Message from the CEO

Embracing the year ahead

I’d like to share with you my optimism for 2021, and reflect on the incredibly difficult 2020.

This past year we’ve confronted a global pandemic that has been devastating. We saw unacceptable racial injustices, with riots overshadowing peaceful protests and calls for justice. These events were an emotional drain for many of us. Yet despite a year of challenges, I am left with a sense of pride for OP, and for the resilience shown by our staff and the people we support.

Our dedicated team members have been creative in fulfilling our mission and supporting people in new ways. From developing virtual services, finding engaging ways to bring happiness while stuck in the house, to working long hours (sometimes in different roles), and enduring continuous change, we have learned to live and work in this new world. The OP team did all of this, while following strict safety protocols to keep each other and the people we serve safe.

Through it all, we’ve kept our mission at the forefront. We still expanded our apartment services to Minnetonka, integrated people into our services from a provider that closed, and launched the rebuild of our New Hope residence that burned down in 2019.

Thanks to everyone working together, generous contributions from our community, and financial assistance from state and federal governments, OP was able to end the year strong financially; stronger than we ever imagined in the spring of 2020. This will give us stable footing for rebuilding and expanding our services in 2021.

We are making key investments in several areas, including further expansion of the apartment programs, new case management software, and making needed investments in our most valuable resource – our staff.

Thank you for your support and encouragement in 2020, and I look forward to building a successful future in 2021. We are stronger together!

-Bill Schultz