"Doing one thing and doing it well”

He came almost by accident, and now It has been 25 years since Rod Braun starting working at the Christian Opportunity Center (COC). At the staff celebration of this event, he was presented with a hedgehog cake, a reference to the leadership team's study of Good to Great, by Jim Collins, wherein the parable is told of a clever and devious fox who was always trying new ways to catch and eat the hedgehog. The hedgehog prevailed by doing one thing and doing it well - rolling up into a thorny ball that always thwarted the fox.

Originally from Oregon, Braun (pronounced like the color brown), with a degree in geology, moved to Wisconsin near his parents to simply take some time off. Bored, he took a job as a "ward parent" at a large private institution housing 600 people with developmental disabilities. There, he fell in love - both with working with this clientele, and with Robin, a co-worker whom he soon married.

The University of Wisconsin at Whitewater offered a masters program in education with an emphasis on special education that did not require teaching credentials and credited his on-the-job practical experience. Braun earned this degree over the next several years while continuing to work at Bethesda Lutheran Homes in Watertown, then developing group homes for Lutheran Family Services in Ft. Dodge with the movement to place people with disabilities back in the community near family and friends, rather than institutionalize them.

His next job was with Bethphage Community Services (now Mosaic), which seeks to offer "A life of possibilities for people with intellectual disabilities." He was responsible for developing from the ground up programs for three Des Moines intermediate care facilities. "This was a ton of work," he said, "and a lot of learning on the job. We were the first to do small group homes in the community, a maximum of 8 residents with severe disabilities in each home, integrated in the community."

Though quite content with his current situation, Braun was persuaded by then-COC director Art Ruiter to apply for the position of director of operations in 1987. Things snowballed, Ruiter resigned, and five weeks after accepting the position, Braun found himself the interim director, 8 months after that, the director. (He later learned the staff had petitioned the Board to hire him as director.) Braun committed to staying 5-7 years.

"Twenty-five years later I'm still here!" he said.

In those 25 years under Braun's leadership, COC has quadrupled its service base to 300 people in four counties, employing a staff of 260, and increased its budget from $1.5 million to $9.3 million.

When he came to Pella, the Christian Opportunity Center was based on the sheltered village model. He presided over three major changes throughout the industry.

In education, the buzzword was "mainstreaming," and in 1988 COC's 13 students were moved into the Pella Christian schools.

Vocationally, movement was away from sheltered employment where clients were trained and then placed, to supported employment, where they were placed and then trained and coached on the job. COC actually did not totally follow the new trend, but offered their clients a choice of one program or the other.

Residentially, the movement was away from a congregating setting to living alone with support in the community or in a small group home. "In Pella and Indianola we have 30 people living with support in their own places," Braun related. "We still have the four units here on Broadway, but we also have 16 or 17 homes of 4-5 residents each in the Pella-Indianola-Des Moines area."

Braun says what he would most like to change in his field is the thing that has been the biggest challenge in every one of his jobs: "Getting the financial decision-makers to see the connection between the quality of support and the quality of staff. Our average new hire wage is about $10/hour." He described a COC staff vacancy rate of 10% with a 30% turnover every year, saying that was good, that the national average is twice that, and in large metropolitan areas it can be a 100% or more yearly turnover.

"Thankfully, a lot of our best people fall in love with the mission and get enough personal satisfaction from the job to stay with us," he added.

COC is perhaps in a better financial situation than most such organizations because all donations go to the COC Foundation. "Over the years that has provided the capital for new programs," Braun said, "and kept us basically debt-free."

Braun is quick to praise Pella. "I read all the reports and history of the Christian Opportunity Center when I first came, and whenever a need was been presented to this community, Pella came through. That has continued to be the case. Our support especially in Pella has always been fantastic."

He praises the support given by community organizations such as churches, sports teams, and schools. "In just one generation, we have gone from institutionalizing these people, to without question and whole heartedly including them in the life of the community."

He also credits volunteers throughout the community for all the help and support they give, the "fantastic leaders" on the COC Board, and certainly his staff as well.

"There have been a few challenges in those early years, but I certainly have no regrets," he said."

Apparently, the COC Board doesn't either, having found that Rod Braun was "Doing one thing and doing it well."

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