1. Announcements
Announcement: Handouts Nov 2015
Manhattan Family & Professional Resource Fair, Monday, December 14, 2015, 10-2, NY Academy of Medicine, 1216 Fifth Ave @ 103rd St. Fliers in English, Spanish, and Chinese attached.
Our own Vivian Smith has been recognized by the Museum of Modern Art in celebration of creativity and aging! Check out the story at https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/blog/introducing-prime-time-at-moma-a-celebration-of-creativity-and-aging. Vivian has offered to arrange free tickets and tours of the museum for groups of people with developmental disabilities.
DD Council
Thursday, November 12, 2015, 9:30 am- noon
AHRC, 83 Maiden Lane, 11th floor
Information: Marco Damiani (212) 947-5770 x 456; manhattanddcouncilchair@gmail.com
Family Support Services Committee
Tuesday, November 10, 2015, 10:00 am – noon
YAI, 460 West 34th Street, 11th floor
Information: Amy Bittinger (718) 859-5420 x 234; Abittinger@ucpnyc.org
Transition Committee
Wednesday, December 9, 2015, 9:30 am – noon
AHRC, 83 Maiden Lane, 11th floor Board Room
Information: Kathy Kelly (212) 780-2724; Kathy.kelly@ahrcnyc.org
Legislative Committee
Next meeting to be announced.
Information: Jim Malley (212) 928-5810 x 101; Jmalley@esperanzacenter.net
Children’s/Education Committee
Next meeting to be announced.
Information: Christina Muccioli (212) 780-2532; Christina.muccioli@ahrcnyc.org
Outreach & Family Engagement
Next meeting to be announced.
Information: Lynn Decker (917) 575-5166; lynn_decker@me.com
2. Report on OPWDD Symposium on Strategies for the Future: Supporting Complex Needs
Margaret reported that this OPWDD symposium, held November 5, 2015 in Albany, featured interesting general sessions on Responding to Change, Shaping the Future by Mary Lee Fay, Executive Director, National Association of State Directors of DD Services; Maximizing Technology to Support Transformation for Complex Needs by David O’Hara and Izel Obermeyer; plus 5 workshops: self-direction; transforming the workforce; employment and meaningful community living; innovative supports for community living; and shifting service models for complex needs. The sessions presented new innovations and new developments and can be accessed on the OPWDD website: www.opwdd.ny.gov.
3. Update on Advocacy Efforts
Recent advocacy events:
• OPWDD Transformation Panel forums September 17, 2015.
• Hearings by the NYS Assembly Standing Committee on Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Committee, Oct 20, 2015. A similar hearing with the Senate has been requested.
• NYC Fair forum with Sen. David Carlucci’s aide, Evan Sullivan, legislative director and counsel, October 27, 2015. Sen. Carlucci is the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities. NYC Fair has posted testimony from the transformation panel, the Assembly hearing, and the Sullivan meeting. The nycfair.org. website is a great resource.
At all these events, the same issues have come up repeatedly:
• Need for residential development, especially for 24-hour residential services
• Direct support professional (DSP) wages need to increase not just to the $15/hour minimum that Governor Cuomo intends to pay to state employees, but an additional amount sufficient to maintain the difference between current DSP wages and the current minimum wage, which is a good deal lower; supervisors and other administrators will also need a raise to maintain the pay differential between themselves and DSPs.
• Problems with self-direction
• Concerns about managed care
• Upstate concerns about workshops closing (very few workshops in NYC)
Manhattan legislative visits are underway. In previous years we held an annual Family Advocacy Day, where constituents visited all Manhattan legislators in one day, 2 weeks before our Legislative Breakfast. This was not good timing. Instead, this year we decided to do visits during the fall/winter before the Governor’s budget proposals are released. We are visiting about half our Manhattan legislators. At the visits we will discuss residential development; DSP wages; managed care; self-direction; and the need for tuition increase for 4410 special education preschools. The visits will be conducted in small groups of constituents.
Current efforts to unite family advocates are underway by IAC (downstate) and CPA of NYS (statewide). The purpose is to facilitate a unified message and unified advocacy efforts—which promises to be much more powerful than the way we’ve been functioning with different groups doing different things at different times.
4. Speakers: Hope Levy, Associate Executive Director for Adult Services, IAC, and Ravi Dahiya, Associate Director, IRI, on the START Program
Hope and Ravi gave an overview of this critical new crisis prevention and intervention program. START stands for Systematic, Therapeutic, Assessment, Resources, and Treatment. It has been piloted upstate and will be piloted in New York City beginning January, 2016. START will serve people with both DD and mental health needs. START is designed differently in different regions, based on a gap analysis of each region. Utilizing a team approach, START provides clinical treatment, assessment, and stabilization; a mobile crisis team that responds within 2 hours; short-term therapeutic respite; and linkage to other supports and services. START serves both people living at home and people residing in group homes. It facilitates cross-systems collaboration. Please see the attached powerpoint for more information. START – ppt
5. Ideas for Future Meeting Topics
Members were encouraged to think about topics they would like more information about and to let Margaret know so that presentations can be arranged.