Human Services Agency Closing Programs, Putting 65 People Out of Work

by Mara Lee Categorized: Uncategorized Date: July 23, 2013

REM Connecticut, which offers day programs and vocational training for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, will close its Rocky Hill and Wallingford offices in September.

In a letter last week to the state Department of Labor, the regional director for the agency wrote:

“As you may know, for more than 15 years, REM Connecticut has been providing home-and community-based services to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families throughout the state. The past several years have been challenging for many providers, including REM Connecticut, as the state has wrestled with significant budget pressures. The impact on our day and vocational programs has been particularly challenging, as reimbursement levels for transportation services have decreased as the mix and complexity of the individuals we serve has evolved.

“Several other providers have recently announced plans to discontinue vocational services in the region. We view the closure of a program as a last resort, and have engaged in numerous discussions with the Department of Developmental Services to arrive at a solution. Unfortunately, the funding landscape has not improved, and despite efforts by both REM and the Department, it has become clear that the state is not in a position to make the changes required for REM to continue offering day and vocational services.”

The agency, which is part of a for-profit company called The Mentor Network, will continue to provide residential options to disabled adults, but the closure of these two offices will put 65 people out of work, primarily direct care workers who make about $13 an hour.

“It’s a significant problem. We haven’t seen the end of it,” said Deborah Chernoff, spokeswoman for the Service Employees International Union local that represents those workers. “This is another symptom of the continued stress on the private non-profit area providing services to people with mental, intellectual or developmental disabilities.”

She said inflation has gone up 7.3 percent over the last five years, at the same time that reimbursements have been held completely flat.

Chernoff said most of these clients are receiving services for their entire lives, and the low pay means staff continuity is disrupted.

She said many of the direct care workers are working double shifts or working lots of weekend shifts to try to make ends meet. “It’s not good for the people they’re taking care of if they’re coming fatigued to the job,” she said.

Brie A. Johnston

Betty Gallo & Co.

227 Lawrence Street

Hartford, CT 06106

email: brie@bettygallo.com

phone: 860.247.4322

cell: 860.817.7551

fax: 860.247.4320

www.bettygallo.com

Fwd: Fw: AN EVENING WITH TOM SULLIVAN

 

Sent: Friday, July 12, 2013 10:19 AM
Subject: FW: AN EVENING WITH TOM SULLIVAN

Tom Sullivan, noted author of the autobiography “If You Could See What I Hear”, actor, musician and motivational speaker will be speaking at CCSU on Wednesday, July 24th at 6:30 p.m. at Torp Hall. The event is sponsored by the Lions Club of New Britain and it is free. For tickets, please contact Tina Rafala,  Zone Chair, Lions District 23B at her email of t.rafala314@comcast.net or by phone at 860-756-6220. A summary of the event is attached.

Participants Needed - Youth Study

Please share...

From: NAMI Connecticut <saraf@namict.org>
Date: May 29, 2013, 3:54:04 PM EDT
To: ferrycathy@yahoo.com
Subject: Participants Needed - Youth Study
Reply-To: ashleigh.eubanks@gmail.com

Dear Keep the Promise Coalition and NAMI Connecticut Members,

The below information is being forwarded to you at the request of the Reaching Home Campaign's Runaway and Homeless Youth Workgroup.  Interested participants should connect with the contact listed below ASAP (no later then the end of this week):

(If you have trouble viewing the image below, please CLICK HERE)

To UNSUBSCRIBE, Please CLICK HERE

Fwd: Social Skills and Friends...Nice Combination

 

 

From: The Light House <kgreene@lvecenter.com>
Date: May 23, 2013, 4:30:22 PM EDT
To: ferrycathy@yahoo.com
Subject: Social Skills and Friends...Nice Combination
Reply-To: kgreene@lvecenter.com

Forward this email This email was sent to ferrycathy@yahoo.com by kgreene@lvecenter.com |   Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy. The Light House | P.O. Box 271 | 744 Long Hill Road, Groton CT 06340 | Old Mystic | CT | 06372

Panel studys cost factors for education--focus on special education

Hi Everybody,

There is an Education Cost Sharing Task Force to study how education, including special education, is funded.  Here is a link to the task force website: www.cga.ct.gov/ed/CostSharing/taskforce.asp

The Connecticut Mirror, (http://www.ctmirror.org/), an online news source, has an excellent article about this task force.  The panel is looking at the cost of special education and the article below (also attached as a WORD document) does a very good job explaining it.

