St. Cloud Area’s Opportunity Manor, Inc. (OMI) was established in 1980 by its parent company, Opportunity Training Center (OTC), to meet St. Cloud’s emerging housing needs for people with disabilities. During its first 13 years in business, Opportunity Manor provided these services to 24 people served at two 12-bed Intermediate Care Facilities in the St. Cloud Area.
A shift toward smaller residential settings, introduced by the government in 1994, provided the necessary incentive for Opportunity Manor to expand its programs by adding four 4-bed facilities in Stearns and Benton County during 1994 -1995.
After OTC was seized for audit issues in 1994, Opportunity Manor staff and Board worked hard to turn the organization around in a positive manner. By 2004, OMI was back on solid ground, operating 13 facilities across the greater St. Cloud Area. Opportunity Manor completed a final building phase when it reconfigured the funding for its two 12-bed facilities and opened up four additional 4-bed sites. The organization is now operating at their preferred capacity, serving 70 individuals at 17 sites.
Opportunity Manor, Inc. could now afford to be more proactive in its residential growth management, and scope of services, so it decided to expand by offering day programming to its existing residential clients and clients from the larger community. In 2005, a new 7,500 square foot facility opened in Sartell to house Opportunity Manor’s administrative offices and Pathway to Opportunities. At Pathways, highly personalized programming allows clients to learn essential life skills and experience community in a safe, learning environment. Families of people with disabilities access helpful support services allowing them to better care for, and interact with their loved one.
Opportunity Manor, Inc. decided to reach out to a growing community of seniors experiencing physical and mental changes due to dementia-related diseases. One of Opportunity Manor's greatest resources is its staff; a staff well suited to assist seniors with changing physical capabilities often associated with dementia. The staff is also highly effective at designing personalized programming and assessing client abilities. OMI determined that it could best serve this population and region by offering a day program for seniors with mild to moderate memory loss. The program, named Golden Opportunities, opened for business in July, 2006. Further progress took place in the fall of 2006. OMI opened Christensen House, a four-bed waiver home in St. Joseph, MN in October 2006 which was named after the late CEO, Jim Christensen.
Because of Opportunity Manor’s recognizable work within the St. Cloud and surrounding area, OMI was honored when the Multiple Sclerosis Society asked OMI to partner with them to provide support and services to individuals in Central Minnesota with Multiple Sclerosis. And in the fall of November 2010 OMI opened their new MS Center.