Gov. Gregoire addresses the Northwest Center 9th annual Golden Hearts luncheon

September 25, 2008

AS WRITTEN

Good afternoon and thank you for the kind introduction.

I�m glad to be here today. It�s an extremely busy time for me right now, but there was no way I would miss the chance to talk to a group of people who�

�For more than 40 years have shown up everyday to bring Washingtonians with developmental disabilities out of the shadows of our society and into bright, happy, productive lives.

Speaking of showing up � I found out recently that there are actually folks out there who worry I won�t show up. I went to an event and�

They say 90 percent of success is just showing up, and The Northwest Center has gone well beyond that.

As partnerships go, the Northwest Center is nothing short of a role model for the State of Washington.

I like to talk about Washington�s culture of innovation. But when it comes to innovative ways to partner with state and local government -- and the private sector � the Northwest Center takes the cake.

As for the private sector, I know there are businesses represented here today � including some run by the Northwest Center itself -- who employ people with developmental disabilities�

�And who have learned, and are teaching others, that what you get are great employees who benefit the company in many, many ways.

Again, speaking of showing up � employers will tell you that workers with developmental disabilities have some of the lowest absentee rates of anybody!

More often than not, they love their work, they love their co-workers, and they do their jobs every day.

�Workers like Mario, who is among those you will honor today.

I�m told that Mario works at Sam�s Club, and the manager says he�s integral to the operation as a support person who sweeps floors, empties the garbage, and loads and unloads merchandise.

�Or like Sandy, who you also are honoring today. She works at the Seattle Athletic Club, and her employer likes her so much that when she said she wanted to learn to ride a bike, they bought her one!

Congratulations to Mario and Sandy.

And on behalf of all Washingtonians let me thank Sam�s Club, the Seattle Athletic Club and all the other businesses who are giving Mario and Sandy and so many others a chance to show up on the job every day and lead happy, productive lives.

I believe that in my nearly four years in office, I�ve shown up too on behalf of people with developmental disabilities.

You know, it begins with some personal perspective. A lot of people don�t know this about me, but I have a ground-level appreciation for the needs of individuals with developmental disabilities and their families.

I have a cousin the same age as I with developmental disabilities. He and I have been almost like brother and sister since childhood. He�s a great guy, and I love him very much.

I now serve as my cousin�s guardian and in that role not only make sure his basic needs are met, but also try to ensure that he has opportunities to enjoy the same life experiences that people without disabilities have.

So I know and appreciate the whole spectrum of needs -- from childhood to old age.

I�ll take just a little time to give an overview of what we�re doing to deliver our share of the partnership with you, the private sector, the schools, and local governments.

We are making progress after several years of what might be called benign neglect.

Over the past four years, the Legislature passed and I signed several policy bills to strengthen the tools we need to help people with developmental disabilities.

My first year in office, we created The Developmental Disabilities Community Land Trust to establish an additional funding stream for employment and family support services.

A 2006 bill created statutory authority for the Community Protection Program to improve protections for both clients and their caregivers.

Another recent bill requires all school districts -- not just some -- to participate in the Birth-to-Three Early Intervention Services Program by 2009. There is now more money for a proven program to help our kids do better in K-12, with intensive special education services.

And we also passed the Individual and Family Services Act to ensure that equitable state-funded services are prioritized based on individual and family needs.

We also have provided significantly more funding in this current biennial budget for existing programs that we know get results.

For example, we have made it possible for many more people with developmental disabilities to live in supported-residential settings ranging from their own apartments to group-living arrangements.

And we expanded funding to help more developmentally disabled students leaving high school transition to real jobs.

We�ve provided more funding to serve additional families who wish to care for and support their developmentally disabled family member at home.

And finally, we�ve provided significant new funding to improve compensation for service providers.

Overall, the budget for state developmental disability services in the past four years has increased almost 30 percent. At the same time, we increased our investments in Special Education by more than 35 percent.

The fact is, we made real progress in reversing the benign neglect I found when I took office.

Despite all of these accomplishments, believe me, I know we�re not done yet � and there is much left to do. As I�m sure you know, national economic woes are hitting our state now too � but we�re not going to give up the gains we�ve made for people with developmental disabilities.

One issue I�m particularly concerned about is the increase in demand for institutional placements for children.

This tells me loudly and clearly that some families need more support and I�ve asked DSHS to review best practices in other states that we can import here.

Indeed, I know there are many issues and concerns and our work is not done.

But I know that with the help of people like those of you in this room today � we�ll keep moving forward on behalf of Washingtonians with developmental disabilities.

Thank You