Benefits for the Community
According to an independent Community Impact Assessment performed by Las Vegas-based Applied Analysis, Opportunity Village reduces the demand for Public Health and Human Services. The majority of programs offered by Opportunity Village to people with severe intellectual disabilities are funded by the work-related activities of those individuals and by the charitable donations of local individuals and organizations. The report states that, in the absence of Opportunity Village, state and local governments would be required to provide similar services that would increase public cost by more than $22 million annually.
The Community Impact Assessment also states that Opportunity Village reduces the demand for other state and local services. State and local governments would have increased costs for homelessness, poverty, health care and criminal justice in the absence of Opportunity Village. While it is difficult to measure with any level of precision, the report anticipates these costs to be tens of millions annually.
To see the full Community Impact Assessment, click here.
Benefits to Tax Payers
Nevada taxpayers also realize important benefits!
Opportunity Village’s Vocational Training and Employment Program is not another welfare program for individuals with disabilities. It does, however, give them an opportunity to work. Opportunity Village must still ship on time at prices negotiated with the contracting businesses. We must meet the quality requirements and if we do not, the business can simply find another source to fill the need.
Employment generated through Opportunity Village business contracts helps to reduce dependence on government benefits and increases tax revenues.
Opportunity Village pays wages that permit people with severe disabilities to reduce their need for other Government benefits. Work at Opportunity Village’s three work centers is often the first, and sometimes the only, employment option available to people with severe disabilities. Earning wages allows them to become productive members of society and to join the ranks of the taxpayers of Nevada.
