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Creative Community Options Inc. uses community-based, rather than facility-based, operations to meet the needs of Central Iowans with disabilities.

“We design the services exactly around their needs,” said Marcy Davis, executive director of CCO. “They are always building more skills to become more independent.”

CCO, established in 1993, is a nonprofit organization that helps people with disabilities such as autism, mental retardation and mental illnesses. “To empower Iowans with disabilities to achieve their personal goals,” is CCO’s mission. The organization provides services to its “colleagues,” or individuals who receive services from CCO’s 175-member staff in their homes and in the workplace.

Supported Community Living is a program to help colleagues live independently, either in their own home or parental home. SCL instructors work with colleagues to assist them with daily living needs, building relationships, accessing the community, health and safety skills, and education about rights and responsibilities.

Employment Services helps facilitate competitive employment for colleagues from building skills, to creating a resume and helping find a job and “matching” corporate culture. Once placed in a position, CCO helps them and the company adjust.

“(CCO employees also) talk to employers… and remind them that this is a viable labor pool,” Davis said.

Communication Enhancement Services helps individuals with challenging needs or behaviors. Habilitation Services, a state plan, provides services to colleagues with chronic mental illness in everyday life, building skills and symptom recognition.

Money from Medicaid makes up 97 percent of CCO’s funding. However, the Medicaid funds pay less than the full costs of offering services, said Carol Thompson, director of business administration for CCO, and they do not cover overhead, office and technology expenses. Donations help fill in the rest, with two fund-raisers each year, one in the summer and the annual Wine & Cheese Fund-raiser, which took place this past weekend.

Most recently, CCO has been able to use donated funds to expand its office space and, in 2005, purchased a wheelchair-accessible van. With 135 colleagues in Dallas and Polk counties, money from this year’s fund-raisers will be directed toward expanding CCO’s services in Dallas County. CCO plans to hire a coordinator from within and build an office, Davis said.