Please join United Way in asking lawmakers to restore Help Me Grow funding in the final state budget for SFY16-17

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Among the cuts proposed in the Governor’s recommended budget for SFY16-17 is the elimination of funding for Help Me Grow.

Help Me Grow promotes early detection and connection to services for children from birth to 8 years old with developmental or behavioral challenges. Help Me Grow enables the service delivery system for children with developmental needs to function more efficiently and assists parents directly by educating and empowering them with the tools to monitor their children’s development, and to access appropriate help when the need arises.

Please join us in asking our Representatives and Senators in the Connecticut General Assembly to restore Help Me Grow funding in the final state budget for SFY16-17.

Click the “Send a Letter” button below to ask your state legislators to restore funding for Help Me Grow.

via United Way of Connecticut | ADVOCACY.

ACTION ALERT!

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Last Wednesday Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced his proposed budget. Several important programs at DSS have been cut. The Governor’s budget:

  • Kicks low income adults off HUSKY-including pregnant women, and moves them to Access Health where they will have to PAY insurance premiums
  • CLOSES the Torrington DSS office
  • ELIMINATES 13 DSS positions
  • ELIMINATES funding for programs like the Human Services Infrastructure Community Action Program which helps many people with benefits and provides the funding match for SNAP outreach

There are better choices! Legislators need to hear our stories and ideas. They need to hear from you. Email, call, or testify that:

  • We don’t need more cuts, we need REVENUE
  • Health coverage for low income people, including pregnant women, MUST continue through HUSKY
  • ADD staff and offices to DSS, DON’T cut them
  • DSS MUST be responsive to service providers and our neighbors who depend on it by fulfilling its promise to have a phone line and portal for social service providers and getting wait times down and/or implementing a call back system
  • DSS modernization is NOT WORKING and MUST CHANGE

There are two chances to talk about the proposed budget: Thursday, Feb. 26th @ 12 (Human Services Committee public hearing) and Friday the 27th @ 5 (Appropriations Committee public hearing). If you can’t attend either hearing you can email the Committees (in Word or PDF)at HStestimony@cga.ct.gov and APPtestimony@cga.ct.gov.

If you want to know more or want to testify, please email Lucy Nolan lnolan@endhungerct.org or Nancy Boone nboone@larcc.org.

US Atty for CT Deidre M Daly to address CDR membership meeting Feb. 26, West Haven

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U.S. Attorney for Connecticut Deidre M. Daly will address ADA enforcement at the Center for Disability Rights quarterly membership meeting from 7 to 8:15 p.m., Feb. 26, 2015, following a light supper and business meeting from 6 to 7 p.m. at the Savin Rock Conference Center, 6 Rock St., West Haven, CT 06516. Suggested donation for the light supper is $3 per person. RSVP to CDR at (203) 934-7077.

dalyfile

This Woman Who Has Cerebral Palsy Is Writing An Entire Novel By Typing With Her Toes | HuffPo

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Hu Huiyuan, who lives the AnHui Province in China, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when she was a few months old and has little mobility, CNR reported, according to a CCTV Facebook post.

“About the only thing she could really move was her head and her foot, but she was incredibly determined,” her father, Peng, told Central European News.

The 21-year-old has learned to perform many tasks with her left foot, including typing with her toes, the outlet reported. The skill has allowed her to begin writing a novel, of which she’s already completed six chapters — a total of 60,000 words.

via This Woman Who Has Cerebral Palsy Is Writing An Entire Novel By Typing With Her Toes.

Human Services Committee hearing on proposals related to DSS 1 p.m. Thursday

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The Human Services Committee is holding a hearing on proposals related to DSS tomorrow at 1 pm.  This is your opportunity to tell legislators your concerns!  CABHN is collecting your stories and will submit them as testimony.  Email your first hand DSS access stories or other concerns to nboone@larcc.org TONIGHT or submit directly to the Human Services Committee (in word or pdf) to HStestimony@cga.ct.gov by 1 p.m. tomorrow.

Posted in DSS

Governor Malloy urges residents to prepare for possible blizzard conditions

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Blizzard Warning Issued for Entire State, Coastal Flood Watch Also in Effect for Entire Shoreline

(HARTFORD, CT) – With the latest forecast calling for blizzard conditions across parts of the state, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is asking residents to be prepared and take the necessary precautions for a significant snowstorm that will impact the state Monday evening through Tuesday.

