Jason Johnston takes reins as Group Living director to support developmentally disabled adults

By BILL SUTLEY | Special to arkadelphian.com

Nineteen years ago, Jason Johnston stood at a crossroads as his time as a Henderson State University English major ticked away.

Would he go into teaching, as so many of his classmates planned? Would he pursue law school – something that had always interested him?

Then he had a casual conversation with an HSU friend who had started working for Group Living Inc. as a direct service professional — someone who helps guide, up close and personal — the lives of developmentally disabled adults. Johnston decided to give it a try and found something that initially intrigued him and that he eventually loved.

“I’ve always enjoyed helping people,” said Johnston, 41, who became the third executive director in GLI’s 51-year history on July 1. “I think it’s my calling.”

Group Living Inc. is a private, 501(c)(3) nonprofit that seeks to provide skills and living assistance to help adults with developmental disabilities attain the highest level of independence possible. Most of its participants were diagnosed as children with autism, Down syndrome or experienced some sort of birth anomaly or incident that caused their intellectual or developmental disability.

“Most of our clients are medium- to high-functioning,” Johnston said.

After that first job, hired by Group Living founder Jane Lucas, Johnston began moving up, first as a supervisor of direct service professionals. Then he spent years helping oversee the operation of The Beehive thrift store, which is still one of the nonprofit corporation’s main sources of funding that’s not tied to federal or state programs. From there, he spent a few months at the now-closed Honeycomb Restaurant before moving into a series of administrative jobs.

About a year ago, he became director of operations for GLI, the top position under the executive director he succeeded, Yukiko Taylor, who had been guiding Group Living since 2017. About two months ago, she was tapped to lead the statewide Developmental Disabilities Provider Association, which advocates for the 68 nonprofit entities like GLI throughout Arkansas.

“It’s challenging learning on the job,” Johnston said. “I did get trained for a little while, but she only had a certain window she could train me. We have a lot of federal paperwork to do now.”

Group Living funds its annual budget, about $3.4 million in 2023, through federal programs, private donations and revenue from its Beehive thrift store.

“The Beehive sales are astronomical for a city this size,” Johnston said. “It’s an integral part of what keeps us going. The staff there do a phenomenal job.”

Business has picked up in recent years due to marketing via Facebook.

The Beehive thrives because of tax-deductible donations from the public, making it possible to provide training, employment and normalization for Group Living clients. Meanwhile, they learn a wide range of work habits by performing tasks such as sorting, pricing, hanging, cleaning, stocking, sacking and arranging merchandise.

Currently, Group Living serves about 60 developmentally disabled adults – 40 of them in a more substantial way and the other 20 through a “day program.” Sometimes, the day students might include those on a waitlist to become a full-fledged Medicaid waiver participant – a process that could take up to five years. Many of the full-fledged waiver clients live in the program’s Lucas Gardens apartments on South 7th Street. Clients can live there at a significant savings if they qualify for Section 8 housing.

Group Living once served far more clients.

“We definitely need to get our numbers up,” Johnston said. “The more clients, the better. We lost a lot over the last 10 years. Probably the hardest part of the job is seeing so many people leave for various reasons. But from a business standpoint, we need people here.”

Some of those who left have simply aged out of the program, now spending time in a retirement home. That said, one of the program’s clients is in her 80s. One of the program’s original clients, here since the 1970s, is Ricky Wright, who was recognized Thursday for having spent 50 years working at The Beehive.

Group Living’s reputation has drawn participant families to move here from as far away as Baltimore to seek its services.

Johnston, who oversees an administrative workforce of 35, plans to launch this fall a new program that will introduce Special Education students in area high schools to what Group Living has to offer, teaching them basic job skills and job-searching skills.

“There’s a big push to get clients out into the community to get jobs,” he said. “That’s maybe not a big problem in a big city, but here we’re competing with two universities for jobs.” A handful of Group Living participants hold jobs out in the community – behind the scenes in cafeterias at both universities and elsewhere.

When not working, Johnston and his wife, Courtney, manage the busy lives of two boys, Jaxson, 12, and Jameson, 6.

“We’re a big sports family,” said Johnston, who played baseball and football, as well as running track, at Arkadelphia High School. “We do sports year-round.” Right now, though, he’s deeply immersed in learning the details of the job, often learning remotely the ins and outs of the federal bureaucracy with mentors who work at similar operations.

“I have been in a million Zoom meetings over the last two months,” he said. “If I have questions, they’re anxious to help me out.”

Johnston maintains he’s never had a day since joining GLI in 2005 when he’s dreaded heading to the office.

“I’ve never had that,” he said. “I love it and expect to be around here for a while. Probably the best thing I love about working here is the family atmosphere. It’s unmatched by any other place I’ve been to.”