Here’s a look at five Greater Hartford executives and leaders who will likely make headlines in 2014. The Hartford Business Journal will keep close tabs on this influential group and report back a year from now what they accomplished.
Andrea Barton Reeves has never thought much about shoe sizes. But as the newest leader of HARC, the Hartford nonprofit that provides services to more than 1,800 intellectually disabled clients statewide, she knows she has big shoes to fill. That’s because Barton Reeves, who became the organization’s president & CEO in September, replaced Dr. Stephen Becker, who had led the transformation of HARC for the past 36 years.
“The legacy that Stephen built, founded on always putting our [client] families first, will continue,” Barton Reeves said. “There was a time when a family’s only option was to place their [intellectually] disabled child in an institution,” she said. “Today, our clients have access to smaller community living homes, they work, and some live very independently.”
That progress, Barton Reeves knows, took investment — from client families, private funders, and the state, which still provides the lion’s share of HARC’s annual $16.8 million budget. However, she said, while state funding still accounts for nearly 85 percent of the organization’s operational revenues, there have been no increases in state funding for the past three years.
It’s a trend Barton Reeves suspects will continue long-term, and it concerns her. Even if her client base remains flat, demand for more costly services increases as her vulnerable client population ages. “Our clients who live independently in our community homes now typically require more extensive care in the long term, as their parents age or pass away and aren’t able to care for them.”
And with HARC’s full-time group homes costing nearly $5 million annually, Barton Reeves understands she needs to find new sources of income, forge new partnerships and raise her organization’s profile.
Central to her vision is an expanded role for clients’ families, Barton Reeves said. “We want — and need — to increase the visibility of our organization and the people we serve,” she said. “Our clients and families that we serve are our best advocates and we need to show people that HARC is not just big buildings; we’re part of the community.” In particular, Barton Reeves said, she’d like to do more through social media to spread HARC’s message and attract young professionals she’s hoping to engage in her cause.
“We understand that we need to reach the next generation of donors,” Barton Reeves said, noting she’s networking through young professionals groups like the MetroHartford Alliance’s HYPE members and Leadership Greater Hartford. “There’s an entire generation of [young] people that is unaware of what we do. We need people, who don’t have regular exposure to those with intellectual disabilities, to understand the value and benefit of inclusion.”
Increasing that exposure is another area that Barton Reeves wants to expand through her organization’s supportive employment program, which places more than 100 intellectually disabled clients in task-based employment opportunities. Currently, there are 32 companies, including many in Greater Hartford, that partner with HARC to provide job opportunities.
“My goal is to add five new companies as part of our employment program over the next two years,” she said. “It has such an impact on our clients’ self-esteem.”
It is that passion for meeting her clients needs that keeps her driven and it’s a big reason Barton Reeves — who served previously as HARC’s chief operating officer and general counsel — was selected to lead the organization after a national search. “I’ve spent my career serving vulnerable people,” she said.
Read HBJ’s other 5 to Watch in 2014:
David Brantner, commercial engines president, Pratt & Whitney
Bruce Becker, private developer
Charles Lee, scientific director, Jackson Laboratory
Lori Pelletier, executive secretary-treasurer, Connecticut AFL-CIO
