Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Opportunity Village grows with valley

Opportunity Village's plans for a Henderson work training center were launched last week when the building contract was awarded to R and O Construction, executive director Edward Guthrie said.

Applications for building permits will be submitted this week and construction will start within 30 days, Guthrie said. The project will cost $1.8 million and is scheduled to be completed in December. The new campus is needed to serve an increasing number of clients who live in the southeast part of the valley, Guthrie said.

"I think Henderson will be good for Opportunity Village but also good for the community," Guthrie said.

Another facility is needed to handle the growth in population and to make the commute for some clients easier, Guthrie said. Many people who live in the southeast are encountering heavy traffic on the drive to the main work training center, at 6300 W. Oakey Blvd.

The growth rate in Las Vegas is affecting Opportunity Village, and the organization has to keep up with changes, board member Mike Morissey said.

"Four thousand people move here a month and some are going to have children with mental retardation," he said. "So we have to continue to grow, raise funds, create new programs."

Opportunity Village is a 45-year-old private, nonprofit organization that provides job training and employment to people with mental retardation.

The agency currently provides jobs for more than 500 clients through workshops, work groups and the organization's two thrift stores.

The new Henderson facility, planned for Lake Mead Drive and Burkholder Boulevard near Boulder Highway, will allow the group to serve at least 100 more clients, Guthrie said.

"We're bursting at the seams right now," he said. "We're not here to make money. We measure success by how many people we serve."

The location will also allow the nonprofit's clients to provide services to local businesses, Guthrie said. Ocean Spray Cranberry has already expressed an interest in contracting with Opportunity Village, he said.

With the addition of another campus, Opportunity Village will look to expand current programs and add several new ones, Guthrie said.

"We do things differently now than when we had a $4 million budget," Morissey said. "We're constantly adding new programs, changing things around because of the growth."

A sensory stimulation program is set to begin this month or August, Guthrie said, for people with severe disabilities who require 24-hour care.

"This is a pilot project to get our feet wet, see what we can do. We estimate losing $3,000 to $5,000 a year per person. But they need it," Guthrie said. "Otherwise, parents are prisoners of their own home."

The initial plan is to bring six to eight sensory stimulation clients into Opportunity Village's satellite office on Eastern Avenue until the Henderson facility is completed. Guthrie wants to have space for 20 in the new building.

Tom Thomas, a 10-year board member of Opportunity Village, is excited about the new program.

"This isn't a typical program but it's a need. That's what (Opportunity Village) does -- reaches out to groups that need assistance and help," Thomas said.

"I really don't know of a better managed organization. I think the fact that (Opportunity Village) is able to grow and take care of its clients with Las Vegas' population growth is incredible," Thomas said.

A new building and more programs mean additional funds have to be raised, Guthrie said.

The new costs will push Opportunity Village's budget up to $8 million a year, Guthrie said. Currently the budget is around $7.5 million.

About $2 million or 20 percent to 25 percent of Opportunity Village's budget is state funded, marketing director Linda Smith said.

Contracts with businesses, such as the commissary at Nellis Air Force Base, account for $3 million of the budget, while sales from the thrift stores provides between $1.3 million and $1.8 million, Guthrie said. Other fund-raising makes up the difference.

Opportunity Village has saved taxpayers a bundle, upward of $20 million a year, Smith said.

"Opportunity Village has positioned itself as one of the best run nonprofit organizations for the mentally handicapped in the country" because of its fund-raising and the way the organization is run, Thomas said.

The Henderson training center is only one of several changes Opportunity Village is making, Guthrie said.

The thrift store, 921 S. Main St., is undergoing a face-lift, to be more appealing to shoppers and less appealing to robbers, Smith said.

The store has been burglarized six times in the past three years, Smith said. The most recent robbery was in May, when the unknown burglars broke the front window.

Shatterproof glass is on order to replace the broken window, and the store has been remodeled to make it harder for people to grab something and run, Smith said.

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