Survival Coalition is hosting Disability Advocacy Day on Tuesday, March 6, at the Capitol in Madison. Disability Advocacy Day connects you with your legislators so you can share your story and tell them what issues are important to you. Please participate in this event and make your voice heard about disability issues! Survival will set up your visit with your legislators. Before your visit, you will have an opportunity to attend a briefing about current disability issues in Wisconsin. You can choose a briefing time of 9 a.m., 11 a.m., or 1 p.m. Participants are asked to arrive at the Capitol 30 minutes prior to the start of their briefing. You can register for this event online or by submitting a completed registration form. The deadline to register is Wednesday, Feb. 29. You will receive a confirmation email with more details and where to go in the Capitol for your briefing. If you have any questions about Disability Advocacy Day, please visit the Survival Coalition’s website, or contact Ellen Merker at ellen.merker@wisconsin.gov or (608) 266-5202. Thank you for working to improve the lives of people with disabilities in Wisconsin!
The Department of Health Services is seeking input from consumers, community partners, integrated health systems, and providers on its Long Term Care Sustainability Initiatives. "We have worked extensively with consumers, advocates and partners to develop reforms that meet the needs of those individuals we serve and ensure Wisconsin's long term care programs are sustainable," said Department of Health Services Secretary Dennis G. Smith. "We are taking our proposals on the road to get additional feedback from people around the state." Individuals who are interested in speaking will have up to five minutes to share their ideas at the forums. Those who would like to share their ideas and do not wish to speak are encouraged to submit their written feedback at the meeting or through the Department's online survey at http://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/ltcreform/. This link also includes background information on the proposals.Green Bay Thursday, March 8, 20123:00 - 6:00 P.M. The Ray & Joan Kroc Corps Community Center1315 Lime Kiln RoadMulti-Purpose RoomGreen Bay, WI 54311La Crosse Friday, March 9, 20122:00 - 5:00 P.M. UW-La Crosse1725 State StreetCartwright Center, Room 339La Crosse, WI 54601Free Parking: Lot C-2Madison Monday, March 12, 20122:00 - 5:00 P.M. Goodman Community Center149 Waubesa StreetEvjue Room DMadison, WI 53704 Additional town hall meetings will be scheduled in Milwaukee and Wausau. Details will be announced once they are confirmed. ** People needing special accommodations to attend or participate in the meeting should notify the Department of Health Services at 608-266-9622 (TTY 888-701-1250) by the day prior to the event.
Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA)
Dane County
Get help with your taxes free…
The Villager Mall Financial Education Center
2300 S. Park St. Madison WI
Lower Level
(608) 261-5077
http://www.revenue.wi.gov/faqs/pcs/vita.htmlInterpreters will be available
Feb 18 9am-3pm
March 3 9am-3pm
Update on Senate Hearing (Senate Bill 380) to Lift the Caps on Family Care/IRIS!
Come to Madison on Thursday, Feb. 9th and share your story at the hearing.
11 AM –Room 201 Southeast.
If you would like support developing your testimony before the hearing, the Wisconsin Board for People with Developmental Disabilities (BPDD) can help. Please join us at 9 AM at the BPDD office to prepare testimony and then walk together as a group to the hearing.
BPDD: 201 W. Washington Ave., Suite 110
(one block from the Capitol)
Help us create a Disability Drumbeat!
The Bills to Lift the Caps on Long-Term Care programs are in DANGER.
Wouldn’t it be great if we blasted the Capitol in Madison with calls from people with disabilities, families and disability advocates all at the same time – asking them to provide the supports people need in Wisconsin??? Then no one could ignore our call to lift the caps on Family Care, IRIS, PACE and Partnership and expand these important long-term supports to EVERYONE in Wisconsin who needs them!
If you have called before, call again! If you haven’t called, NOW IS THE TIME! It is easy!!!
Let’s Create a Drumbeat for People with Disabilities in Wisconsin!
Our friends at AARP are letting us use their simple legislative hotline. When you call this number, you will be greeted by AARP and then asked to type in your zip code. (The call is not recorded or used in any other manner.) The phone service will then dial your representative or senator and connect you directly with that office!
Call the AARP Legislative Hotline ANYTIME FROM FEB. 7,8,9:
1-800-844-2847
(You do not have to use this hotline, you can always call your rep directly on your own)
Why is this important?:
The bills in the Capitol right now to lift the caps on Family Care/IRIS and expand the programs statewide are STALLED and may DIE in committee if legislators do not take action in the next couple weeks. The caps will not be lifted unless these bills pass! These bills need to move now! More than 8000 people statewide are waiting for critical daily supports!
What you can say:
People with disabilities and seniors in Wisconsin need long-term supports to live their lives! Family Care and IRIS are important programs! It is time to lift the caps and let people who live in counties without these programs have access to these supports ! Move these bills (Assembly Bill 477 and Senate Bill 380) now!
