I. Introductions were completed.
II. Minutes Were approved; if you were unable to open them, they are available as always on the DD Council website (www.manhattanddcouncil.org).
III. Announcements : Attachments HERE in Pdf
Riverstone Open Door
A program for seniors (55 and over) with developmental disabilities, with a socialization program with the seniors from the day center. The center is located at 163rd Street and Fort Washington, and transportation is provided 110th Street on the West side and above. The program is free due to a grant from OPWDD. For information, please call 212-927-5600 or visit www.riverstonenyc.org.
Hawthorne Foundation
In home behavior management for ages 3-21. Call Jeannine Schmelzkopf for more information at 646-675-5957 or 917-406-3342.
AHRC NYC
Program vacancy list is attached as well as the upcoming Family Education series.
Archcare at Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center
See attached for openings in the Developmental Disabilities Clinic.
YAI
YAI Premier HealthCare is now accepting Fidelis. Psychiatry is available in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx.
See attached for activity based groups for young adults through the Autism Center, and research study opportunities through YAI in partnership with the Seaver Autism Center at Mount Sinai.
Call YAI LINK at 212-273-6182 for referrals and any other information.
UCP/NYC
Program vacancy list is attached
IV. Guest Speaker, Hope Levy, Associate Executive Director, IAC: OPWDD Grant, “Workforce Transformation”
OPWDD is working on implementing a Direct Support Professional (DSP) Code of Ethics and Competencies across the state. See the attached power point for the presentation (New York City is Region 4). Currently there are 90,000 DSPs in New York State. The goal is to teach staff core competencies, leading to a credential, which would be portable so that if staff are trained at one agency but move to another agency, the receiving agency should be confident that they are coming with a full skill set already. IAC has been designated a Regional Center for Workforce Transformation.
The Commissioner has given agencies three years to implement these competencies, which will start to be piloted in 2014. Managers and supervisors need to be trained first, and they need to be educated about the benefits of this undertaking. Data is being collected and it’s already being piloted in nine New York City agencies. OPWDD and IAC are putting the data on their websites as they progress.
The DSP competencies do not have a standard curriculum; the curriculum varies across agencies. IAC is vetting the different curricula. IAC is also working with CUNY to develop more resources. According to the OPWDD website, “The Core Competencies are NOT a training program. The Core Competencies represent the day-to-day valuable work that DSPs perform when serving individuals with developmental disabilities.” It is more about demonstrating a proficiency in your job, and having an impact on people, than it is about “procedures.” At the end of the DSP training, there will be an evaluation by the supervisor, who will go to the OPWDD website, where there is an algorithm which produces a competency score between one and four. It is up to individual agencies to decide what minimum score is acceptable. Each agency will decide how to use the scoring system.
So far the feedback from the DSPs has been very positive.
For more information, go to:
http://www.opwdd.ny.gov/opwdd_careers_training/training_opportunities/core_competencies
V. State News
Liz Trapasso reported on behalf of Elizabeth Cambra.
OPWDD’s rate rationalization proposal is still under review by CMS. OPWDD does not know yet if CMS will accept OPWDD’s proposed 6-year phase in and whether the rate will be retroactive to October 1.
In the Money Follows the Person (MFP), the peer outreach will begin soon, where individuals with DD meet with people living in ICFs and/or their families to explain the benefits of living in the community. SANYS will be conducting these sessions and must reach 300 people in ICFs by the end of the year.
The Coordinated Assessment System (CAS) pilot has concluded. The next step is to validate the instrument. This will be done by conducting three evaluations on 600 randomly selected people.
The Commissioner would like to hear from different stakeholders how the Front Door implementation is doing. Surveys are going out to agencies, families, and individuals. Council members would like to know the sampling protocol – will the process be the same for all boroughs; who will be sampled, those who completed the process as well as those still waiting; will the survey be paper or electronic or both; which languages will the survey be in.
There is a videoconference on the Waiver and Transformational Agenda at Morton Street on November 16, from 11 am to 1 pm.
The move to Beaver Street is progressing. Move in should be mid-December.
VI. City News
The DOHMH Office will be in transition until the new Mayor comes in.
http://www.opwdd.ny.gov/opwdd_careers_training/training_opportunities/core_competencies
VII. IAC/Federation Report
IAC:
IAC developed an action plan on education to: 1) revise the negative impact of bad press as the result of audits of targeted programs and 2) restore a growth factor in the rates for pre-school programs.
