Organizations Filed Purposes:
Elevating human abilities for the mutual benefit of our community.
Day Services:Becoming Independent (BI) serves people with varied interests and life objectives who share the common goal of living lives that are both meaningful and fulfilling. Over 300 individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities seek opportunities for exploration and development through our key Day Program arenas: Personal Enrichment, Professional Art, and Employment Services. Our goal of ensuring that each person is receiving access to the instruction and opportunities that they desire on their journey to greater independence is being achieved. Beginning in March of 2020, with the onset of the Covid 19 pandemic, all Day Services in-person offerings were suspended and we developed and implemented a virtual day program for clients to stay in touch with both their staff and their peers while experiencing a wide array of options for connection; from Zoom classes to our YouTube channel video offerings. Resumption of some in-person services began in October 2020.
Community Support Services:Our Supported and Independent Living services are a major asset for hundreds of people who choose to live a life of independence and freedom in a home of their own choosing while receiving assistance from BI. Similarly we offer our job exploration, seeking, obtaining and retaining of employment supports to hundreds of men and women that are enrolled in our Employment Services. Designed to enable people with disabilities to live and work independently and to share the same rewards and responsibilities of others in the community, BI's philosophy offers dignity of risk and affords men and women the opportunity to be productive, engaged community members through individualized support plans. As these services are considered essential for living, the Covid-19 pandemic, while requiring some changes to ensure prevention of disease transmission and proper health protocols, did not disrupt the provision of these services.
Transportation:For over 50 years BI has provided rides, taking people to and from their homes, jobs, BI program sites, volunteer sites and to community events all over Sonoma and surrounding counties. Over 60 vehicles, many of which are equipped with wheelchair lifts, provide rides to hundreds of individuals each day. With the onset of Covid-19 in March of 2020, we suspended the majority of our transportation services. We established a Covid Protection and Prevention plan around our vehicles and ensuring the safety of our clients and staff and beginning in October of 2020 were able to do a minimal amount of transportation, mostly 1:1 for clients seeking employment opportunities.
Executives Listed on Filing
Total Salary includes financial earnings, benefits, and all related organization earnings listed on tax filing
| Name | Title | Hours Per Week | Total Salary |
|---|
| Luana Vaetoe | Chief Executive Officer | 40 | $160,347 |
| Lisa Folsom Ernst | Director of Fund Development | 40 | $104,243 |
| Paula Kraus Finley | Chief of Services | 40 | $95,101 |
| William Henry | Director of Finance | 40 | $87,118 |
| Vaghar Haghiri | Chief Operating Officer | 40 | $39,092 |
| Renee Norris | Chief Financial Officer | 40 | $28,667 |
| Bryan Wright | Member | 1 | $0 |
| Ann Wallace | Member | 1 | $0 |
| Carrie Mauritson | Member | 1 | $0 |
| Sharon Maiolini | Member | 1 | $0 |
| Carol Larson | Member | 1 | $0 |
| Nicholas Dieter | Member | 1 | $0 |
| Owen Cate | Member | 1 | $0 |
| David House | Secretary | 2 | $0 |
| Joerg Olson | Treasurer | 2 | $0 |
| Donna Cates | President | 3 | $0 |
Data for this page was sourced from XML published by IRS (
public 990 form dataset) from:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/irs-form-990/202131199349301263_public.xml