Providers and the eo le they su ort to ensure our services documentation and values are re lected accurately. ecutive ice President o erations ngela Proco io Rahilly says there was nothing routine about this year s licensing. his was a com rehensive survey o all o our services. welve S surveyors rom every uality nhancement o ice across Massachusetts came together to review more than licensure indicators across the organi ation. his also came during a eriod o signi icant transition within S with new leadershi at the Commissioner level and throughout the state she says. ur survey leadershi came rom the Central est region and one o their biggest challenges was bringing surveyors rom across Massachusetts together to ensure consistent inter retation o every indicator. hat was no small eat she continues. Naturally they were navigating a new rocess and we were cautiously o timistic. e believed in our services our eo le and the systems we have built over many years. uring the review S e amines records visits selected homes interviews caregivers and the eo le we su ort and evaluates everything rom emergency re aredness to ersonali ed su orts. he goal is to ensure Nonotuck s Shared Living rogram meets state standards or health sa ety human rights and uality o care. hile the ormal review lasts only a ew weeks as multi le Nonotuck sta ers ut it re aration or the ne t licensure begins immediately a ter the current one concludes. he uality nhancement team works year round with sta to strengthen systems rovide training review documentation and continuously im rove services.
Nonotuck nd icensure rt re r tion ont Rather than waiting until licensure a roaches kee s re aration woven into the abric o daily o erations. hrough regular S R Reviews rograms routinely e amine records homes and su orts to ensure they remain com liant while accurately re lecting each erson s li e. hose reviews are rein orced by E Corner recurring agency wide meetings where sta receive u dates on regulations discuss evolving standards review changes to documentation and work through real world uestions together. he result is a culture o continuous readiness one in which com liance uality and ersonali ed su orts are strengthened throughout the year rather than rushed in the weeks be ore a survey. hat hiloso hy has undamentally changed how Nonotuck a roaches licensure. e ve really made this shi t several years ago to take these standards and really train them incor orate them and im lement them through the lens o Nonotuck s values says ice President o rayson leischner. nd that has been the most success ul a roach. ne might say licensure re has become more o a mindset. s ssociate ari arshdor says e should always really be in licensure re . e should always be re aring. ur records should be able to be looked at at any oint and be S licensure ready she says. Licensure is accountability making sure that you as the care manager are doing your ob and su orting the erson t s really a re lection o the care manager the su orts they receive rom your P and P and really how they re u holding Nonotuck s values. bout si months be ore the review that re aration becomes more ocused with sta reviewing records revisiting licensing standards and artici ating in the above trainings and making sure documentation is aligned with S e ectations. he ultimate goal would be to have it not be sort o an all hands on deck event when licensing comes says ice President astern Services oug atts. verything s in lace. Nobody s nervous about it. verybody knows what s going on. hat ha ens when two years o re aration inally ays o n Part we ll go inside the licensure review itsel rom home visits and record reviews to the teamwork collaboration and lessons learned as Nonotuck s values are ut into ractice.
Nonotuck osts ss chusetts ttorne ener ’s ice or is bi it ride onth Nonotuck Resource ssociates was roud to host two re resentatives rom the Ma ac u ett Attorne enera O ice in celebration o isability Pride Month. n July Nonotuck em loyees rom across Massachusetts gathered in erson and virtually to hear rom ngela Clark and nn . Lynch as they rovided an overview o their work within the ttorney eneral s ice discussed ongoing initiatives related to e uity and disability rights and answered uestions rom sta . he session o ered sta an o ortunity to learn more about how the ttorney eneral s ice su orts inclusive ractices addresses discrimination and advances rotections or eo le with disabilities throughout Massachusetts. hroughout the discussion s eakers em hasi ed that the ttorney eneral s ice serves as a resource or inter reting and en orcing Massachusetts law hel ing organi ations and community members navigate com le uestions surrounding disability rights and civil rights rotections. osted by Nonotuck s Di er it E uit nc u ion and Be on in DE B Committee the event re lected the organi ation s ongoing commitment to creating o ortunities or learning dialogue and community engagement around disability rights and inclusion. his was a great event and nn and ngela were terri ic said eorge . leischner C and President o Nonotuck Resource ssociates. t was wonder ul to see so many members o our sta attend and engage in a thought ul conversation about disability rights inclusion and the im ortant work o the ttorney eneral s ice. eatured
eaker
An e a C ark serves as Chie o rgani ational iversity uity and nclusion at the Massachusetts ttorney eneral s ice where she leads initiatives ocused on building a more diverse and inclusive work lace serving over seven million constituents across the Commonwealth. Prior to oining the ngela held leadershi roles at Robinhood and idelity nvestments where she develo ed and im lemented enter rise wide diversity e uity and inclusion strategies. She is also an ad unct ro essor at oston College teaching Managing iversity in rgani ations and serves on the board o Raising Multicultural ids a non ro it dedicated to ostering racial and cultural com etence in local communities.
Nonotuck osts ss chusetts ttorne ener ’s ice or is bi it ride onth ont Ann E nc has served as an ssistant ttorney eneral in the Consumer Protection and Civil Rights ivisions at the Massachusetts ttorney eneral s ice since . She currently serves as the s isability Rights Coordinator where she su orts disability related olicy work strategic litigation outreach and advocacy e orts across the Commonwealth. er work ocuses on en orcing anti discrimination laws and rotecting the rights o eo le with disabilities including in air housing and civil rights matters. Prior to oining the nn re resented survivors o domestic violence at estern Massachusetts Legal Services and clerked or the Massachusetts Su erior Court.
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