Take a look. Beloved Tri-Cities nonprofit Columbia Industries is changing its name

Mar. 13—A Kennewick nonprofit with a 60-year history of serving people with disabilities has embraced a new name that puts its mission at the forefront.

Columbia Ability Alliance is the new operating name for Columbia Industries Inc., a beloved Tri-Cities organization founded as United Cerebral Palsy of Benton and Franklin Counties in 1963 and later renamed Columbia Industries in 1981.

It will retain Columbia Industries as its legal name. However, starting today it will be known as Columbia Ability Alliance on all fronts.

The move puts its mission to serve people with barriers to employment on its signs, its letterhead, its marketing materials and all future swag, said Michael Novakovich, who signed on as president and CEO in 2022.

Name didn't resonate

Novakovich along with senior staff and even board members shared a concern that the old name was too cold and institutional to convey the warmth that drives the organization to improve the lives of people with intellectual, physical and social disabilities through a variety of programs.

Last year, they decided to consider an overhaul that would better signal its mission.

They spent more than a year researching with a branding team, Focal Point Marketing and Sonar Insights, to suss out how the organization is viewed locally. More than 600 supporters and ordinary citizens weighed in.

The result: Tri-Citians have positive views about the work, but the name "Columbia Industries" didn't give an indication of what it actually does.

With the new name, Columbia Ability Alliance honors the unique abilities of the organization's clients in its name.. The new logo suggests a friendship circle.

Mission focus

Since its founding more than 60 years ago, Columbia Ability Alliance has evolved to serve an expanding circle of clients.

Its initial focus was to serve people with intellectual disabilities and grew to include people who face barriers to employment because of a history of drug addition, domestic violence or even incarceration.

It carries out its mission through a series of programs.

It employs about 16 people on a janitorial crew at the Richland federal building and trains students to work in commercial kitchens through its 12-week Opportunity Kitchen program. Empowerment Place connects clients of all stripes with job help, housing searches, childcare, transportation, recovery treatment and a variety of other services.

Its community center offers clients with disabilities a safe place to build social connections and integrate into the community.

Columbia Ability Alliance is notable too for its unusual approach to supporting its work.

It owns several for-profit businesses, including four local Round Table Pizza restaurants and Paradise Bottling using profits to support its $2.7 million budget.

Go to columbiaabilityalliance.com

___

(c)2024 Tri-City Herald (Kennewick, Wash.)

Visit Tri-City Herald (Kennewick, Wash.) at www.tri-cityherald.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.