“Although storms can be unpredictable, this storm has the potential to have a significant impact on the state and we need to be prepared,” Gov. Malloy said. “Just as the state is monitoring and preparing, the public should do the same.”

“The Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security (DEMHS) is monitoring this storm very closely and is prepared to coordinate any potential state response,” Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection Commissioner Dora B. Schriro said.

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Major victory for persons with disabilities: Congress Passes ABLE Act!

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Congress Passes ABLE Act!

Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act of 2014

The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passed the Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act of 2014 by a vote of 76 to 16. First introduced in 2006, and subsequent sessions of Congress, the ABLE Act will allow people with disabilities (with an age of onset up to 26 years old) and their families the opportunity to create a tax-exempt savings account that can be used for maintaining health, independence and quality of life.

In recognition of this unprecedented legislation, National Disability Institute has created a list of 10 items about ABLE accounts that individuals with disabilities and their families should know. Read more about it here.

Posted in ADA

Central Connecticut Senior Health Services Winter 2014 events

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Winter 2014

LUNCH & LEARN SESSIONS

FALLS AND FRACTURES  
Thursday, Jan. 8, 12-1 PM

CT Center for Healthy Aging, HOCC, New Britain campus,
100 Grand Street, New Britain

Join us for an educational session on preventing falls and fractures with David Santoro of Hartford Hospital’s Bone & Joint Institute. Complimentary lunch provided.

URGENT OR PRIMARY CARE?
Thursday, Feb. 19, 12-1 PM

CT Center for Healthy Aging, HOCC, Bradley Memorial campus,
81 Meriden Avenue, Southington

Dr. Eric Hobert, Medical Director of Emergency Services at HOCC, Bradley campus, will explain the difference between urgent and primary care, and the circumstances for which each are appropriate. Enjoy complimentary lunch.

Kindly RSVP, 877-424-4641-seating is limited.

GOOD LIFE FITNESS INFORMATIONAL SESSIONS

 

Please join us for an open gathering with our Good Life Fitness team. Learn more about the Good Life Fitness program, take a tour of our gym, meet the exercise physiologists and enjoy some light appetizers.

Southington Care Center, 45 Meriden Avenue, Southington

Jan. 5 & Feb. 9, 5-6 PM, RSVP, 860-621-9559

Jerome Home, 975 Corbin Avenue, New Britain 

Feb. 4 & March 4, 2-3:30 PM, RSVP, 860-229-3707 

OPEN HOUSES  

Mulberry Gardens of Southington

58 Mulberry Street, Plantsville

Saturdays: Jan. 3 & 31, 10 AM-2 PM

Join Marie Terzak, retirement counselor, for coffee and a tour and learn more about assisted living, memory care and adult day care. RSVP, 860-276-1020.

The Orchards at Southington
34 Hobart Street, Southington

Sundays: Jan. 11, Feb. 8
Saturdays: Jan. 24, Feb. 21, March 7 & 21 

    

Join Edesa Ciscar, retirement counselor, for coffee and a tour of our beautiful independent and assisted living community. RSVP, 860-628-5656.     

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HEALTHY FAMILY FUNFEST: Sunday, Feb. 22, 2015!
See tips for “100 Days and 100 Ways to Healthier” – a countdown to our Healthy Family FunFest!

New Haven’s 100-Day Homeless Challenge Makes Deep Impact | CCEH

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by Susan Campbell, communications director at Partnership for Strong Communities, and Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness board member.

“We have learned, in many efforts across the nation, that dedicating the resources to end the homelessness of those who are long homeless and living with disabilities is not only the right thing to do—it is also the smart thing to do, from the perspective of public policy,” says  Lisa Tepper Bates, executive director of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness (CCEH). “These neighbors are very likely to cycle in and out of our expensive public systems hospitals and emergency systems, costing more in public dollars in those areas than it would cost to house and support each one of them.”

via New Haven’s 100-Day Homeless Challenge Makes Deep Impact – Connecticut Today – November 2014.

Progress in Quest to Reduce Homelessness in New Haven | NBC Connecticut

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New Haven’s 100-Day Challenge to End Homelessness has ended and the results are in.

Workers from different community and state agencies teamed up for the challenge and set a goal of finding housing for 75 percent of the city’s chronically homeless population, or 107 residents.

During a roundtable discussion at the United Way of Greater New Haven, group leaders released the results. They say they found housing for 43 people and have finished the paperwork to get housing for 59 more. That’s 102 total people, which is just five shy of their goal.

via Progress in Quest to Reduce Homelessness in New Haven | NBC Connecticut.