Spectrum Society for Community Living was started in 1987 by a small group of volunteers, parents and friends of people with disabilities.  
 
Our first three projects assisted twelve people to move out of Woodlands institution, where some had lived for forty years or more, into homes in Vancouver.  We faced many obstacles, including frequent complaints from neighbours, a lack of health care supports, and lack of appropriately trained staff.
 
Despite the hectic pace, long hours and endless sources of frustration, we gradually pulled together a strong team of people who shared our vision.  When our funders and colleagues from other organizations advised us to rent a big room for our day program, or to send people back to the institution because they weren't "ready" to be in the community, we persisted.  
 
Our early years were focused on meeting the needs of people who had been excluded from the community most of their lives.  As they started to settle into new routines, we found the time to write our first Policy and Procedures Manual, addressing some of the needs and concerns of our growing staff team.
 
Spectrum had always paid medical coverage for its employees, but in 1990 we added an extended benefits package.  Since we now had staff who had been with us more than a year, it seemed only fair to recognize their commitment with a pay increase, and so we established our first pay scales.  We formalized policies on sick time, vacation time, and other issues identified by our staff as priorities.  Our practise has always been to work closely with our staff and managers to develop guidelines that make sense to them.
 
In the spring of 1994, we embarked on our first "Strategic Planning" process, to review our first five years and decide on Spectrum’s direction for the next five years.  We surveyed our staff, the people we supported, their families, social workers, professionals, and colleagues from other organizations, asking for their input to help inform our planning.  The quality and quantity of feedback was tremendous.  Without exception, everyone who responded made reference to Spectrum's "innovative approach", our "dedicated staff", our "respect for individual rights", our "spirit of teamwork". 
 
One of the suggestions that came out of this survey was to establish a forum for staff to give more formal input to Spectrum's policies.  In response to this, we created the "Policy Committee", inviting each program to elect a representative to assist in reviewing and revising our policies and procedures.
 
The Policy Committee has been meeting regularly ever since.  All policy decisions, from wages and benefits to health and safety, are made by this committee and approved by Spectrum's Board of Directors.  We know of no other organization where employees have the degree of input to policy development that they do at Spectrum.
 
THIS IS YOUR COMMITTEE!  Get to know your representative.  If you have any questions or concerns about any of Spectrum's policies and procedures, speak to your representative and he or she will bring your comments to the committee for discussion.  If your team doesn't have a representative, you may volunteer to take this on.  Policy representatives are paid for their attendance at committee meetings, which typically take place from 4-7 pm, three or four times per year. 
     

- Susan Kurliak, on behalf of the Co-Directors - November 1994 (updated 2005)