STEPPING UP

A new leader takes charge at Racker this week

This week – for the rst time in more than a decade – Racker will have a new executive director: Ithaca resident Cristine Donovan. On July 1, Donovan will take over the job from predecessor Dan Brown, who served in the role since 2009 and is transitioning into retirement.

Donovan has worked for Racker in many di erent capacities since 1998, starting out as a team director at one of Racker’s group homes, holding a couple of di erent positions within the residential program, serving as the Director of Early Childhood and Community Supports and most recently working as associate executive director.

“I’ve grown up [at Racker] and had opportunities to see all the di erent program areas that we provide here,” Donovan said.

Re ecting on her time at Racker so far, Donovan explained that she is grateful for the multitude of opportunities and positions available.

“When I think about 24 years, and then think about all the di erent jobs that I’ve had here in 24 years, it’s been a variety. And because of that, I was able to go back to school. I was able to make sure that I had exibility at di erent times in my career when I needed it,” Donovan said.

Donovan also explained that she’s enjoyed working for Racker for almost a quarter of a century and counting because of the organization’s one-of-a-kind culture.

“I think what makes Racker special is the culture and the values that come along with the agency,” Donovan said. “ at culture of valuing each individual person, whether they’re coming to us for services or our sta , and supporting and considering the uniqueness of everyone in all of our work.” e nonpro t organization, dedicated to supporting people with disabilities and their families, is the eighth largest employer in Tompkins County. Racker also has a substantial presence in the nearby Cortland and Tioga Counties, with nearly 800 total employees.

Racker currently has six di erent program areas providing a broad range of services including therapies, early childhood education, preschool special education, mental health support, an audiology clinic, residential living, and intellectual and developmental disability programs.

Over its approximately 74 years, Racker has had seven directors and grown to an impressive 35 “service sites,” in addition to providing services in the community, schools, and people’s homes. e nonprofit currently serves and supports over 3,500 individuals and their families, according to its website.

Originally founded as e Cerebral Palsy Association of the Ithaca Area, Racker now bears the name of Dr. Franziska Racker. Franziska Racker served as medical director for more than 28 years, and the organization was renamed in her honor following her death in 1999. But in more than just its name, Racker has shi ed and grown as an organization in response to community needs over the decades.

“Racker started as an opportunity for families who did not want their children to go to institutional settings to get supports that they needed in their home community. And that’s been something that’s been a constant thread for us. So as we’ve seen di erent needs in the community evolve

By Julia Nagel

Ithaca resident Christine Donovan caps a 24-year at Racker by becoming Executive Director (Photo by Ash Bailot)

and develop, that’s when we’ve shi ed and changed,” Donovan explained.

According to Donovan, some of the current needs include mental health services, independent living options for adults with disabilities, and a rise in the prevalence of autism and related disabilities within the early childhood world.

Racker is responding to these needs by growing its care management program for children who have a mental health diagnosis or social-emotional disabilities and partnering with Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services to designate nine units as supported housing options for adults with disabilities within the Founders Way project. e organization is also starting to develop a preschool program for children with more intensive needs or who may need a more structured program.

Like many other organizations, one of the major challenges that Racker has faced recently is the COVID-19 pandemic.

“One of the things I think that is fairly ubiquitous but is de nitely true here at Racker, is we are all really tired. You know, these last few years have stretched us and fatigued us in ways that we could never have imagined,” Donovan said. ough some COVID safety measures still remain in place at Racker, including mask-wearing guidelines. Donovan said the organization is currently working through the recovery process from the pandemic. is includes pivoting from the day-today survival mindset into reestablishing connections and bringing people back together within Racker and the community at large.

“How can we better meet the mental health needs of youth? How can we better meet the housing needs of people with disabilities? How can we better meet the needs of the youngest kids that we serve? ose are all such exciting things for us to start thinking about other than, ‘What’s the new COVID rule to follow?’” Donovan said.

Looking into the future as director, Donovan hopes to spearhead more innovative programs, engage more with partners within the community and focus on building a strong workforce.

