Our organization is welcoming new leadership for the first time in nearly five years. We’ll be posting a series of articles over the next couple of weeks to introduce our new officers. We invite you to follow along and get to know us a little bit better. Laura breaks the mold of this posting series, and that is nothing new for her. She has been serving OSSA as our Treasurer since 2017, when Bill Uhlman stepped down from his position as Director of Eastern Oregon Support Services Brokerage and with OSSA. Laura deftly took over both leadership at Eastern Oregon Support Services Brokerage, and the Treasurer responsibilities for OSSA, and has spent the last two years...
Read MoreChange can be scary. As we have talked about previously, the new Oregon Needs Assessment (ONA) will result in changes to personal resource allocations sometime in the next year or two. Our lives aren’t always predictable, and when our supports aren’t either, it can be difficult. We will always advocate for stable, secure DD service funding to improve the lives of Oregonians with developmental disabilities. But what else can we do to combat the ups and downs of public funding levels? Let’s talk more about that. Your paid service are funded through a mix of Oregon state funds, and federal Medicaid match funds. You’ll see us advocate each year...
Read MoreThe 2019 Oregon Legislative formally adjourned yesterday, in what is called Sine Die. As many have probably followed in the news, the Republican Senators who walked out of session for several days in June returned to work this weekend. Though the environment was rife with unresolved conflict, both chambers put their heads down and passed the agency budget bills and a select few others. SB 274, which would have opened case management services through a Brokerage as an option for people age 14-17, was not on the “select few” list. SB 274 received unanimous support from the policy committee it worked through, and broad support from the Ways and Means committees to which it...
Read MoreEvery two years, Oregon’s legislature passes a state budget to cover costs for the coming biennium. The legislative session is five months long, but budgetary decisions are some of the most complex and difficult that the legislature must make, and they generally don’t get settled until the tail end of session. The 2019 session is no different; budget decisions, including those for human services, are currently being weighed and deliberated. The Oregon Support Services Association is a member of the Oregon Developmental Disabilities Coalition. The Oregon DD Coalition is a collection of people and organizations from all over the Oregon DD community who come...
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