LeadingAge New York Adviser Winter Vol. 1 | Page 31

PEOPLE, INC.
Interview with Rhonda Frederick, CEO
What is the mission of People, Inc.? Has it
changed over time?
People, Inc. is just under 50 years old and
our mission has been tweaked over the years.
Currently, as written, it states that People, Inc.
exists so that individuals with disabling conditions
or other special needs have the support they
need to participate and succeed in an accepting
society. The organization began as an agency
providing services to the developmentally
disabled. We began as a grassroots initiative
by parents with children who were aging out of
the school system and who had no options for
services as adults with disabilities.
In the late 1980s and early 90s we were actually
approached by the U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development (HUD) because they
were looking for not-for-profit developers to build
senior housing. They’d had some bad experiences
at that time with for-profit developers and were
interested in People, Inc., a non-profit with a
successful track record of building group homes
for persons with disabilities.
Our board spent about a year researching and
considering if our mission was broad enough
to undertake senior services. After carefully
vetting the question, we decided this area was in

sync with our mission. We knew how to develop
housing and our core mission is to serve people
and, in fact, in many states senior services
and disability services are run under the same
umbrella. That’s how we began serving seniors
and persons with development disabilities. I am
thrilled to have been part of that evolution.
From there we continued to grow, as the need
is incredible. I can’t talk enough about the need
for affordable housing for seniors. We also found
some other niches where the services are similar.
For example, we took over an adult day care
program for individuals with Alzheimer’s, which
is just about the same as a day program run for
people with disabilities. So we had some who had
Alzheimer’s and some who were just aging and
they’re now co-located in a building. People go
back and forth between the two programs.
We also provide case management through the
county in the same manner we use for providing
it for individuals with disabilities; funded two
different ways but with the same philosophies.
We started our health center to provide a service
lacking in the community. We were having a hard
time finding good quality doctors for people with
disabilities, people that would spend the time
needed to serve our population.
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