I am also attaching a 1 page PDF with the members of the task force and a 4 page PDF file, Education Cost Sharing Task Force Special Education Report.  This is a DRAFT and has not been adopted by the task force.  It includes 9 recommendations, including a change in the burden of proof.  It is a draft and has not been formally adopted.

Beth

Beth A. Leslie

Legislative and Regulations Specialist

Office of Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities

60-B Weston Street

Hartford, CT 06120

Beth.Leslie@ct.gov

Office 860-297-4369

Cell 860-371-7614

Toll free voice/TTY 1-800-842-7303

Fax 860-566-8714

www.CT.gov/opapd

Published on The Connecticut Mirror (http://ctmirror.org)

Home > Panel looks to tackle skyrocketing special education costs

Panel looks to tackle skyrocketing special education costs

Jacqueline Rabe Thomas

September 17, 2012

A state panel is considering recommending wealthy school districts and high-income parents with special needs children pay more to cover the skyrocketing price of special education.

One in eight Connecticut students -- more than 60,000 -- receives special education services, and nearly $1 of every $4 spent on education goes to special education. In the past decade, while general education costs increased 40 percent, spending for special education increased by 65 percent, nearly a $700 million jump.

The panel -- the Education Cost-Sharing Task Force -- which includes the governor's budget director and the co-chairwomen of the legislature's Education and Appropriations committees, will likely recommend who should pay for special education as it's now structured.

Panel members at a meeting last week, however, hesitated to support changes that many local school leaders say would cut their special education costs; the members leaned, instead, toward studying those changes.

"I'm afraid special education costs are growing at the expense of regular education," Ben Barnes, the governor's budget director, said at last week's task force meeting. "If we do not figure out a way to control special education costs then anything we do for [overall education funding] is irrelevant."

Meriden Superintendent Mark Benigni, a member of the task force, said every year he has to consider cutting music programs, advanced placement courses and other elective classes so he can afford to pay for mandated special education services.

The situation is "alarming," he said.

In an interview after the meeting, Nancy Prescott, executive director of the Connecticut Parent Advocacy Center, said it's disappointing that decisions may be made on costs, not on the actual need of special education students.

"It shouldn't be based on numbers," said Prescott, whose center helps about 5,000 parents of children with special education needs receive services each year.

Who should foot the bill?

The cost of educating an average student in Connecticut is about $14,400.Thousands of special education students cost their districts well over $50,000 a year each. This can pay for services that include one-on-one tutoring, special learning equipment or tuition for an out-of-district program. (About 300 students cost more than $150,000 each year.)

Currently the state picks up the bill when the cost to provide special services for a student exceeds 4.5 times the district's average cost to educate a student. However, in seven of the last 10 years, the state did not pay its full share, which left districts paying even more of the cost.

The State Department of Education's budget director has reported that it would cost the state an additional $101 million to fully pay its share of special education costs for the 2013-14 school year, a challenging price tag that for a state struggling to keep its budget balanced.

In addition to the panel's preliminary recommendations to require that wealthy districts and parents pay more of special education costs, it also calls for low-income districts -- which typically have higher concentrations of students with special education needs -- pay a smaller share of the costs.

"Just put it on a sliding scale, where the wealthy districts pay 80 percent of the costs... Why don't we ask parents who can afford it to contribute," suggested Ted Sergi, a task force member and former state education commissioner. "And by the way, it will reduce costs for the state."

While committee members were receptive to the idea of different state reimbursements for districts, they noted they don't want to create any incentives for districts to identify for more or less students based on how much money they will, or will not, get.

Some panel members questioned whether federal and state special education laws would allow parents to chip in, noting that those laws require that special education students receive a "free appropriate education."

Prescott, of the parent advocacy center, said she has a serious problem with charging parents, no matter their income, for education.

"Free means free. Unless federal law is changed, I don't see any place for a parent to be paying for an appropriate education," she said. "It's amazing it's being considered."

What's driving the cost?

Connecticut is one of six states that requires a school district to prove that a special education student is receiving an appropriate education. In 44 states, the burden of proof lies on the parents to prove the education is not sufficient.

