An Arkadelphia nonprofit group that provides care and employment for people with developmental disabilities is being touted as a Paycheck Protection Program success story.
House Republicans have highlighted Group Living Inc. on their website, gop.gov. The White House is also sharing Group Living's story.
Yukiko Taylor, the group's executive director, says the covid-19 crisis wreaked havoc on the 47-year-old nonprofit, and the Paycheck Protection Program provided much-needed relief.
"We lost revenue, but our expenses are increasing," she said. "We didn't know how long we could do this."
The federal aid program, part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, "extended our life," she said.
Group Living provides services to about 60 clients with varying special needs. Some hold jobs and are high-functioning. Others can't work and require round-the-clock care.
Things were going well until a novel coronavirus appeared in Wuhan, China, and began spreading across the globe.
Due to the public health crisis, the organization's thrift store and its cleaning service, sources of employment for many of its clients, have closed. Staffers, many of them college students, have departed. With remaining staffers needing to work overtime, labor costs have increased.
"Financially, it was devastating," said Lisa Massey, Group Living's board chair. "It really decreased our revenue stream to the point that we were really worried about surviving."
Group Living doesn't have deep reserves it can draw on if the economy shuts down, added Taylor.
"We're already a frugal organization, to begin with, because we're tiny," she said. "Every year and every month, it is always a struggle."
The bipartisan CARES Act, which included an initial $350 billion in Paycheck Protection Program funding, was signed into law on March 27. As soon as the rules were posted, Group Living supporters began sorting through them.
Arkadelphia-based Southern Bancorp, a community developmental financial institution, helped shepherd Group Living's application through the loan process.
"They were in a desperate situation, dollars-and-cents-wise, about how they were going to keep their organization together [and] pay the people that were taking care of these disabled folks," said Bill Wright, a Southern Bancorp executive. "This was a godsend for them."
Afterward, Southern Bancorp shared Group Living's story with the Community Development Bankers Association, the Small Business Administration and with officials at the White House.
Darrin Williams, the bank's CEO, serves on one of President Donald Trump's Great American Economic Revival Industry Groups, and shared Group Livings' story with officials there, said Nathan Pittman, a senior vice president at the bank.
In a written statement, Meghan Burris, White House director of media affairs, portrayed Group Living as a worthy recipient.
"From the day he took office, President Trump has tirelessly championed America's small businesses, which are the backbone of our national economy and employ half of America's workforce. Through the CARES Act, the Small Business Administration secured nearly $670 billion to help small businesses, including non-profits like Group Living, Inc., during this unprecedented health crisis. The SBA and the Treasury Department are working diligently around the clock to ensure local leaders in Arkansas like Yukiko have access to these funds as quickly as possible," she wrote.
Massey said she's grateful that lawmakers recognized the importance of providing aid to organizations like Group Living.
"The PPP loan has really provided us the ability to continue to pay employees to provide services to our clients so that our clients' needs continue to be met on a daily basis. And those needs are great," said Massey. "The PPP loan was the difference between providing care for these clients and not providing care for these clients."
Covid-19 has complicated life for Group Living and its clients, Taylor said. Daily routines have been disrupted. In order to be safe and practice social distancing, they're no longer supposed to use public transportation. They're required to keep their distance. They're not always sure why the new restrictions have been imposed.
For some, the sudden isolation is puzzling and painful.
"We have to tell them 'No more hugs.' That's big," Taylor said.
"The great thing is, clients are still smiling. They are adjusting so well. Maybe better than a majority of people," she said.
Metro on 05/11/2020