KINGSVILLE TOWNSHIP – The staff at the Ashtabula County Board of Developmental Disabilities is truly passionate about helping people.
Those staff members are always willing to discuss the work they do in order to ensure they can continue helping those in need.
In an effort to share its role in the community, the Ashtabula County Board of Developmental Disabilities welcomed the community for an open house on Wednesday, Oct. 15.
“I think everybody who works here leads with passion and purpose and heart,” ACBDD Director of Quality and Community Outreach Manda Jackson said. “You don’t get into social services if you don’t have a genuine desire to help. As you walk around our building, I think you’ll see in our staff that they’re very passionate about the work that we do, and we genuinely care about the health and safety of every resident in our county. It’s a privilege to have visitors in our building and to be able to showcase the work that we do every day.”
The ACBDD staff shared with visitors that it is available to help those in need.
“We are, obviously, a county-wide agency, and we support people from birth throughout life, who have intellectual and developmental disabilities,” Jackson said. “Once somebody is eligible for our services, it is likely they will need our supports for the rest of their life. In that regard, there are a lot of people who we support who are very familiar with the services we offer, but there are many people who are born each day, or who have a diagnosis prior to the age of 22 that will need our services but don’t know that we exist, and so it’s important for us to have an open house or opportunities where people can learn about our services, so that if we could be a benefit to their life, they know how to reach us.”
The people in need of the ACBDD’s services may not be a family member, but most people know someone who is in need of support.
“I think it’s important to also recognize that you, yourself, or you and your loved ones may not need our services, but the chances of a neighbor, a friend, a colleague, somebody else in your life needing our supports is likely,” Jackson said. “It might not directly affect you and your house, but to know that our services exist so that, collectively, any resident in Ashtabula County can have access to the services and supports they need to live a good life.”
The services provided by the ACBDD span an entire lifetime.
“Our services start as early intervention for many families, oftentimes that’s a little extra support early on, and then they may never need our supports again,” Jackson said. “Our Early Intervention model is to go into the homes and work with the parents, coaching the parents to support their child. I think that there are some people who recognize that that service is offered in our county, but I don’t think they recognize the county board is who provides early intervention.”
“I think that’s something that I definitely would like our community to know, is that we support people from birth throughout life,” Jackson continued. “When a child turns age 3, they transition out of early intervention. If they continue to need supports, they would get supports from our service and support administration department. And some of those services are waiver services, meaning that somebody eligible for our services has to be Medicaid waiver eligible, and you can get services like in-home healthcare, transportation to doctor’s appointments, transportation to employment, those types of services that somebody might need help with daily living.”
The Ashtabula County Board of Developmental Disabilities is asking voters to pass the renewal of 10-year, 2-mill levy on the ballot on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
“What I can share with you is that the services we provide are not optional services,” Jackson said. “Our services are dictated from the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities on a needs-based assessment, meaning that a thorough assessment has been completed for everybody who goes through intake and eligibility and there has been an identified need in their life that they need supports in. These are not optional needs.”
“These are daily living needs for the health and safety of people we support,” Jackson continued. “With that, I would say the importance of our services is that they’re not optional. People require our services to live healthy and safe lives.”
The services provided by the Ashtabula County Board of Developmental Disabilities don’t look the same for everybody in need of them.
“The range of our services look different for everybody,” Jackson said. “There are some people who need very minimal care or support. They maybe need drop-in services to go to doctors’ appointments or help balancing their checkbooks. Beyond that, they may lead very independent lives, but there are some people that, based on a diagnosis and a need, may need 24/7 care for all daily living needs. Again, those are not optional needs. They’re daily living needs that you and I both need. And so that’s the importance of our services.”
Approximately 207 children and families received early intervention services in 2024.
“Many of those kiddos, they’re not waiver eligible,” Jackson said. “They need a little extra help early on, and may never need supports again.”
There were approximately 130 people age 3-22 who are on caseloads and get check-ins, but didn’t require services because they have natural supports (family caregivers such as parents) in place in 2024.
Approximately 282 people over the age of 22 who received services from someone like a direct service support professional in 2024 through a waiver.
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