Many local school officials have complained for years about the costs of fighting a parent's complaint because the district must pay the legal fees regardless of the outcome. The State Department of Education reports that each year only about 200 cases are challenged and brought before an independent hearing officer.

Many districts point to the burden of proof issue as the single most expensive cost of providing special education. A preliminary task force recommendation would keep this state regulation -- but calls for the state to pay for an independent study to look at requiring the parent and the district to share the burden.

In a recent education department survey, 68 percent of districts say shifting the burden in the cases that came before the hearing officer would save them an average of $74,000 a year. But if parents had to pay to prove that their child's education services were not adequate, nearly half the districts said they would have made a different, and possibly less costly, decision, when negotiating which special services to provide.

Job search websites that are accessible to screen readers

Dear DORS- BESB staff and community partners,

 

Immediately below is a link to a new feature that has been added to our website. Rehabilitation Teacher Jolene Nemeth has conducted research on many of the job search websites available on the internet to determine which websites are the most user friendly to screen readers. Her results are compiled in a listing that includes links to each of the job search engines. The link below can also be found in the Vocational Rehabilitation Section of the DORS- BESB website at www.ct.gov/dors  or  www.ct.gov/besb.    

 

 

Accessible Job Search Websites

ADAPT Activists Sentenced for Protesting Medicaid Cuts in the Ryan Budget

Alliance of Disability Advocates Center for Independent Living www.alliancecil.org ADA-CIL Information Network Distributed: Wednesday, May 23, 2012 Subject: Arrest made … ADAPT Activists Sentenced for Protesting Medicaid Cuts in the Ryan Budget Washington, D.C. — Fourteen of the 74 ADAPT activists arrested in April for protesting Chair of the House Budget Committee Representative Ryan's proposal to cut Medicaid funding by $800 billion were sentenced in Superior Court of the District of Columbia. After demanding that all arrestees appear in court in person, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia made a last minute reversal. Sixty were excused from appearing in person, however, the US Attorney's Office still required 14 of the protesters (from as far away as Kansas, Minnesota and Texas) to appear in court. The 14 pled guilty and were sentenced to a suspended 10 days in a DC jail, and put on six months’ probation. In addition the court required they pay $50 toward a crime victim's fund. During the six months, they can't be arrested and must stay off the Capitol grounds. During the court proceedings, Mike Oxford, an ADAPT organizer from Kansas, made a statement on behalf of the group. "People felt they had no option but to protest because the proposed Medicaid cuts are so extreme, he said. “If enacted, these cuts will leave people with disabilities without services that help them with the most basic aspects of living: getting out of bed, getting dressed, eating and going to the bathroom. For some with significant health problems, it will mean no health care. These cuts threaten our very lives." Commenting on her sentence, Jennifer McPhail, an ADAPT organizer from Texas, said, "No one is paying attention to the damage these Medicaid cuts will do to our lives and our nation's safety net. ADAPT and others in the disability rights community have repeatedly offered cost saving proposals that would save tax dollars while improving the system, but our suggestions have, for the most part, been ignored. Instead, they just decide to arbitrarily slash Medicaid. We can't just sit quietly when our own government is painting targets on us." The remaining 60 activists, including Noah Wyle, while not required at the last minute to attend court yesterday, did sign onto an agreement with similar requirements to the 14 who appeared in person. In addition to the agreement signed by the protesters, the U.S. Attorney's Office asked the judge to issue an additional court order barring them from going on Capitol grounds. The judge granted the request which potentially allows the U.S. Attorney's office to add additional charges if any of those protesters are found on the Capitol grounds. Many people in the disability rights community were stunned when the protesters were required to return to court. "At first, the US Attorney's office wasn't going to waive the personal appearance for any of the protesters, but because of the public outcry, they changed their mind at 6 PM on Friday. Had that not happened, all 74 would have been forced to return to D.C. from all over the country," ADAPT organizer Bruce Darling explained. Despite the appearance reversal, activists still incurred significant expenses because tickets, accommodations, and attendant services had been arranged at a high and sometimes non-refundable cost. ADAPT vows to continue the My Medicaid Matters Campaign and the fight for community services. # # # Alliance of Disability Advocates Center for Independent Living promotes the advancement of “People First Language.” Alliance of Disability Advocates Center for Independent Living PO Box 12988 Raleigh, NC 27605-2988 919.833.1117 V/TTY 919.833.1171 FAX alliance@alliancecil.org www.alliancecil.org

