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Ro i Sh re ier Ege Xho SOHO ES Pt Sou] Ebi baisihoss : RA Cpl PRES TAA IL TE Ser Rn EY a J Lovet Pree LES Pe Sg a A : 2H 4 Lf* "Te Lei A | " ro) J, - ' » WEST TREN J RE aon ied oo ides ns hid + w-- Wir Nev A ' BVA JN. sad aN Tp EAE Fa WW EL TAA oy ) IY dd IN | fv . ' [4 / ' (RATT BAA] AX SY BR t 57 AAA JAE IS tr Ala t REY REE SRE MSR SVE INT a SET FA BR PORT PERRY STAR -- Tues. October 18, 1983 -- 15 Central Seven: progress despite the economy by Cathy Robb Two thick scrapbooks, sit unobtrusively in the waiting room, brimm- ing over with news clippings and photo- graphs collected and carefully stored over the years. It's all here, in these books. The excitement, marking the birth of Central Seven 15 years ago when the young group opened a school for mentally retarded children on Scugog Island. The success stories, including the introd- uction of classes for the mentally retarded at Prince Albert Public School in 1974 and then the transfer to R.H. Cornish in 1977. Even the controversy, which swirled around the group's efforts to establish a group home on the island for the workers of Central Seven's workshop. Controversy. Success. Excitement. Central Seven Industries has had more than its fair share of publicity, and yet it remains clouded under a cloak of mystery. Despite every- thing that has been written, many people still don't understand what goes on behind the doors of the workshop on Simcoe Street, North in Port Perry. And it boils down to the clients who work comes from donations from various service clubs and local organi- zations, but the balance is derived from the actual work done by Central Seven. Ultim- ately, Mr. Duncan says the business should be self-supporting. Profit is not his goal, although he admits it would be nice. "Our objective is to provide vocational training to individuals in hopes of establishing work and social skills so they can get a competi- tive job in the market- place," Mr. Duncan says. "Our prime mot- ivation isn't to see how much we can turn out of here." ' Still, Central Seven has a track record many small businesses might envy. Most entrepren- eurs start with a skele- ton staff, adding employees as profits rise. Central Seven started out with 25 clients (a number it has always more or less maintained), quite a burden on a fledgling business. At the beginn- ing, the plant was turn- ing out small woodwork- ing projects but as time passed, client skill level increased so the job was made more difficult. Now the plant is involved in three diff- erent areas of prod- uction, including furni- ture stripping, rapid there. printing and sub- ~The 22 men and contracting. women who work at Mr. Duncan says Central Seven Indus- there's a year's waiting tries are called clients. list of people who want Not employees, not their furniture refinish- workers. Clients. ed. "You don't work with "To put it mildly, these people, you work we've got it because for them," explains we're good," he boasts. James Duncan, work- "What we do is really shop manager. "I'm well done." accountable to the dev- Flyers, leaflets and elopmental handicapp- quality photocopying is "ed people who work done at the plant on a here." ) small run basis, allow- Which is why the ing local businesses to organization has always take advantage of print- been such a mystery to ing without ordering some. Die-hard hang- thousands of copies of ups and stereotypes pre- something. The same vent some people from goes for the plant's accepting the mentally production of pressure retarded as valid sensitive labels, made members of the work- for many companies force. including Windcrest While there are those Farms and Mother who say retarded adults Jackson's. have nothing to offer an But the newest and employer, there are most exciting aspect of others who complain Central Seven is the about them stealing jobs _sub-contracting work it from the unemployed. has been doing for some Organizations like Cen- of the largest companies tral Seven across the in the area including province are plagued ITT Canon in Whitby with the suspicions of and Molex, an electron- people who really don't ics producer in Mark- understand mentally re- ham. Central Seven also tarded folk or what their has a seasonal sub- potential is. At Central Seven, clients are encouraged to live up to and go beyond their potential, Through the challenge of doing a real job, they learn the skills necess- ary to compete for employment instead of sitting back and doing nothing. Part of the funding for the operation comes from COMSOC, part B.A Suite 1C - 57 Simcoe contract with Mother Jackson's (to affix labels to meat pie cart- ons, up to 20,000 cartons per day). The Canon contract was secured in Sept- ember 1981 and since then the plant has been producing between a quarter and a half million parts per year, including electical connectors packaging and heat sealing. Even more impress- ive is the 1.2 million parts Central Seven