Local Nonprofit Lays Off Staff and Closes Offices After Losing Funding

The Central Oregon Disability Support Network has laid off half its staff and is closing its offices after suddenly losing a federal grant. Executive Director Dianna Hansen says she received notice on Sept. 6 at 6:38pm, a Friday night. The Community Parent Resource Center Grant provided $12,500 a month to CODSN. This was supposed to be the fifth year of a five-year grant. Hansen had seven calendar days to file an appeal, which she did. Congresswoman Janelle Bynum and Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden also joined the appeal which was denied on Sept. 23.

“Because they gave us no notice, we had to immediately close our office in Warm Springs and Chiloquin and Burns and we just gave notice on our Bend office…We cut our staffing in half because this was half of the funding that we had and so we laid some people totally off and we cut other hours almost virtually in half,” Hansen says.

CODSN serves 4,300 families in eight counties: Deschutes, Crook, Jefferson, Wheeler, Grant, Harney Lake and Klamath. The nonprofit provides no-cost disability education, advocacy, resources and peer-to-peer support for people with disabilities. It works with school districts and families as well as youth 18 and older who are still receiving an education and transitioning into adulthood. Hansen says the agency also steps in to mediate conflicts that may arise involving Individual Education Plans which serves as a legal agreement between a family and school district outlining the special education services and support a student with disability needs to succeed. Part of CODSN’s mission statement is to create a place where people with disabilities develop a positive vision for their future and live whole lives filled with opportunity. 

Hansen says the U.S. Department of Education denied the final year of the grant because in the original application in April 2021 the CODSN staff and board said they were committed to ongoing training around diversity, equity and inclusion.

Hanen started CODSN in 2004 with another mom because they both had daughters with Down Syndrome and couldn’t find resources to help them navigate raising a child with a disability. She is now the only remaining full-time staff due to the loss of funding.

“Our whole region is growing. The number of families moving in is hard to even keep up with, because, you know, 15% of students experience disabilities and are on IEPs. So, as the population grows, that percentage grows and the need for these services grow. So, this [the grant] was helping us somewhat keep up with the need,” she explains.

CODSN Board Member Caela McKeever says they’re launching a fundraising effort on Tuesday, Oct. 21 to raise $30,000 in 30 days.

“[The] Bridge Funding Campaign…will allow us to keep supporting families through the end of 2025. Your donation will help CODSN continue to provide vital programs like new parent education, disability education and training, person-centered education planning, school emergency preparedness, and Special Education/IEP training and advocacy at no cost to families,” McKeever told the Source.

With the layoffs, Hansen says she can now only serve about half the families requesting help, which she plans to do from home once the lease is up on the Bend office in early January.

“We just don’t have the capacity to help all the families that need help. We also started a wait list, so when families are calling in, instead of being able to just help them right now, even no matter how urgent their need is, we’re having to put them on a list and get to them when we can.”