NCIL Statement on Fragrance-Free Events

NCIL Statement on Fragrance-Free Events The National Council on Independent Living has developed the following statement on the importance of attending events fragrance-free in order to ensure accessibility for all attendees, specifically at the 2012 Annual Conference on Independent Living. Fragrance can be an access barrier! To help make this conference accessible to participants for whom chemicals or fragrances are an access barrier, NCIL requests that you come fragrance-free. Please refrain from wearing any scented products or washing with them. This includes clothing that has been laundered with fragranced detergent or fabric softening products. Additionally, please completely air out any dry-cleaned clothing before wearing it to the conference. Read more information about how and why to be fragrance free. Smoke can be an access barrier! It is also essential that we maintain a smoke-free environment. If you smoke, please use the designated smoking area located outside the conference center. Please refrain from smoking near any other doorways or paths of travel. The hotel entrance at 11st Street will be the least polluted with cigarette smoke and vehicle exhaust. Unfortunately, it has steps. The Washington Center office building is attached to the Grand Hyatt and offers an accessible entrance to the hotel with minimal exposure to smoke and vehicle exhaust at the corner of 11th & G Streets NW. Cell phones can be an access barrier! Please turn off cell phones at all conference events and when requested.

CCCI Asks That You Help to Spread the Word

 

Hi Everyone!

 

As you know, Connecticut Community Care, Inc. will be hosting “Young@Heart Chorus” at the Bushnell-Belding Theater on Saturday, June 16, 2012. This concert will benefit CCCI’s Independent Living Fund. Would you help us spread the word via Facebook if you have an account?

 

If you have an account, we’d very much appreciate it if you would share the “Young@Heart” event from the Connecticut Community Care, Inc.’s Facebook page on your Facebook wall. It’s easy to do.

1. Go to the Connecticut Community Care, Inc. Facebook page. If you have not yet “liked” us, please do.
2. Go to the Events tab (below the “community” cover photo and to the right)
3. Click on the picture of “Young@Heart”
4. At the “Young@Heart” Events page, click “share” at the right of the screen
5. This brings up another box to select who and how you would like to share it. Leave it on “On Your Own Timeline”
6. You can then “write something” in the box, i.e. “Don’t miss out on this fun evening to benefit CCCI’s Independent Living Fund.”
7. Click Share Event

 

Also, if you are attending the concert, please click “join” on the events page. I have a feeling that there are a good number of us in the CCCI family who are attending.

 

Thanks again for you support. It’s great to see so many supporting this event through sponsorships and spreading the word in different ways.

 

If you need any assistance, please feel free to contact me directly.

 

 

All my best,

-Ursula.

 

 

Debra L. Farslow

Executive Assistant

Corporate Office

43 Enterprise Dr., Bristol, CT 06010

(860) 314-2235

CAHS Webinar - Bank on Connecticut

 

CAHS Webinar - Bank on Connecticut

BANK ON Connecticut - Join us for a Webinar on June 7

 

Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/320633274

 

• Bank On Connecticut is a recently launched program created to offer unbanked or underbanked individuals a way of learning about banking and opening safe starter checking or savings accounts.
• Goal of the Webinar: We want to be a resource for you and your clients. Learn about how to get your clients engaged in Bank On Connecticut and see if you may be interested in becoming a future partner.
• What is Bank On Connecticut?
• Bank On Connecticut is a national movement created to reduce barriers to banking and increase access to the financial mainstream. Bank On Connecticut was launched by the Connecticut Association for Human Services (CAHS) in partnership with Community Based Organizations, Banks, and with support from the Treasurer’s Office in December 2011.
• A bank account can help individuals save money, avoid theft, manage money, and help them save for the future. We believe everyone should have the opportunity to open an affordable bank account and build a more successful financial future. 
  
  Sign up now to learn more!

 

Title:

A New Program Seeking to Bank the Unbanked

Date:

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Time:

3:30 PM - 4:30 PM EDT

 

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

 

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server

 

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.5 or newer