Forty-year-old Jimmy gets a ride to a Portsmouth warehouse every weekday morning. He arrives at 8:30, greets his co-workers and is then taken to his work site, where he labors until lunch.
He's returned to the warehouse and then home again, and repeats the process the next day. It's unremarkable really. Except that Jimmy is intellectually disabled, and but for that warehouse - PORTCO - he and others like him would not be able to work.
PORTCO is a Portsmouth-based nonprofit that provides jobs for people with intellectual disabilities. Founded in 1991 by the Portsmouth Community Services Board, the business is housed at 800 Loudoun Ave., in the old Columbia Gas building.
PORTCO became a separate entity from the Community Services Board in 2000. With support from governmental organizations, like-minded local businesses, and competent, caring staff, it continues doing what it has from the beginning: improving the quality of life for the cognitively impaired.
In addition to the intellectually disabled, PORTCO helps the mentally disabled, wounded members of the armed forces, those with traumatic brain injuries and diabetics whose condition is so severe they cannot find gainful employment.
PORTCO has cleaning and landscaping agreements at government and military buildings in Portsmouth and Norfolk. Federal contracts are undergirded by generous support from AbilityOne, a national initiative that shares the PORTCO vision. A few private companies are also on the roster.
Clay Butler is employment services coordinator and responsible for those who enter the program through a Medicaid waiver. He says his participants are able to perform the physical requirements of their jobs; it's often the social aspects of employment that can be a challenge.
That's where Latoya Nesmith enters the picture. Nesmith is a project manager in the PORTCO warehouse, located behind the company's administrative offices. The warehouse offers training in the interpersonal skills the students will need in their job assignments.
They get a head start on job skills as well. Laundry service is included in the cleaning contracts and the workers perform that duty on-site. They also pack fishing lures, a PORTCO cottage industry that helps fund the company's programs.
Nesmith was formerly a pharmacy technician who delivered medication to special needs customers. She says the best part of her present job is witnessing the participants' growth.
"Knowing their stories and seeing them empowered by earning their own money is wonderful," she said.
PORTCO's influence isn't limited to Hampton Roads. The company provides the same services throughout Northern Virginia and as far away as Missouri. The company has earned the Cleaning Industry Management Standard award with honors and has a CIMS-Green Building designation.
This is a source of pride to quality control director Kirk Petrich, who, like his PORTCO co-workers, is eager to expand the company's work outside of Virginia.
Pamela Nichols, pamelawrites@hotmail.com
want to learn more?
People interested in PORTCO’s services should contact Portsmouth Community Services Board at 393-8321 or visit www.portco.org for more information.
Any business seeking qualified custodial and lawn personnel may call 399-2444.
Buy PORTCO fishing lures at www.TheBestLure.com