Need more information?: http://www.dawninfo.org/news4/post.cfm/take-action-to-end-the-waiting-lists
_The next WI Peer Specialist Certification Exam will take place on February 29, 2012. The exams will again be proctored at the WI Independent Living Centers www.IL-Wisconsin.net .
The deadline to apply to take the exam is February 15, 2012. Please download the application at: www.sce-peerspecialist.uwm.edu
Please forward this on to all who may be interested.
Thank you,Alice F. Pauser, CPSWI Peer Specialist Program Director
_
Tax Time!!!
Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA)
Dane CountyNo appointment required!
January 26-April 13, 2011:
Monday, Wednesday 12:00-6:00 P.M.
Saturday: 9:00-3:00 P.M.
April 15, 2011: 12:00-3:00 P.M. Interpreters will be available
Feb 18 9am-3pm
March 3 9am-3pm
The Villager Mall Financial Education Center
2300 S. Park St. Madison WI
Lower Level
(608) 261-5077
http://www.revenue.wi.gov/faqs/pcs/vita.html
We need your help!
Please contact your State Legislators and urge them to co-sponsor LRB 3761/1 and LRB 3698/3 by contacting Senator Moulton (6-7511) or Representative Kaufert (6-5719) by noon on Friday, January 13, 2012. Find your legislators contact info Here! LRB 3761/1 and LRB 3698/3 Summary Since 2000, the Family Care program has served many seniors and individuals who are developmentally and physically disabled. Currently, Family Care serves over 40,000 people across Wisconsin. The 2011-13 state budget established a cap on the program until the Department of Health Services was able to find efficiencies within the program that would help stabilize it and make it sustainable. DHS has reported that they are now prepared to implement a plan that will do this. The Survival Coalition worked with the Governor to draft this legislation to remove the Family Care cap and extend program coverage to seniors and individuals with physical and developmental disabilities in areas of the state that previously were not serviced by Family Care. Their proposed legislation does the following:
- Repeals non-statutory language in the 2011-13 state budget that capped enrollment in Family Care, Family Care Partnership, the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), and the self-directed services option (IRIS).
- Repeals non-statutory language in the 2011-13 state budget that prohibits the expansion of Family Care to counties that currently do not receive the benefit and are operating under the community options and community integration programs.
- Repeals the non-statutory budget allocation in the 2011-13 state budget for urgent enrollment funding that was appropriated in conjunction with the enrollment cap.
- Makes no change to the requirement that DHS study various aspects of the cost-effectiveness of the states long-term care programs.
This bill draft does not include an appropriation and makes no changes to the Chapter 20 budget schedule.
_ Can mental health service users, their family members and others without formal positions of authority lead? Can they make meaningful changes in mental health service organizations?
The answer is a resounding “YES,” according to a nationally recognized expert in the field of leadership and mental health services. And the knowledge and skills necessary to do so will be the focus of a leadership institute coming to Madison on Feb. 25.
“If you don’t have authority, you can lead with ideas,” says Steve Harrington, Executive Director of the National Association of Peer Specialists and a post-doctoral fellow at Boston University’s Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation. “The role of the ‘informal’ leader is different but no less important and potentially effective.”
The one-day institute, entitled “Leading with Ideas: Making Change Happen from Within,” will cover start with basic understandings about what leadership is, why people follow, how to create and express a vision for change, developing collaborative relationships and other components of effective leadership, according to Harrington.
“Leadership theory is well-developed but, unfortunately, fails to address the needs and effectiveness of informal leaders,” he says. “Service users and friends and family members often feel powerless to change a system very much in need of change. But there are skills and knowledge that can make them among the most powerful leaders.”
The institute will be facilitated by Harrington who earned masters of public administration and law degrees. In addition to his leadership role with the national peer specialist association, Harrington is on the boards of several other national mental health organizations. He was a planner and on the faculty of the Global Leadership Institute recently conducted by Boston University. He says the institute will be highly interactive to encourage learning through participation. Harrington will be assisted by another facilitator from Recover Resources.
Although the institute is designed for persons in recovery from psychiatric conditions, family members and others who work for mental health services organizations will benefit. The institute is planned for 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will feature morning and afternoon refreshments and lunch. It is co-sponsored by Access to Independence, Inc. and will be conducted at their office, 3810 Milwaukee St. in Madison. The other co-sponsor is Recover Resources, a consumer owned and operated organization.
The institute will be facilitated by Harrington and Lyn Legere, M.A., Training Director for The Transformation Center in Boston.
The cost of attending the institute is $95 per person. Participants will receive a certificate of completion. To pre-register (required) or obtain more information, contact Recover Resources at (616) 773-8866 or visit the organization’s website at: www.RecoverResources.com.
Dec 8
3:30-6pmAccess to Independence 3810 Milwaukee StreetMadison(608)242-8484 (V)
(608) 242-8485 (TTY)
(608) 234-4484 (Video Phone)
Or email claired@accesstoind.org
Our theme: COMFORT FOOD!
Bring your favorite comfort food to share.Flier
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