Good summer to everyone. We hope all of you are enjoying vacation time and this nice summer weather we are having. In this edition, we will be discussing Rosewood, CDRC’s continuation proposal, the Money Follows the Person (MFP) Grant and much more.
Rosewood
In our last month’s newsletter we stated that CDRC hosted a
movie day at Rosewood from 1:00 – 4:00 and that we waited until 3:00 for the
Rosewood staff to bring ONE Resident over to watch a movie with us.
CDRC thought the actions of the Rosewood Center were outrageous and
disrespectful of CDRC’s time and effort.
CDRC wrote a letter to the Activity Director that CDRC had been in
contact with in scheduling this event. CDRC
also mailed the letter the new Director of Rosewood, Dr. Robert Day.
CDRC sent the letter the first week of July.
We haven’t received a response back from The Rosewood Center.
We will update you in our next newsletter if we receive a response.
CDRC Year 6?
CDRC, with the assistance of Barbara McCord, has completed
the second draft of a continuation proposal for the DD Council.
CDRC members and the Board Of Leadership (BOL) suggested a couple more
changes to the proposal. We will be
working on those changes with Barbara. The
proposal is due to the DD Council August 29th, but we hope to have it
finished early.
Money Follows the Person Demonstration Grant
At our last MFPD Committee meeting we had a guest speaker,
Pat Sylvester from The Department of Housing and Community Development. (DHCD)
Ms. Sylvester spoke to the committee about the current housing resources
in Maryland. Ms. Sylvester stated that DHCD provides loans to developers
to build affordable housing, and Maryland provides between $20 and $25 million
in state funds for the development of affordable housing. In
2004 DHCD issued a report saying that over the next 10 years there will be a
shortage of 157,000 rental housing units in Maryland (of all types).
DHCD also
administers the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Program.
That means they give incentives to developers who will target units to
individuals with disabilities. Under
its Partnership Rental Housing Program, DHCD recently began providing financing
to developers who agree to provide rental housing units reserved for people with
disabilities and low incomes. Ms.
Sylvester explained that the housing financed by the Department generally serves
households at or below 60% of the area median income.
In Baltimore, this is about $31,860 for a household of one.
She said that the population that is going to need housing from the MFP
demonstration will likely be unable to afford even the “affordable” rents in
DHCD financed properties because their incomes are often below $15,000 annually.
Sunshine Folk
Sun
Shine Folks (SSF) are cooking this summer. SSF met July 25th and had
3 guest speakers, submitted their reports, and worked through various issues
they encountered in their outreach and mentoring work. SSF learned more about
the planning process for the Living at Home waiver applicants, about housing
opportunities, and received tools for a faster MTA Mobility application process
for people in nursing facilities who need to start getting out into the world
while they are in the transition process. Sun Shine Folks were surprised at the
last Living at Home waiver (LAHW) advisory committee meeting to hear a state
official speak so highly of the SSF model and to learn that the DVD, “The Sun
Shines Brighter at Home” has been considered for outreach work with the MFPD
grant. Thanks in part to SSF efforts, more than two hundred people are in the
process of transitioning from nursing facilities onto the LAHW. SSF are
overjoyed to report that one of the
people they have been working with, and a CDRC member, moved from an NF to his
community home, with the CommunityPathways waiver, in June after seven years in
the NF and three years of fighting for transition. He is happy and doing well!
Olmstead Training Pt. 2
CDRC hosted part 2 of their Olmstead themed training on July
14th. The morning
session discussed how to become a better public speaker. The session was hosted by 3 guest speakers from Toastmasters.
Guest speaker Debbie Dusterwald’s message regarding public speaking is
to always practice your speech over and over again in front a group of people to
get good feed back. Speaking out is
a great way to communicate and communication is a great way to keep in touch.
Tamar Clarke, who has been a member of the Toastmaster for nine years
gave the group an example speech on Health Insurance.
Grant Ellsworth, gave the group four important guidelines on how to
become a better public speaker. 1) Make good eye contact, 2) Be confident, 3)
Keep the crowd’s attention, 4) Persuade your audience,
The afternoon session was on Assistive Technology that can be
used to help you advocate. Our
guest speaker’s were Michael Dalto, (the technology guru), the Executive
Director of the Maryland Technology Assistance Program (MTAP), and Peggy Murphy,
Peggy is the Assistive Technology Specialist at MTAP.
Michael and Peggy brought many types of Assistive Technology for the
audience to try. All of the
advocates that attended the day of training enjoyed both sessions.
CDRC would like to thank all of our guest speakers for taking the time to
present at our training day.
Medicaid Advisory Committee
(MAC)
CDRC member, Floyd Hartley has been appointed to the Medicaid
Advisory Committee. (MAC) CDRC
submitted Floyd’s name for consideration last year, what’s that expression,
better late then never? There are
still numerous positions that are required under the Medicaid Revitalization
bill which became law last year, so we still have a lot of work to do.
CDRC CONGRATULATES Floyd, we know he will do a FANTASTIC job.
CDRC meeting
This is just a reminder that CDRC does NOT have a membership
meeting in August. The next CDRC
membership meeting will be September 23rd.