Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | June 26, 2017 | Worcester Business Journal 21 inclusion." Due to potential changes in the proposed model by the state, this valuable community program may be eliminated or significantly altered. Individuals will be encouraged to obtain employment and education services from other resources, such as a state agency. Although these pro- grams meet the needs of some, others – especially the clients we serve today – may be better served by the person- alized supports from a program that knows them well and sees them often. The new pro- posed model will potentially fragment these services, requiring individuals to work with multiple agencies to have these needs met. Fragmentation adds confu- sion for individuals; result- ing in avoidance of a diffi- cult process, even if it is to accom- plish a cherished goal. "We have smaller caseloads," says Dillon. "We know the people we work with." One of the young men SEE cur- rently supports is 27 years old. He speaks highly about the program, saying "There are different programs for different needs at The Bridge. Some need extra help. There are people who want to learn new skills and grow. And then there are people like me who want to contribute to the world and do something mean- ingful – we want a job. SEE has the skills and connections to help peo- ple, like me, who are in the programs and who want to move on. We want to be in control of our own lives." Ken Bates is president and CEO of The Bridge of Central Massachusetts. The future of Atlantic Union College W ork is more than a pay- check. This is especially true for people struggling with mental illness and/or addiction. At The Bridge of Central Massachusetts, we work with hun- dreds of adults and children with mental health challenges. People we support receive counseling and sup- portive services with a goal of inde- pendence in the future. Sometimes they live at home with family. Sometimes they live in group homes, shelters or on the streets. Many have fam- ily members who are no longer in their lives. They struggle to get through the day, to manage day-to-day tasks most of us take for granted. Here at The Bridge, we see their chal- lenges, hopes and goals – and we see them progress in their recovery. And when the individuals we sup- port decide the time is right, they often want to go back to work or school. Our Supported Employment and Education (SEE) program is designed to help individuals with mental illness secure employment or education toward a career. The support takes into consideration the needs, strengths and availability of each person in the program. "Our program is so valuable because it has the potential to make a huge impact on the lives of our indi- viduals," says Amelia Dillon, SEE coordinator. "Employment and edu- cation lead to an improved quality of life, more independence, increased confidence and greater community Protect addiction services A tlantic Union College in Lancaster is at an impasse, and it would be easy to pre- dict the school will soon join the ranks of Central New England College of Technology and Worcester Junior College as insti- tutes of higher learning forced to shut the doors. After losing its accreditation in 2011, Atlantic Union's 400-plus students were forced to transfer elsewhere, and the col- lege effectively closed for four years. No one won during that period of closure. Students weren't filling the campus with life, professors weren't buying houses in town, and area businesses lost a signifi- cant customer base. Now reopened, the school hosts about 50 students looking to gain credits before transferring else- where. Atlantic Union, centered around the Seventh-day Adventist faith, will be unable to bestow degrees until it gets its accreditation back from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges – which at the earliest would be in 2019. Until that time, the college and its many campus buildings is almost entirely dependent on funding from the Seventh-day Adventist Church – to the tune of $4-5 million annually. In April of this year, the church's Southern New England Conference, a separate funding source than the church, decided it would be better to reallocate its $800,000 annu- al funding stream to scholarships for stu- dents to study elsewhere in their system. Atlantic President Avis Hendrickson's plan to bring the school back to its capacity as a 1,000-student-body campus relies almost exclusively on attracting Seventh-day Adventist students and building enrollment until accreditation returns. Starting at 50 students, it's a pretty steep hill to climb. For her to succeed, Hendrickson's going to have to thread the needle with her strategy, and get a few breaks along the way. Atlantic Union does have the resources, and for now, the patience of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, as it continues to receive $3-4 million annual- ly to keep the school's operations going. With $2.9 million in unrestricted cash on hand and the annual church subsidy, the school should be able to survive long enough to see if the recovery plan takes root, unless its reaccreditation takes lon- ger than expected. Planning for what is next for the campus in the center of Lancaster will become (or is already) a critical issue – for both the church and the town. The shifting sands of the marketplace affect all kinds of institutions and busi- nesses, and struggling colleges are no exception. This month, Boston's Wheelock College began selling off its properties and is considering doing away with its undergraduate programs, given its diminished student body and unsus- tainable operating losses. Successful turnarounds do happen, but they are really hard work, and some collateral damage is inevitable when an institution is up against its survival. While not a tax paying entity, a college campus can be a vital economic and cul- tural engine for a community. We hope Atlantic Union College is successful in getting its accreditation back and return- ing the campus to life. But if it is not, Hendrickson and the Seventh-day offi- cials need to work proactively with the community to find the next best use for the campus. V I E W P O I N T E D I T O R I A L BY KEN BATES Special to the Worcester Business Journal Ken Bates W W B eer drinkers in Worcester and across the commonwealth are enjoying the Golden Age of Beer. Walk into a liquor store or bar, and one thing is clear: Massachusetts' beer mar- ket is full of variety. Central Massachusetts has seen the fruits of this growth, where beer drink- ers enjoy high-quality beer brands from local companies such as Wormtown Brewery. So, I read with interest the article by Rob Burns "New beer laws needed this saison" on May 29, but was dismayed the arti- cle omitted important facts certain breweries have been carry- ing to Beacon Hill for the seven years. Distributors make investments to promote and market beers – only when beers succeed do distributors succeed. In 2016, Massachusetts ranked 12th in the United States in barrels of craft beer produced per year, and Massachusetts now has more than 100 breweries. Keep beer distribution fair BY BILL KELLEY Special to the Worcester Business Journal Bill Kelley Distributors take on the responsibility of marketing beer, as well as selling it to restaurants and retailers. Distributors buy the product from the brewery and then wait to receive payment from retailers. Under current law, breweries can have more than one distributor, choose to sell their lager to one distribu- tor and their IPA to a difference distrib- utor, choose to sell and deliver the prod- ucts on their own and, like distributors, wait to be paid by retailers. Still, emerging breweries want great- er flexibility to change distributors. The Emerging Breweries Bill filed by Rep. John Mahoney (D-Worcester) would allow emerging breweries (breweries that manufacture less than 30,000 bar- rels of beer per year, and are privately owned and operated) to change distrib- utors whenever they want. Breweries will only need to reimburse distributors for the brands being moved. Other bills, including those supported by Mr. Burns, have attempted to do this by giving more power to the world's largest breweries, but those proposals would significantly damage Massachusetts' small-business distributors by taking 20 percent of a distributor's annual sales away, devastating these businesses. Legislators support jobs, not wiping out well-paid, full-time, family-sustaining middle- class jobs. Bill Kelley is president of the Beer Distributors of Massachusetts, Inc. W

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