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Success Story
Purple Cat Offers Hope, EncouragementJim Sutman thrives on seeing clients acquire skills, succeed outside sheltered workshops.Roots and symbols are important to Jim Sutman. So much so, they inspired the locations and names of his businesses -- operations he uses to create roots for his disabled clients and their families.Though he owns a business with two branches as well as a not-for-profit organization, Sutman's original plans for his life hadn't included this success. Attending Grove City College in Pennsylvania, Sutman earned a degree in communications and landed a night-time broadcasting job in Youngs-town. Looking for extra income, he found daytime employment in the sheltered workshops at Leonard Kirtz School in Austintown. "I taught everything from home economics to vocational skills, everything from changing the linens on your bed to making Jell-O to arts and education," he relates. "I just fell in love with it. It's way more important to me than communications." His business, Iron and String Life Enhancement, grew out of that love. ISLE, the operator of nine group homes and 107 employees, has grown to include two branches as well. ISLE provides residential and respite services for mentally disabled children, adults and their families.In photo, clients of the Purple Cat participate in art activities and sell the ceramic pieces they make. Instructor Abby Hassay works with Donald Bish while Rosie Rogers (on Bish's left), Stacy Woods and Shelly Precurato deal with their projects.Sutman developed the first branch of ISLE, the downtown Youngstown Purple Cat, for two reasons. He saw those in need ended up on waiting lists to get into sheltered workshops while others found, for various reasons, they weren't making it in the workshops. Such workshops provide disabled adults the chance to earn a paycheck as they learn skills that lead to employment outside the shops. Day programs for mentally or physically disabled adults are offered at the Purple Cat, giving them a place to go after they graduate from high school. In 2002, Sutman opened the Purple Cat in an extra room at one of ISLE's group homes. He established the Youngstown location a year later and opened another storefront in Struthers last month."Mahoning County Board of Mental Retardation is an excellent organization," Sutman says. "However, their need has just been growing so much they have waiting lists for their sheltered workshops."Basically, here at the Purple Cat, we're taking people who were on waiting lists or fell though the cracks," he continues. "Those are the stories that will break your heart, but at the same time we can make this work. You can't accept No." Getting to know disabled individuals personally is what motivates him, he says. "What I do is very personal," Sutman shares. "I'm in your home. If your son needs help with bathing, I'm in your bathroom. I know about your families."The families he's met, and the friendships he's made, make the job worthwhile, he adds. An autistic client who's been struggling to show any emotion in his life, touching Sutman's hand as he sits on the couch, is a perfect example. "When I go to bed every night, I go happy," he says. "Even though there was a big problem with a client and the bus broke down, all I think about is that little guy touching my hand on the couch." Sutman works eight to 20 hours of direct care with disabled individuals each week.Clients of the Purple Cat work on life and vocational skills. They focus on creative arts, each client making ceramic pieces to sell. "I really felt that our disabled population is kind of the lost population as far as the arts," Sutman says. "But we found that some of these people have been neglected. No one's taken the time to sit down with them, explore their interests, see what they like to do. We have some artists in our program who have tremendous potential." Many who attend the Purple Cat are paid hourly wages for their work, such as answering phones or being janitors. "Everybody gets some sort of paycheck," Sutman says.Typing and word-processing earn Terrance Ellis his paycheck, which is fine with him. Using the computer is what he enjoys most at the Purple Cat.An aspiring writer, Ellis hones his skills by typing the text of a book. He uses the computer to shop as well. Teachers at the Purple Cat work on daily and community living skills, the arts, and general and vocational education with clients. "When I look at a resume," Sutman says, "any resume you give me, things pop out. I'm looking for people who are passionate about what they do." For example, he interviewed people with master's degrees as well as those with high school diplomas as instructors for the Struthers facility. "We interviewed people who were hairdressers, and people who were good with computers," he says. "If you're a hairdresser, I can show you five disabled girls who would love to get their nails done, or learn how to do other people's nails, or help with their hair.""I cook with the clients, basically," explains Coni Mitchell, who teaches home economics. "We've done things from making cookies to chocolate-covered pretzels, salads, breakfast foods, anything that will help them do [things] at home." They also practice life skills such as setting the table and pouring cereal into a bowl and adding milk, she notes."I've never worked in this field before," Mitchell says. "I've been an at-home mom for the last couple of years and this is so similar to that. And I love it." The programs the Purple Cat offers are fueled by the families. "It's a different generation of parent now who's raising a disabled child," Sutman says. "We're coming off a generation where families were grateful for anything." Today, he says, parents expect, and deserve, choices. "We're getting parents who say, 'I want my child to learn specific things,' or 'My child has always wanted to work at Sparkle Market. How do we get there?' And that's where we come in." The small number of clients at the Purple Cat allows staff to provide the attention required in individualized programming, he says. Transportation is also provided.Sutman, born on the south side of Youngstown, moved to Poland with his family while he was young. He remembers his grandparents taking him shopping in downtown Youngstown. Seeing the crumbling state of the downtown prompted him to open a business there. ISLE,on Phelps Street, came first, in 1998. Then, seeing a need, he started the Purple Cat on South Champion Street.Wanting to name his latest venture after something downtown, Sutman thought of St. Columba Cathedral. In that cathedral, he explains, is a stained glass panel with a big purple cat. Legend, he says, holds that St. Columba was a kind man who always had a Russian blue cat. The combination of gray fur and pink skin gives these cats a purple hue.The Purple Cat, which employs 11, is funded through grants. "We have very little private pay," Sutman notes. There's not "a huge profit margin," he says, "but we've been able to expand."Sutman also operates Golden String Inc., a nonprofit business that offers summer camp for disabled children and community arts training classes and activities."