Nonprofit debuts Bentonville center for disabled adults
new center in Bentonville is supporting the growing needs of adults with disabilities in Northwest Arkansas.
Pathfinder Inc. is a statewide nonprofit organization providing sheltered workshop and training experiences for adults with developmental disabilities. Its new 15,000-square-foot building in Bentonville allows its work to continue as its clientele grows.
Kristen Walker, Pathfinder Northwest Arkansas director of services, said the new office is around four times the size of its former location in Rogers and allows it to provide programming to almost 100 clients daily.
The center has four main areas for programming, which range from art and science classes to cooking and life skills training.
The new center has a full-sized kitchen, which Walker said was one of the most needed features in the new space. Since the facility opened in October, clients have made dishes such as garlic knots, pickles, vegetable soup and homemade butter.
Walker said teaching life skills allows clients to find meaningful employment both at Pathfinder and in the community.
One client said he wants to work in retail for Hot Topic but is improving his reading skills before applying. Due to privacy policies, clients cannot be identified by name, but Walker said clients are employed by businesses such as Marshalls, the Walmart Home Office, Zebra Technologies and Firehouse Subs.
There are also employment opportunities within Pathfinder’s programming. Client jobs at Pathfinder include 30-minute shifts of various cleaning tasks, and clients do not work daily. Walker said clients can use their earnings to pay for coffee or
snacks while at the center, or save the money they make.
Disability Rights Arkansas is a nonprofit organization working to advance equitable employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Thomas Nichols, director of legal and advocacy services for the group, said he wants facilities to make sure they provide their clients jobs with transferable skills.
“I think that there’s more to be gained from having a setting that includes non-disabled peers working alongside them,” Nichols said. “That is, after all, the environment they’re ultimately going to be working in.”
Arkansas Support Network CEO Syard Evans said employment through sheltered workshops can be problematic when organizations pay people with disabilities below minimum wage, which is allowed through 14(c) waivers.
“Ultimately, the argument is that folks that participate in those programs benefit socially from those programs; they benefit from the support that’s provided at those programs,” Evans said. “All those things are true. Our opinion is that means people should have the support they need, not that their labor should be exploited through sub-minimum wage.”
Walker said she thinks paying below minimum wage is fair when doing piecework jobs, which pay per unit created. The center’s clients don’t participate in piecework, Walker said.
“For what our guys do at our workshop, because it’s not piecework, we have the minimum wage for those individuals,” she said when asked about Pathfinder’s client pay rates.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Pathfinder has a registered 14(c) waiver, but as of Dec. 1, its renewal is pending.
Walker said providing more community opportunities is one of her main goals, and the new center helps support that.
She wants to use the new space to set up different clubs that community members lead, Walker said. These include volunteers teaching gardening, music and athletics classes, as well as leading a Dungeons & Dragons campaign, something Walker said many clients have requested.
“We’d love for volunteers from the community to come in and help us implement those things so that maybe one day we can bring them out to the community with it,” Walker said.
Long-term goals include establishing a gym area and a client-operated cafe that community members can visit. Walker said she is inspired by the Pathfinder location in northeast Arkansas that has clients running a thrift store.
“There’s not a day goes by that someone would walk in, and they would be happy to greet them and talk about themselves or whatever,” said Walker about Pathfinder clients. “I think being able to put smiles on people’s faces, making them feel welcome, is one of the biggest impacts these guys have.”