Welcome back to another community spotlight from NWPB.

Today we have Mike Novakovich.

He is the president and CEO of Columbia Ability Alliance.

If that name is unfamiliar to you, maybe it's because it's new.

Mike, tell us what you used to be and what the change was for?

Yeah.

Thanks, Tracci.

So we, you know, we actually started in 1963, opened our doors as United Cerebral Palsy Association of Benton and Franklin Counties.

And as you might imagine, we were working with individuals with cerebral palsy, another physical disabilities.

In time, we grew to serving individuals with physical and intellectual disabilities and changed their name in 1981 to Columbia Industries, which really reflected our operation.

We were a direct employer of individuals with disabilities.

And as the industry changed, so did we.

And now we focus on employment within our community.

So it's community integration.

and with that came a name change our team recognized, and we heard it from our community partners.

I do a community presentation.

What do you know about us?

The first things people would say is the for profit businesses we own.

We're a small conglomerate social enterprise.

Nobody ever talked about our mission service.

So we knew there was a disconnect with our brand, our image, our name.

And so we went through a year long process, high community engagement, and came up with Columbia Ability Alliance.

As you might imagine, Columbia is a nod to our prior name and the region we serve.

Ability centers the clients that we work with in the middle, literally, of our name.

Everything we do, we celebrate the unique abilities of our clients.

How many people have been helped by Columbia Ability Alliance now over the last decades?

Woah... Over the decades?

I don't know what to tell you Tracci, but here's what I can tell you...

Through our employment services this last year we served 73 clients.

So working with them on job coaching, resume writing, skills development, and then job placement with area employers, which is fantastic.

In our community center, which is our center for social inclusion, we had about 72 clients go in there and we provided 20,000 hours of respite care.

So a break for the caregivers as we worked on skills development and community integration.

We go out, we have a good time.

We bring partners in to do things like cooking classes, interactive music and so much more.

And that's kind of the tip of the iceberg.

We also have another federal contract where we have a team of clients that clock in as employees of ours.

They produced 125,000 welding hood socks.

It's the PPE that goes underneath welding hoods for the US Navy, for the men and women at the naval shipyards in Bremerton, Washington.

So we're taking care of those individuals that are taking care of us.

If there's one thing you wish people knew about Columbia Ability Alliance, what would that be, Mike?

That we're on our way to build a more accessible and inclusive community.

We're doing it through community and partnerships, and we're doing it, so that everybody can enjoy this incredible community we live in.

You and your team and everyone involved is doing it well.

Mike, thank you so much for your time.