The Arc's Avista Enclave

The Arc's Avista Utilities enclave started in February of 1989 with one employee. Theresa started working in the warehouse sorting connectors and bagging up small pieces of material to make inventory more manageable. After proving her abilities in the warehouse she received opportunities in other departments such as: cash processing, accounts payable, marketing, forestry, shredding confidential papers and copying vouchers for different departments.

In August of 1990 Don, a second employee, was hired to pick up paper to recycle at designated locations on the Avista campus. The paper recycling route opened up many jobs for people with developmental disabilities in the Investment Recovery building. The model for Investment Recovery came from Hudson Electric Company in New York. Hudson had realized the value of recycling the material returned from jobs that had previously been hauled to the dump. Very few companies in the nation are doing this type of program. To our knowledge, the Investment Recovery Enclave is the only opportunity of this kind for people with developmental disabilities in Washington or in the nation. 

In March of 1992 Investment Recovery opened. The company's recycling efforts were expanded. The operation was set up to process material returns and facilitate disposition of salvaged material. Reusable material is refurbished and funneled back into the general inventory, providing credits to the various construction jobs. Unusable material is torn down and recycled.