will provide. Molex in the coming year (the con- tract was obtained in August). All this without actively seeking con- tracts or stealing work from other companies. As Mr. Duncan points out, Central Seven is doing work that would otherwise have been done in-house. In all cases, in-house would have been next-to- impossible, either because of a lack of room, lack of equipment or lack of employees. "To my knowledge, we're not taking jobs away from anyone," he says. {More important, the new Molex contract offers a brand new challenge to the clients at Central Seven. It involves the assembly of stove element compon- ents with air guns and the job is more difficult than it sounds. It's a perfect example of the way Mr. Duncan and the staff (including two counsellors) like to challenge clients, make them reach further than even they thought poss- ible. He maintains its a policy that's good for everybody. If people aren't challenged, he reasons, they'll stagnate. And besides, at Central Seven clients are doing real work for companies that demand perfection. Not just basketweaving. "In order to train someone properly, you have to train them realistically," he says. "We're not just coming into work and doing something that doesn't matter. I could turn out a million parts if I liked but if they'te not right, forget it." The self-esteem garn- ered from a job well done is even more rewarding than the wage (clients' wages are supplemented by government pensions. Combined, they approx- imate minimum wage) PAUL D. FARQUHARSON + LLB. LAW OFFICES OF RISEN. ESPEY & FARQUHARSON LORD SIMCOE PLACE St. S., P.O. Box 278 OSHAWA, L1H 713-571-3942 (After Hours: 985-9012) * Preferred Area of Practice clients receive. In most cases, the client was a homebody before work- ing for Central Seven, sitting around the house watching television. "Watching TV and doing nothing for the first day or two is great but after that you begin to get restless, looking for something to give your day meaning," the workshop manager says. 'You need contact with other people, a social life. These are the intrinsic rewards that the clients get. A sense of belonging." A typical day at Central Seven begins early when the bus makes it rounds picking up clients from Cann- ington, Sunderland, Zephyr, Uxbridge and Port Perry. Every- body's present by 8:30 a.m. and expected to sign themselves in (instead of punching a clock). After that, clients report to the counsell- ors, Cheryl McNeil and Jeannette Lane, where they are told what job to work on for the day (jobs are alternated from day to day). From that point on, work progresses the same way it does in factories all over the province, with coffee breaks, lunchtime and the end of the day at 4 p.m. Sometimes the work is interrupted so consell- ors can concentrate on skill training. Some- times a client is drawn aside for extra instruc- tion, more incentive or even to be reprimanded. Things aren't made easy at Central Seven, anymore than they're easy at any business. If clients aren't doing their job or disturbing the work of other clients, they're told about it. "If they get away with things here, they'll think, and rightfully so, that they can get away with the same things when they're working somewhere else," Mr. Duncan explains. "This - is a training ground." The basic presump- tion at Central Seven is the clients have skills and abilities like any- body. The training merely shapes those abilities into a more employable form. But these days, being employable doesn't necessarily guarantee a spot in the marketplace, as thousands of jobless Canadians are finding out. The economy is the biggest enemy of the mentally retarded seek- ing work. With an employer's market, a manager can sift through a hundred or more applications for one job, which allows him the privilege of hiring the very best. Somewhere along the line, handicapped people just get shuffled aside. "Because of the stigma you have to make people better than average. What I'm say- ing is if they have a job opening, consider everybody's applica- tion," Mr. Duncan says emphatically. "If they have got the skills, at least let them put their names in. No double standards and not tokenism."' He pauses, and adds, "It's a slow battle." MT ' Lh Sra 0 [OA 21s SPA James Duncan, workshop supervisor at Central Seven, calls the trainably retarded adults who work for him, clients, not employees, because he is serving them just as much as they serve the business. Working with air guns is one of the more challenging aspects of fulfilling Central Seven's latest contract with a Markham-based electronics firm called Molex. DEEGAN Denture Therapy Clinic 305 QUEEN STREET - PORT PERRY -- OPEN -- BY APPOINTMENT ONLY! Tuesday & Thursday Evenings - 6:30 P.M & Saturdays. PLEASE CALL: 985-2916 @e Hear "Cid Centre ¢f Port Perry Dennis J. Hogan aun Hearing Aid Consultant Dr. E. Mannen's Office - 24 Water St. S., ~ Lakeview Plaza, Port Perry, Ontario LOB 1NO TEL: (416) 985-3003 ~~ Da a es ME