Spokane-based nonprofit Skils’kin Inc. has updated its strategic plan and goals, and it aims to stand out as the model for service providers to enrich the lives of adults with developmental and physical disabilities, says Brian Behler, Skils’kin president and CEO.

The plan redefines Skils’kin’s mission, vision, and values in straightforward terms through which it hopes to exceed and raise standards of care for such service providers throughout the Spokane community and beyond, Behler says.

Skils’kin is working with Jason Swain, owner of Spokane executive and corporate-coaching consultant Jason Swain & Associates LLC, to develop a service model that can be rolled out nationally.

“First and foremost, we want to do more than what’s expected,” Behler says. “We want to make Skils’kin a place people want to emulate, where folks want to work to make Spokane a better place.”

Skils’kin employs about 300 people, including people with significant disabilities that it places in jobs through the national AbilityOne employment program.

Jobs arranged through Skils’kin include grounds maintenance, custodial work, food service, greeters, and data entry.

Skils’kin’s main offices are located at 4004 E. Boone, and its payee division operates at 606 W. Sharp. Skils’kin has about 1,000 clients in its payee program, which ensures that clients who receive Social Security or retirement benefits secure their basic needs, such as food, housing, and medications, before other spending.

About 800 clients live in the Spokane area, and 200 reside in western Montana, Behler says.

Skils’kin also has remote offices in the Federal Building downtown, at 904 W. Riverside, and at Fairchild Air Force Base, on the West Plains.

Among values Skils’kin has identified in its new strategic plan, the organization is emphasizing collaboration to help achieve shared goals.

“Collaboration is one of the things we do well,” Behler says. “It’s an important part of our value system.”

In one ongoing collaborative project, Behler claims Skils’kin was instrumental in helping Spokane Rotary Club 21 bring Rotary International’s Partners for Work program here.

“We screen developmentally and physically disabled people who want to work and match their marketable skills with employers,” Behler says.

Skils’kin also has helped the Inland Northwest chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management adopt the Partners for Work initiative.

“It’s probably the first SHRM chapter in the nation starting a Partners for Work program,” Behler asserts.

Innovation is another area of emphasis for Skils’kin, he says.

Skils’kin is launching a Web-based system for its supportive-living program this week that will enable guardians and case managers to access their respective clients’ case notes, he says.

“We’re trying to be progressive and transparent,” he says. “That meets our values of innovation and collaboration.”

The supportive-living program provides round-the-clock support to help disabled individuals live in the community. “The alternative is to live in a state institution,” he says.

Supportive-living clients usually live in shared houses, Behler says. Skils’kin serves 26 supportive-living clients at eight homesites, he says.

The nonprofit agency was founded here in 1969 by concerned parents, family members and business leaders under the name Pre-Vocational Training Center to provide services to Spokane-area adults with developmental, physical and mental disabilities to expand their employment and living opportunities. In 2004, it changed its name to Skils’kin, a Native American word meaning a place where people come to learn about themselves.