Disability Rights West Virginia nonprofit seeks more board members
Sep. 29—FAIRMONT — Disability Rights of West Virginia is looking for more board members to fill its ranks.
The organization is a state-wide, federally mandated protection and advocacy system in West Virginia for people with disabilities. As a private nonprofit, the group needs to have a board, which at the moment, is having trouble attracting applicants.
"We're just really struggling to maintain our minimum requirements for our bylaws. As a matter of fact, the board just voted to reduce that number," Susan Given, executive director of the organization, said from her Charleston office. "The minimum was nine to 15 members that we can have. They just voted to reduce it to seven because we are having such a problem getting board members."
Starting Oct. 1, the group will reduce from 10 members down to seven. The bylaws were changed because no one has come in to replace the departing 3 board members. This way, at least the nonprofit won't violate its bylaws.
Given said that they try to make the board reflect the different types of disabilities that exist. Sixty percent of the board has to be composed of either someone with a disability or be an immediate family member of someone with a disability.
Although the shortage doesn't impact the day to day work of the nonprofit, Given said that the work guiding Disability Rights of West Virginia becomes much more complicated with so few people to share in that duty. Her concern is that if a board member drops out for any reason, they will be short a board member and out of compliance with their bylaws.
This can impact the committees that board members sit on, because now the remaining board member may have to take on extra work throughout several different committees, making it more challenging to commit the time each committee needs to function properly.
The kind of work that the nonprofit does is crucial to safeguarding the rights of people with disabilities in West Virginia. They have several programs dedicated to maintaining that welfare.
"We have the Traumatic Brain Injury Program, we have the (Protection & Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness) program, which is protection advocacy for individuals with mental illness," Fairmont resident Cathy Reed, one of the board members, said. Reed has been with the group since 2008.
"The staff people who work for them are the ones who go to Bateman and Sharpe to advocate for those individuals who are in the state hospitals. There's Voting PAVA, which is voting protection, advocacy and voting access. There's several other programs we have under the umbrella of disability rights in West Virginia."
Julie Sole, executive director of the Disability Action Center, said Disability Rights of West Virginia is crucial to the advocacy work that the DAC does. Although the DAC teaches its clients how to advocate for themselves, sometimes issues become larger than what a local advocacy group can do. That's when Sole recommends her clients reach out to Disability Rights of West Virginia.
"I don't want to say experts, but they are the folks who are most equipped, the most educated and the most knowledgeable when it comes to all the varying rights, that people with disabilities have, and that's very important to have somebody on your side and to have somebody that is knowledgeable of the laws and the policies that affect them and affect their quality of life," she said.
Meetings are four times a year and conducted both in person and through zoom. Given said adopting zoom made it easier to have representation from different areas of the state join the board. She encourages anyone who is interested to apply. Reed said that anyone who is interested in becoming a board member can call 1-800-950-5250 for an application.
Reach Esteban at efernandez@timeswv.com
