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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Firms bank on Source’s reliability

The source of that mini-ball of butter that The Davenport Hotel puts on dinner plates is a Grand Rapids, Mich., factory with a familiar name: Butterball Farms Inc. And yes, through their common founder, Butterball is related to that other, better-known raiser of your Thanksgiving centerpiece.

Butterball is also a founding member of The Source, an experimental collaboration among 16 Grand Rapids businesses and Michigan social service agencies. Butterball Chief Executive Officer Mark Peters and Andrew Brower, executive director of The Source, were in Spokane last week to explain the program to Washington work force training and economic development officials.

Peters, one of the originators of The Source, says Butterball was in trouble several years ago. Break-even for the company was 22 pounds of butter products per hour per each of his 180 employees, who were producing only 18 pounds. Cash reserves were down to six weeks.

Butterball survived because he agreed to split the profits on production above 22 pounds. But Peters says he also realized from his experience on three nonprofit boards that he was not helping employees address issues that impaired workperformance, such as broken-down cars, unreliable day care andsubstance abuse by family members.

A friend managing a bigger Grand Rapids business was working with Michigan Department of Health Services to solve such problems within his company. Using that collaboration as a model, Butterball and seven other companies signed an agreement with the Michigan Department of Health Services, which dedicated a caseworker to counseling in their plants.

Brower said employers put up only 25 percent of the cost initially, with grants covering the rest. Today, the split of The Source’s $475,000 budget – with 16 member companies – is closer to 70-30.

Employees get direct access – often in the plants – to state or nonprofit services they or family members need, including classes for high school equivalency diplomas, financial counseling and child care. They get better service because the counselors handle perhaps 130 cases at a time, less than a third the number carried by peers that are not under contract with The Source.

“Our caseworkers find out about an issue before it becomes a problem,” Peters says.

He says his workers are happier, more productive, need less supervision and are less likely to quit. Other employers testify to returns on their investment in The Source of up to 100 percent.

Brower says The Source has trained almost 700 employees this year, provided tax-filing assistance to almost 400 and resolved 422 personal problems that hinder work.

Brower says a rough estimate puts the savings to the state at $10,000 per employee kept on the job and off welfare.

“We have a model that can document the numbers,” Peters says.

His one disappointment is The Source’s inability to foster hiring among members as a way of offering employees more opportunities for advancement. Workers were scarce when the program started. With unemployment more than 10 percent, employees stay put.

The Source’s success has been noticed. Battle Creek, Mich., has launched a similar program, as has Golden, Colo.

Mike Brennan, an economic development specialist with the Washington Workforce Education and Coordinating Board, plans to circulate information about The Source to businesses and work force educators around the state.

If there is enough interest in the model – Greater Spokane Inc. and Skagit County have tentatively raised their hands – he will arrange a December conference call to further explore the idea.

Coincidentally, the Washington Department of Commerce is releasing a new blueprint for overhauling the way the state fosters job creation and retention. Rogers Weed, the commerce department’s director, says public-private partnerships are a part of that vision.

Maybe the state should take a look at The Source.