Posts Tagged "advocacy"
Vision, January 2016: A Second Look at the Future of IDD Services in Oregon
Nearly one year ago, the Oregon Support Services Association shared our February 2015 Vision for the Future of Disability Services in Oregon. It was meant to be a comprehensive look at what we want for our service system, with ideas about how we might get there. While the ultimate vision hasn’t changed substantially, the ideas for how we get there have been refined to fit a January 2016 understanding of the world. Click here to view the OSSA Vision For the Future of Disability Services in Oregon, January 2016. As OSSA President Larry Deal and I reviewed our vision one year in, we were both struck by how much the IDD field has learned over the past 12 months. We...
Read MoreA Diversity of Services Requires A Diversity of Providers
Community-based services are different. In 2001, Oregon made a deep investment in community supports when it began to develop Support Services Brokerages. This style of service, which seeks to serve people where and how they wish to live, is very different from the institutional settings of the past. People make different choices when you let them, they express different needs than you might have anticipated–they surprise you. Oregon found that community-based services demanded a wider diversity of providers. People inviting workers into their homes expected different things from those providers: willingness to take direction directly from the individual as...
Read MoreChoosing Between Vital Parts is a Losing Proposition for I/DD
When it comes to full lives for Oregonians with intellectual and developmental disabilities, we want it all. As a member of the Oregon I/DD Coalition, OSSA helped to identify four top priorities for the 2015 legislative budgeting session. These four priorities, together, represent a pathway to richer lives for Oregonians with I/DD. The four priorities are: DSP Wages: Raise the wage for Direct Support Professionals. Brokerage and CDDP Workload Model Budget: Fund workload model at proposed 95% equity for CDDPs and Brokerages. Fairview Trust: Keep the promise of community housing opportunities for people with IDD and restore the Fairview Trust. Employment: Continue...
Read MoreThe Time for Advocacy is Now!
Distressing news out of the capitol: lawmakers may be looking to cut $140 million from human services in order to fund a budget “hole.” The question is, what does a $140 million cut to human services look like? Though plan hours are not likely to be cut, vulnerable areas include provider pay rates and Brokerage funding for Personal Agents. Brokerage Personal Agents and direct support providers have worked to implement dozens of system changes over the past two years. With these changes has come a lot of additional workload and responsibilities, which is already cutting into the bottom line: time spent with Brokerage customers. Any reduction in funding is going to...
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