Based in Holyoke, Massachusetts, the New England Adolescent Research Institute (NEARI) provides cutting-edge care for emotionally disturbed adolescents and educational resources for their families, teachers, and other professionals. In 2003 NEARI’s total revenue was over $2.5 million -- about 90% of which was derived from NEARI’s Special Education Program services.

“What makes NEARI unique is the students that we are able to work with,” says NEARI Executive Director Steve Bengis. “Our kids exhibit high levels of acting out and we have to both manage their behaviors and educate them. We use the latest techniques drawn from cutting-edge brain-based research. Our kids come to school with complex learning disabilities. They’ve acted out and have often received a range of mental health diagnoses. We provide a strong therapeutic environment, and we deal with the whole kid.”

As in most states, Massachusetts has laws requiring that local public school districts offer Federally-mandated special educational services (Chap 766) to students with disabilities. The public schools often contract with private providers like NEARI, and rates for services charged to the schools are set by the state.

NEARI programs currently include a Special Education Day School for Holyoke-Springfield and surrounding area students ages 9 to 22; Jump Start, an afterschool prevention program for highly at-risk adolescents; ; the NEARI Press, which publishes state-of-the-art materials on educating and treating high-risk children and youth; and a training and consulting center for parents and professionals, that focuses on linking the best of research with practical strategies for working with at-risk populations.

Natural Born Entrepreneur
Steve points out that Special Education is a business venture like any other, and NEARI is in competition with other similar schools for enrollment referrals. He describes himself as someone who loves to start new ventures, so it’s no surprise that NEARI relies on social enterprises to subsidize their non-revenue-generating programs.

“We don’t have rich friends and our kids are from the inner city, so we have no parent base for an endowment,” Steve says.“Rather than fundraising, I find it easier to start new businesses. Our strategic plan has been to surround our core services with revenue-generating businesses. NEARI Press presently nets $35,000 in profit every year -- we’d have to have a $700,000 endowment to net that much yearly interest revenue!

NEARI Press
The NEARI Press was the first business venture that Steve and Penelope developed to support NEARI’s educational activities. No staff positions are involved in NEARI Press, which sells a list of 17 publications through a catalog and on the NEARI website. Steve partnered with an author/publisher colleague who transferred several of his titles to NEARI Press before it launched, so he started with a revenue stream from the backlist on day one. All printing, distribution, and customer service is outsourced, to a printing/fulfillment company.

Steve used the NEARI Training Center mailing list to send out catalogs twice a year and now that is his main source of sales. In addition to its backlist, NEARI will be publishing a state-of-the art textbook on treating sexually abusive children and adolescents, later this year.

“We’re a niche press for professionals working in a field where NEARI has already developed a strong reputation,” Steve notes. “Other publishing entrepreneurs should look at where are they are already known, then build on the reputation they have established.”

A Jump Start for After School Programs
When local inner-city kids were hanging out after school on the stoop of the NEARI Day School, desperate for activities, Penny Cuninggim pushed to develop an after-school program and Steve Bengis looked to one of NEARI’s social enterprises to help fund the launch of the new early-intervention program for at-risk youth.

“We took revenues from the NEARI Press and used a staff person to raise additional funds” Steve says.” I prefer to use profits for growing innovative programs, not just for working capital.” Today Jump-Start provides these inner-city kids with mentoring, educational support, skill development, and structured recreational opportunities.

Not all of NEARI’s ventures have been successful, Steve recalls. “We tried to launch a residential program to help sexually abusing kids, but the community rose up against it. We had to close it down and came very close to declaring bankruptcy.” NEARI filed a federal fair housing discrimination lawsuit and after five years of legal action the defendants settled before the trial closed.

“A key lesson for me has been understanding how to roll out new ventures so they don’t bury me. I anticipate the downside a lot better now,” says Steve. “Once you fail it’s sobering. Now I truly weigh the downside possibilities and walk through all the ‘what ifs’. It keeps me from biting my nails at night. But it often means I can’t roll out new programs as dramatically as I may have wanted. I grow them more incrementally, sometimes adding new responsibilities to the job descriptions of our present staff”

New Online Training Venture
In addition to their current training and publishing programs, NEARI is now developing a business plan for online training courses for people managing and treating sexually abusive children, adolescents and adults. Working with a business-savvy colleague who donated her expertise, Steve recently prepared a business plan for this new venture.

“A written business plan is not my usual way to start a business,” says Steve. “I have never done market analyses. But that’s not always the best approach, and it’s been fascinating to plan in a more formal way. We recently did an internet marketing survey for this venture and got over 1,000 responses, and 90% of them supported the concept.”

Working Principles
Steve has a few principles that he works by: “First, just believe you can do it. We have a lot of ability and talent in the nonprofit sector, and social entrepreneurs often get stopped by their Board or donors, just because they want to start a for-profit venture. I find it ludicrous.

“Another principle is how to position your venture. Understand that you’re in competition with business people who spend their entire lives doing what you’re doing part time. Your story won’t carry you—it’s your product and its benefits, price-wise and product-wise. Your story can become a compelling asset for a customer, but only if the product or service is as good as one they can get elsewhere.

“Lastly, it ain’t worth a damn if you don’t execute. You’ve got to do it!”

What about balancing home and work life when you work with your life partner of 25 years? “Marriage is also an entrepreneurial venture. It isn’t easy and we don’t always do it well, but much of the creative work derives from our differing strengths. Penny is brilliant and I could never have built NEARI without her, but that’s another story!” says Steve.