WILMINGTON — United Cerebral Palsy of Delaware, a nonprofit that has served Delawareans with movement disorders for nearly 70 years, is in the process of closing, a representative said Thursday.
Acting Executive Director Jeremy Moore said the nonprofit has struggled with raising enough money to cover rising labor costs in addition to difficulty filling pandemic-related staff departures.
“It’s devastating,” Mr. Moore said. “It was a really hard decision to come to, one that was super painful.”
The organization, which initially served solely those with cerebral palsy but later expanded to helping all people with disabilities, is finalizing arrangements for nearly all of its programs — including accessible housing for people with disabilities and one of its summer camps for young people with orthopedic disabilities — to continue operating under other nonprofits, Mr. Moore said. The group has not yet found a solution to keep Camp Lenape in Felton running but intends to find a way to do so, he said.
“We saw the writing on the wall, and we wanted to do it the right way,” Mr. Moore said.
The pandemic dealt a heavy blow to the nonprofit, he said. A number of staff members, who typically work with clients person-to-person, left the organization as COVID-19 began to spread. The staffing gaps were hard to fill.
The pandemic also halted most fundraising activities. That, combined with expensive contract costs and a minimum-wage hike earlier this year, made it difficult for the group to stay afloat financially, Mr. Moore said.
The nonprofit’s leaders tried to find a way to keep the organization running, Mr. Moore said. But after months of deliberation, the decision was made to dissolve in August. The organization has three years to wind down its operations after recently filing dissolution paperwork with the state. In the meantime, Mr. Moore said, the nonprofit is taking steps to ensure that any disruption is minimized for those who count on the group.
“We just want to make sure that our programs have homes and that we make sure that there’s the least amount of lapse in services possible,” he said.