Encore Developmental Services is planning to bring back its community day services on September 1.

Stephanie Coonce, Executive Director of Encore Developmental Services, indicates they have reopened their thrift store and garden showcase program. In getting things going again for Encore, she adds members of the Employment Services Program are gradually being brought back.

Encore will be able to reinstate their community day programming under state guidelines beginning September 1. Coonce details who is eligible for day services and who they serve.

Individuals with disabilities are often immunocompromised and research shows they are more likely to die from or contract the coronavirus. Moving ahead under the state guidance, Coonce stresses they will have to be cautious when bringing back those individuals.

They have surveyed families and they are ready for their children to go back to work and be reintroduced into the community. Coonce points out a group home administrator interviewed felt the Encore Thrift Store was safer due to the low amount of cases in DeWitt County.

Coonce says their highest importance is reintroducing day service members into the community safely.