Welcome to the September.  Summertime fun is over. It’s back to school for all of the kiddies. And, back to work for CDRC. Yeah! Like we ever stop! In this edition we will be discussing funding issues, new federal money to help Maryland get people out of institutions, the upcoming elections, and the next legislative session.

John’s update

I am happy to inform you that John will be back to work fulltime after Labor Day. John is feeling much better and is excited to get back to working on the issues that are important to the disability community.  Kenny is also anxious for him to get back to work fulltime.

Continued for a 5^th year

CDRC received some good news last week that will make all of us happy.  The Developmental Disabilities Council (DD Council, our funders) have approved CDRC to be funded for a 5^th year. This means CDRC will be able to keep working on issues that are important to the disability community such as de-institutionalization, (getting folks out of nursing facilities and State Residential Centers), ending the institutional funding bias in Maryland, disability related policy, and everything else we do.   

Continuation funding

As stated in last month’s newsletter, CDRC submitted a grant proposal to a major foundation in the early part of August.  We are nervously awaiting a response from them as to whether CDRC was chosen to receive a grant from their foundation.  

Catriona Johnson, (CDRC’s grant writer) will continue to submit proposals for grants to major foundations for CDRC.

Some of you may be wondering, “if the DD Council has agreed to fund CDRC year 5, why do you need more money?” Good question. CDRC wants to be able to do whatever we need to do, now and for years to come. Right now our resources from the DD Council are just enough for CDRC to do most of it’s work and support it’s members to participate in state wide activities. In fact, sometimes we don’t have enough money to do everything we would like. For example, CDRC wants to get more people into events and trainings from further away than the central area and we need more transportation funds to do that. Some of our best policy advocates would prefer supports who understand the policy issues. So, additional funding would be very helpful. We know we will always have a close relationship with the DD Council, but we would also like to have independent funding someday soon so we can continue to grow when the Council decides to fund a different self-advocacy project. 

Money Follows the Person Demonstration (federal)

Called Money Follows the Person Demonstration “MFPD” for short. This is a grant that Maryland is asking the federal government to give them to move more money from the institutions to the community. The money comes in because the feds will pay for stuff to help get people out of institutions, including nursing homes, that they don’t pay for now. PLUS, there’s more money for the state for the person’s FIRST FULL YEAR OF FREEDOM IN THE COMMUNITY!!  CDRC looks forward to working with DHMH officials as they write their proposal for this federal funding. The voice of consumers (us) will be very important to the feds in their consideration of Maryland’s Money Follows proposal. 

Election Time

By now I’m sure you’ve all seen the signs in people’s yards and on the side of the road with the names of the candidates for various offices throughout the state of Maryland. Not to mention all of the TV commercials. The next election is coming up quick. This time around you’ll be able to vote for Maryland’s Senators and Representatives in DC, Governor/Lieutenant Governor, and some local Senators and Delegates as well. It is very important to vote. If you are not registered to vote, please register right away. If you need help with this, contact John or Kenny. If you have questions about the candidates in your area, go and see them and decide if you can trust them.  If you say, “Nothing about me without me!” this is the time to show that you mean it - VOTE!