Operating a member-employing therapeutic business as part of an alternative mental health center

The promises of deinstitutionalization have not been kept for unemployed chronically mentally ill people. This article describes an innovative community support program--a nonprofit therapeutic member-run business. Rainbow Services provides opportunities for adults with chronic mental health problems to learn marketable job skills and necessary social skills through participation in various work settings. On-site job training, vocational education, socialization, and job counseling are offered. Thirteen years of business success demonstrate that chronically mentally ill people can function productively in the community. The features of the business are related to beliefs and values familiar to early settlement house workers and social activists and support social work's claim to leadership in working with this population.