When and why did you start the Polus Center in Clinton?
“The Polus Center was founded in 1979 in the Greater Boston area, and they established an office in Worcester in the early 1990s. We also have an office in Petersham, and small programs in Amesbury and Peterboro, N.H. The business and administrative office moved to Clinton in 2005 when I joined.
It sounds like we’re a big organization, but we’re not. Our decentralized structure enables us to support a small number of people (about a dozen) in each community. We are an alternative to larger centralized agencies. For 11 years prior to joining the Polus Center, I had a private consulting practice in Clinton called the Academy of Professional Skills Development. I got involved with the Polus Center as a strategic planning consultant in 1997 when they were first deciding to do international development, and I soon joined the board of directors.”
What is the Polus Center’s mission?
“The Polus Center strives to create opportunities for people with disabilities and members of other vulnerable groups to be valued citizens within their communities. The word ‘Polus’ is of Latin origin and means ‘the highest point,’ suggesting reaching for the ideal. The name invokes people being at their best by helping each other and welcoming one another into a meaningful community life.”
Who receives help? Is it local and/or global?
“We have supported people with disabilities, primarily developmental disabilities, in Massachusetts since the Polus Center was founded. At the time it was known as Transitional Resources and it was a typical human service agency that had a couple of group homes and a vocational workshop. In 1991 the strategy shifted to a community-based service model called shared living, which provides resources so that people can live in their own homes or with families. We help them work toward positive, integrated social roles and experiences that challenge stereotypes and the assumption that people with disabilities must live and work separated from the general community.”
I know you travel a lot for your job: How often and to where?
“Most of my personal travel has been to Central and South America. The first couple of years that I was with the Polus Center, we spent a lot of time in Nicaragua. The last year or so, we have worked a lot in Peru, both the Andean mountains and last fall we went to support indigenous Peruvian people living along the Amazon River. In the next year, we will likely expand our case management services in Colombia.
The year I joined Polus, while still a volunteer board member, we visited people living in a leprosy community in Ethiopia and supported a small group of women with disabilities there and in Zambia. We have no expatriate staff in any of the countries that we work in. Our goal is to help create opportunities and provide leadership development to help them to build their own capacity. One of our projects is called the Coffeelands Trust, reaching out to people in coffee-growing regions, so I sometimes represent the Polus Center at industry conferences to stay connected with coffee companies and other NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) that support coffee farmers. I typically travel about one week per quarter.”
I know you try to fund more than just individuals, but try to establish businesses and factories. Could you expand on that?
“Our mission to create opportunities for people with disabilities is very individualized. We never go in with an assumption about what people need or what solution will work best for them. Everything depends on what we find when we conduct a comprehensive planning and assessment process. When we first went to Nicaragua, the compelling need was for affordable prosthetic services so we helped them to establish a prosthetic clinic called Walking Unidos in 1998. It is still running (by local Nicaraguan people, many of whom use prosthetics themselves). Two other clinics were later developed in Central America. “More often, we help individuals who have expressed interest in establishing a small store or receiving vocational training, or getting sewing machines or weaving materials to create marketable handicrafts.”
Is it working?
“The individual successes are, in many ways, even more satisfying than the bigger projects. Someone who starts a small business and then is able to expand, for example. One person we helped obtain the deed to a small piece of land and a small grant to run a small leather repair business so he could earn the money to build a house on it. A young woman we met years ago has now graduated from college. We support one person at a time. That’s the same in Massachusetts as it is in South America. Does it always work? No.”
When and why did you start the Coffeelands World Gifts Espresso Café?
“The Coffeelands World Gifts Espresso Café is a way that we bring many of our pieces of work together. We just opened in December. It was built with ‘best practice’ accessibility in mind, so that people who have disabilities can shop and work there. It provides opportunities for a small number of people with developmental disabilities to work in an inclusive community environment, very successfully engaging in meaningful, skilled jobs. In addition to serving fair trade organic specialty coffee —the best in Clinton and surrounding areas, we are told — we have a large selection of unique gifts that are handmade by landmine victims and other people we meet in our travels, providing them with a market for the beautiful handicrafts and jewelry they create.”
Compiled by reporter Karen Nugent
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