Flying Colors of Success, Inc. – Downtown Spotlight

Mike Hardesty, President of Flying Colors of Success Inc. and quite possibly the nicest guy on Main Street, sat down for an interview with the Economic Development Coordinator. Okay, nicest guy is an easy spot to hold for our first business spotlight, but for those of you who already know him, you know what I am talking about!

So here we go! @FlyingColorsofSuccess provides support and services to folks with developmental and intellectual disabilities. Wide ranging, they set out to assist folks with autism spectrum disorders, down syndrome, cerebral palsy, etc. They operate 8 group homes in Carroll County with their central homebase on Westminster’s Main Street at 88 East Main St., across from the old Post Office building. They support 3-4 individuals at each home location, within 12 miles of Westminster.

The organization was a spin off from Kennedy Krieger and the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in 1991. What started with a pilot project to meet the needs of folks placed in institutions when the State decided it was an even better option to place individuals in their home communities. Mr. Hardesty has been the CEO since 1993. Familiar to Westminster, as he went to College on the Hill, he has led this organization to 70+ employees and they are currently hiring. They are looking for candidates of at least 18 years of age with a High School Diploma or GED to be available to train for a few months, for a better than minimum wage of $18+/hour plus full benefits and bonuses.  Downtown Main Street certainly has it’s perks for being within walking distance of many local businesses and being central to all of Carroll County.

There is a shortage of housing stock right now, but there has always been a shortage of accessible housing. If you’ve ever heard of Universal Design, per the National Association of Builders it is, “the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design.” They’ve built houses for years and given out the blueprints with this concept before. One was even used by local organization, Target Community & Educations Services, Inc. A lot of moms and dads reach out to them after their children have graduated from Carroll County Public Schools to see what services would be offered. Sometimes the primary care givers have an immediate crisis with their own health or aging that they can no longer care for their friend or family member with special needs. Planning as far in advance as you can to anticipate for the future care of your special needs child is key. If Flying Colors of Success, Inc. doesn’t have the opening, in Mr. Hardesty’s words, “One of the beauties of Carroll County, and I’ve worked all over the Baltimore and D.C. metro and all of the surrounding Counties, Carroll County is really special…here in Carroll County there are four agencies that are based in Westminster that provide services to folks of intellectual and developmental disabilities. We have a group we call FACT (Flying Colors, The Arc of Carroll County, Change, now Penmar, Target Community Program) and we get together regularly at JeanneBirds Baking Company at Main Street at 7:00 a.m. when Bernie opens the doors and we get a table, so we can help each other and support each other. There are a lot of resources for special needs individuals in Carroll County, we are very fortunate.”

When asked to share any success stories from members, he spoke of a senior citizen, Ben, who has given permission to share his story. Anyone who knows Ben, will know of his friendly manner. You may have gotten the greeting, “Hey, are you working hard, or hardly working?” and spoken about his love of the Baltimore Orioles. With an intellectual disability and a very basic level of social skills, Ben used to walk the streets of Manchester, during the day when his brother and sister-in-law went to work. When he needed to use the restroom, but was too far from home, he may have visited an unsuspecting garden to take care of business. In another instance, he was helping himself to food and drink without remembering payment was needed. The Police got frequent calls from the community, they would meet with Ben and tell him he couldn’t do whatever it was at the time. The Police Chief eventually discovered Flying Colors of Success, Inc., and serendipitously found out that there was an opening at one of their group homes. Ben and his family were out to tour the facility, finding it was a perfect match for them. Ben is now enjoying living in his “own place” (compared to living in a family basement), he is able to visit the Senior Center and interact with folks his age on the regular.

Flying Colors of Success, Inc. uses Federal and State funds through Medicaid and other resources and about $51,000 of Carroll County funds, but they are providing a home for people, not just a handicap accessible place for them. They can decorate their own rooms, have family style meals if they want, they go out and about in the community to do things, individually or as a group. Like Ben, others too have found the support in this organization for what they need to go out and live their best life. Ideally, this is their forever home and Mr. Hardesty is working hard to financially look to the future.

Last year in 2022, they became debt-free! They have the ability now to put more money into their existing program homes. Recently, they were able to completely gut a kitchen and bathroom to transform the space with a brand-new modern kitchen and brand-new handicap accessible bathroom.

How can we as a community best support this Westminster and Carroll County based non-profit? Volunteerism is a great way to support them. Sometimes local businesses will do special projects. Anything that you have at your own home, they have x8. In springtime, they need to freshen up the flower beds or refresh the walls with paint and other kinds of things. If people are “well-healed and they would like to get a tax right-off a visit to their website, https://www.flyingcolorsofsuccess.org/ for an easy avenue for a donation. Funds would assist staff wages as well as be able to go towards the maintenance/upgrading of various aspects of their Flying Colors of Success, Inc. homes.

We wanted to highlight this organization that has been on Main Street for a while, but many may be unfamiliar with. We <3 our Downtown Westminster Community and hope to bring you many more stories! Maybe not this long! I enjoyed speaking with Mike and hope you will become a supporter of this awesome organization in whatever way you can!

Photos provided by Flying Colors of Success, Inc.