“My hope and goal for the next, I’ll say ve years, is really that we have a stable and engaged workforce. We are part of everything that’s going on with workforce challenges,” Donovan said.

She also plans to continue the “living wage” initiative that Brown started.

“We recently were able to utilize increases in the state budget that were given for our services in order to get all of our sta to a living wage. And we can’t be done with that. It has to be ongoing to ensure that sta are getting paid what they need and deserve,” she explained.

As director, Donovan is looking forward to celebrating the things that are going well.

“One of the things I’m most excited about is really being able to share with people the good things that are happening. And it’s really easy sometimes to see what’s not going well,” Donovan said.

Donovan also mentioned that she will bring a di erent type of leadership to the table as executive eirector.

“I am really far on that introvert scale and Dan is not. So my leadership style is going to be di erent from his,” she said.

Donovan plans on reaching out to people individually, talking to them and listening to them as one of her rst priorities in o ce.

Re ecting on his retirement, Brown explained that he knew, even nine years ago when he rst assumed the executive director position, that Donovan would make a great executive director in the future.

“I’m super excited about passing the baton to Cris. She fully gets, understands, owns Racker’s vision and values. And to me, that’s the most important thing in the leader of this organization,” Brown said. e upcoming Racker Rivals Big Red hockey game, scheduled for July 16, will be Donovan’s rst big fundraising event as executive director. Racker Rivals Big Red is an exhibition-style hockey game that pairs NHL stars, Cornell hockey alumni and local celebrities in support of programs for children with disabilities in the community. ere will be a Friends and Family Open Skate 2:30-3:30 p.m., included in the cost of game admission.

Racker Rivals Big Red is now in its eighth year, with a roster of current and former NHL players and hockey legends. Already on the roster are Cornell hockey alumni and current American Hockey League player Anthony Angello, and three-time Stanley Cup winner, two-time Olympian and fan-favorite Joe Nieuwendyk.

Racker Rivals Big Red will match up two talented hockey teams led by Cornell’s Big Red hockey coach Mike Schafer and Greg Hartz, president and CEO of Tompkins Community Bank. Tickets are currently available at www.racker.org/hockey.

Dan Brown steps down this week after more than a decade as Racker Executive Director The Racker Rivals hockey match is one of the area’s most unique and popular fundraisers

Julia Nagel is a reporter from e Cornell Daily Sun working on e Sun’s summer fellowship at the Ithaca Times.

Seen here at Cornell, NHL legend Joe Nieuwendyk returns to participate in the Racker Rivals fundraiser.

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ation of citizens still insisted on journalists being protected by the First Amendment. at shouldn’t surprise us. A er all, the model was right there in 1776 in the document we celebrate this week. e Declaration of Independence called out King George III, reporting a list of injustices perpetrated by the mother country against its colonies. We had “unalienable rights,” it said, and they were being violated. Americans were no longer going to put up with this “long train of abuses and usurpations.” at is the same spirit with which America’s free press has exercised its duties since 1791. Abolitionist newspapers took on slavery, su ragist papers focused on injustices against women and news organizations spanning centuries have reported on scandals, corruption and racial injustice.

We live in a highly polarized time, when it’s easy to dismiss the views of those with whom we disagree and deride those who publish the facts we don’t want to acknowledge.

We have to take care, though, that our internal political wars don’t turn us away from the core principles contained in the Declaration of Independence.

We remain a free people and need to be vigilant in protecting our rights and documenting the abuses in people in power, not just when the other guy’s party is in o ce. at’s the real spirit of ’76.

Ken Paulson is the director of the Free Speech Center, a non-partisan and nonpro t center based at Middle Tennessee State University. www.freespeech.center

YOUR LETTERS

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barista who goes by they/them pronouns. Some of those people think their labor is more valuable than it actually is. Obviously, Starbucks senior management understands this. Ungrateful humans who make themselves too expensive and too much of a hassle to employ, will be replaced by robots and kiosks.

PG1VERDMIB/NOSB5.22 Richard Ballantyne

The person who xes that greasetrap (in the unlikely event Starbux ever reopens there) will be a well-trained, well-paid plumber...who belongs to a union. Reeves Hughes

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