Message From The Superintendent - January 2023

Greetings! 

We hope everyone is doing well! Happy New Year! Here are the updates.   

We just wanted to acknowledge our gratitude to the people here at Portage DD, families, individuals, and providers for a great 2022. We are excited to see what 2023 will bring. “Enter this New Year with gratitude for this new chance to create your dreams” (Avina Celeste). We look forward to working with the individuals we serve to continue to have excellent outcomes and to assist them in making their dreams come to fruition!  

We had ten people test positive for COVID in December.   

Portage DD has completed our Strategic Plan for 2023-2025. Please check our website to see what we have in store for the next three years. https://www.portagedd.org/  

We are excited to add another addition to the Portage DD family. Katrina Kohout will start with us in January. Her job title is Provider Support Coordinator. She also was an SSA previously. She had been working at NEON, and we paid NEON to administer the program. We are now bringing this in-house, and her main focus will be recruiting direct support professionals. Welcome Katrina!   

In July 2022, Portage DD partnered with Buckeye Residential Services to offer respite for families five days a week for 40 hours. They will partner with us in 2023 to enhance this program, and we will provide overnight respite and a place for two kids in Portage County to live in early 2023. We are excited to have an opportunity to enhance services and partner with Buckeye Residential Services again! 

As we move into 2023, Portage DD will partner with the Probate Court and the Mental Health and Recovery Board to start a new Guardianship Service Board in Portage County. This board, along with the Executive Director, will soon be hired and will try to fill gaps to find guardians in Portage County for people who don’t have a guardian but need one. We have identified gaps in the system, and there are waiting lists for guardians for people who need them. With this new program starting in 2023, we will no longer have waiting lists and will fill those gaps. All three agencies will invest time and money to make this successful. Thanks to the Probate Court and the Mental Health and Recovery Board for partnering with us!   

We are incredibly grateful for all the families, providers, staff, community, and people we serve! Portage DD will continue to strive to meet and exceed your expectations.  

We wish everyone a safe and happy New Year. We are excited to accomplish great things together for 2023!  

WE ARE HERE FOR YOU.

Sincerely,

John Vennetti