IAC has collected anecdotal and hard information on the operation of the Justice Center. For the most part, the Justice Center makes great efforts to respond, but seems limited in its ability to remedy a particular situation (e.g., allegations made by people who constantly make false allegations). The Justice Center is slow, extremely so. They have now hired eight additional investigators for the downstate area, starting December. IAC is proposing legislation to change those areas which require a change in the law (peer on peer allegations, contractors and the SCR, multiple notifications of one incident).
IAC has a travel training grant through the Department of Transportation to train 300 individuals over three years and to train and certify additional trainers. That program is beginning shortly.
IAC’s technical conference will be held January 14, 2014.
Federation: There have been no meetings held, and no meetings are scheduled.
VIII. Committee Reports
Family Support – NEW LOCATION – The Family and Professional Resource Fair will be held on Wednesday, December 11 at 9:30 at the Hotel Penn, 401 Seventh Avenue at West 33rd Street. Booth registration begins at 8:30. The event starts on the 18th floor, and there will be a keynote speaker. The vendor session will open following the keynote. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact abittinger@ucpnyc.org or Jennifer.Shaoul@yai.org.
The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, 1/14/2014, at 10am at YAI, 460 West 34th Street, 11th floor. Call 718-859-5420, ext. 234 for more information.
Legislative – The Council should start thinking about how we can enhance our Legislative efforts in this current climate. Should we make more effort on the Congressional side? Approach the Executive Chambers or their aides? The Legislative Committee will have to start thinking about different ways to advocate on the Federal side, and do more in our attempts from that direction. If you have any thoughts, or you are interested in being involved with the Committee, please contact jmalley@esperanzacenter.com.
Transition – The Committee met on 11/13 and the members are looking at the transition process in light of the OPWDD Front Door process. They are educating the Transition Coordinators on the process, as every Transition Coordinator for District 75 is brand new this year. They are strategizing on how to proceed from there. Evette Herdsman, the OPWDD liaison for graduating students to the Front Door will triage the graduates and let them know who needs the Front Door, eligibility, etc. There are 93 graduating students from District 75 this year, not including graduates from the Manhattan School for Career Development (usually these students go to Supported Employment, and only about half of them are OPWDD eligible).
The Student Information Exchange with Adult Day Service Providers is still needed, and people felt it was still helpful. It will be held in March so they can focus on the DDRO/Front Door process and tours before then. The Committee is still stressing employment first.
The Committee will not meet in December; they will attend the Family Support Fair. The next meeting will be on Wednesday January 8, 2014, at 9:30 at AHRC Fisher Center, 2080 Lexington Avenue, at 125th Street. Call Kathy Kelly at 212-780-2724 for more information.
Manhattan Family Support Services Advisory Council – There will be a meeting in January with young families in the Harlem area. The topic will be an overview of family support services, presented by Janet Davis, DDRO coordinator. Details to follow. Call Margaret Puddington for more information, 212-799-2042.
Service Coordination – The last meeting featured Liz Cambra from OPWDD, talking about the Front Door and the role of the MSC, which is still unclear and may have expanded lately. They also discussed the future of the MSC and the transition to Care Coordination, which has not been implemented yet. Council members agreed that OPWDD needs to translate the DDP2 into Spanish, Chinese, and Russian. The meeting of 12/5 has been rescheduled for January 24, 2014, at 10:00, at UCP, 80 Maiden Lane, 2nd floor. The speaker will be Eden Ruiz on In Home/Environmental Modifications. The MSC Forum will be held May 15. To participate on the Committee or to become involved in any capacity, please contact Carol Lincoln at clincoln@ucpnyc.org.
Children’s Committee – The Committee will meet on 12/10 at 9:30 regarding choosing developmentally appropriate toys for children. The meeting will be held at the Jewish Guild for the Blind, 15 West 65th Street, ground floor. RSVP required – call 212-988-9500, ext 0.
For more information about the Committee, contact Christina Muccioli at Christina.Muccioli@ahrcnyc.org.
Next meeting: Thursday, December 12 at YAI, 460 West 34th Street, 12th floor.