The Bracebridge Examiner and Gravenhurst Banner - Partnership saves Bala’s Bliss centre

Christmas came early for the Blissymbolics Learning Centre in Bala.
The centre, which was threatened with closure in early November due to a lack of funding, has been granted a last minute reprieve.
Just three days before Christmas, the board of directors of Community Living South Muskoka (CLSM) and the Blissymbolics Learning Centre announced CLSM will support the continuation of the centre.
Blissymbolics, located in Bala, has helped non-verbal, cerebral palsy students with communication and literacy skills since 2002. After a main source of funding from the Ontario Federation for Cerebral Palsy ended, the centre was scheduled to close this spring.
The new collaboration will take effect on Jan. 1, 2009. The name of the Blissymbolics centre will be changed to the Bala Learning Centre (BLC).
“It seemed like there was an absolutely perfect fit with Community Living,” said Anna Mallin, who was the acting chair of Blissymbolics and is now a new board member on CLSM. “It couldn’t be better.”
The sudden save of the Bliss centre came when Tom Steadman, chairman of the board of CLSM, read a Nov. 5 article in the Gravenhurst Banner, about the centre’s impending closure. He phoned Mallin the next day, he said.
“Thanks to the press for the support, because it really was getting the information out that made the contact. Without that, it wouldn’t have happened,” said Mallin.
Steadman and Mallin discussed the possibility of keeping the centre open.
“The fit was obvious,” said Steadman. “What [Blissymbolics] was producing in the way of communication education fits the folks at Community Living really quite well.”
CLSM assists persons with developmental delays.
Local politicians, including Township of Muskoka Lakes Mayor Susan Pryke, councillor Patricia Arney, and Parry Sound-Muskoka MP Tony Clement, were also behind the effort to keep the centre open.
“It is just the best Christmas present ever,” said Pryke, who wrote letters to politicians after she heard about the centre’s impending closure. “I couldn’t be happier.”
BLC will continue on in the same building for at least a year, said Mallin. The two buildings in Bala, which housed Blissymbolics, belong to the Murphy family (Mark Murphy was a founding board chair).
The executive director of Blissymbolics however, will lose her job because CLSM will take over the centre’s administration work.
“We feel very badly about this because she has done a terrific job,” said Mallin.
The technician and instructor who are currently handling the distance education program will keep their positions, she said.
Steadman will become chair of BLC, which will remain a stand alone entity.
The name change from Blissymbolics to Bala Learning Centre is because the centre has moved beyond teaching the language of Blissymbolics.
“Blissymbolics is no longer our focus and we wanted to indicate we had a broader focus,” said Mallin.
Steadman foresees the learning centre moving towards financial self-sufficiency.
“We think the application for what they have developed is a saleable commodity,” said Steadman.
The approximately 350 Community Living organizations out there may be interested in purchasing the Internet-based communication education, said Steadman.
“It is really leading edge stuff and it has been hidden out there in Bala,” said Steadman.
Steadman also thought the refurbishing of donated computers, which is already happening at the centre, could be expanded with the help of Community Living clients.
This in turn could be another source of funding for the centre.
For now, the plan is to provide communication and literacy training for individuals with developmental and physical disabilities, as well as the original client group of non-verbal persons with cerebral palsy.
“It would have been a tragedy to lose the expertise of the [Blissymbolics centre],” said Steadman
Ann Kenney, executive director of CLSM, agreed. “This partnership will be of tremendous value to many of the individuals we serve.”