Here you can find the latest news and a list of upcoming events developed by the Family Support 360 Initiative. You can also read Family Support Success Stories and the Commissioner's Comments.
Documents are stored as Microsoft Word  and PDF files  . PDF files can be accessed with Adobe Acrobat. To download Acrobat, click here.
|
Here you can see the latest news and events relevant to Family Support 360 grantees. You can also view the Family Support 360 Report Schedule and read Family Support Success Stories, the Commissioner's Comments, and E-Newsletters.
NEWS
Communication Barrier
July 8, 2008
The Oregon Family Support 360 Grantee, Juntos Podemos: Centro Integral para Familias/Together We Can: A One-Stop Center for Families, garnered media coverage with this front-page article about the help it provided to the family of a young boy with autism. The family, speaking minimal English, was able to connect to supports and services with the aid of Spanish-speaking staff and foreign language resources available at Juntos Podemos. (Statesman Journal)
Medicaid Victory for Social Workers
June 19, 2008
The House of Representatives passed an urgent supplemental spending bill by a vote of 416 to 12. This broad legislation contains three critical Medicaid rule moratoria. The compromise bill reflects an agreement struck between the House leadership and the White House, and the Senate is expected to concur, clearing it for President Bush's signature. The bill addresses the following Medicaid Rules: Case Management and Targeted Case Management, Rehabilitation Services Option, School-Based Administration and Transportation Services. (National Association of Social Workers)
Accessible Taxicabs to be Available in Washington, DC
June 19, 2008
The National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board approved funding to bring wheelchair accessible taxicabs to the District of Columbia for the first time. The approval of funding is based on the collaborative efforts and support from the DC Taxicab Commission and the DC Office of Disability Rights. Three companies receiving funding will offer 21 wheelchair accessible taxis as early as January 2009.
Empowering the Disabled
June 12, 2008
The District of Columbia Family Support 360 grantee, Quality Trust Family EMPOWERment Center, garnered media coverage with this article about their new resource room, which includes computers equipped with speech recognition, touchscreen, and magnification assistive technologies. The article also spotlights the mission and goals of the Family EMPOWERment Center. (Washington Informer)
LABELED DISABLED Documentary
May 2008
During the last decade, classroom teacher, Maggie Doben, has worked with early childhood students, helping them to explore and understand physical disabilities. The transformation of perception is an amazing process. Each year as the lessons begin, they reveal the stereotypes and discriminatory behaviors that are imposed by society. LABELED DISABLED addresses curriculum that challenges those biases and demonstrates, through first hand experience that they are stereotypes, not reality. Watch what actually happens in the classroom as children discuss and challenge prejudice.
Olympic Dream Stays Alive, on Synthetic Legs
May 22, 2008
When an international court ruled Friday that a double-amputee sprinter from South Africa was eligible to compete in this summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing, the stage was set for disabled athletes to meet their own trailblazer. The watershed ruling made the runner, Oscar Pistorius, the first amputee to successfully challenge the notion that his carbon-fiber prosthetics gave him an unfair advantage and assured his right to race against able-bodied athletes in the Olympics, should he qualify. (New York Times)
Appeals Court: Paper Money Discriminates Against Blind
May 21, 2008
A federal appeals court recently upheld a 2006 ruling which may require the Treasury Department to make modifications to currency. In a 2-1 opinion, federal appeals court judges wrote that current bills deny people with vision disabilities "meaningful access" to U.S. money. A judge on the case noted that a person could not determine the difference between a one-hundred dollar bill and a one dollar bill by touch. (FoxNews.com)
Social Security Administration Amends the Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Program
May 20, 2008
The Ticket to Work program provides Social Security Disability Insurance and disabled Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries expanded options for access to employment services, vocational rehabilitation services, and other support services. The Social Security Administration is revising prior rules to improve the overall effectiveness of the program to maximize the economic self-sufficiency of beneficiaries through work opportunities.
EVENTS
Time Zone Converter
2008 Technical Assistance Institute—July 23-25, 2008
The 2008 TA Institute will be convened at the Westin Washington, DC City Center Hotel, from July 23 to 25, 2008. Each project may bring up to three people to the Institute, and ADD has requested that at least one of the attendees from each state be a Navigator, as there will be a Navigator track.
Emergency Preparedness Workshops
The Department of Homeland Security is hosting workshops to engage people interested in homeland security in a partnership to develop a national culture of preparedness. The workshops will provide community organizations with a unique opportunity to discuss pertinent issues with Department and FEMA leadership, as well as state and local emergency preparedness and emergency management officials. The workshops are scheduled as follows:
- Chicago, IL (July 2008)
- Los Angeles, CA (August 2008)
- New York City (September 2008)
Abilities EXPO 2008
The 2008 Abilities EXPO will hold shows in three locations: New York, California, and Minnesota. For specific show dates and more information, visit the website.
The Arc’s 58th Annual Convention — November 6-8, 2008
The Arc will hold its annual convention at the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The theme for the 2008 gathering is Telling our Story - Weaving our Future.
2008 Institute for Transportation Coordination — November 17-20, 2008
This intensive, three-day training and planning forum is designed to enhance the capacity of communities to provide cost-effective and customer-focused transportation services by coordinating funding, information, services, and equipment. Participants have the opportunity to learn about coordination models, explore promising local coordination practices, discuss effective community outreach and partnership-building strategies, and increase their knowledge about technical tools and other operational issues. Attention is also given to leveraging federal dollars and maximizing relationships with local agencies that receive funding through federal programs. State-, regional-, or local-based teams are invited to apply. Twenty teams, chosen through a competitive process, will be accepted to attend. When applying, please use the on-line application formand submit by August 15, 2008. (supplied by the Community Transportation Association)
Caring for Your Parents
The reality of an aging population unfolds in this 90-minute documentary. Five families are spotlighted as they cope with tension among siblings, shifting caregiver roles, and the difficulties of keeping aging parents at home. Following the film, Art Ulene, a former medical correspondent for NBC News, hosts a 30-minute panel discussion that offers advice on caregiving. This program can be viewed and purchased online. (supplied by PBS)
Job Accommodation Network Webcasts
The Office of Disability Employment Policy’s Job Accommodation Network and U.S. Business Leadership Network have teamed up for the 2007/2008 series of educational Webcasts on a range of employment topics and with a variety of speakers, including, in December, Equal Employment Opportunity Commissioner Christine Griffin. Webcasts are held the second Tuesday of the month at 2 pm Eastern. For topic schedule and registration, visit website.
National Technical Assistance Center for Children's Mental Health:
National TA Conference Call Series
The conference calls cover important and emerging trends in the mental health field. Presentations from expert resource persons are followed by open discussion in order for all participants to ask questions and enrich the conversation.
For call topic schedule, registration, and handouts, visit the Web site.
PACER Center Technical Assistance on Transition and the Rehabilitation Act (TATRA) Events Calendar
The TATRA Events Calendar features national and regional conferences focusing on topics related to secondary transition and career development.
People on the Move: Using All Transportation Options (ADA and Beyond…)
Easter Seals Project ACTION presents this free “train-the-trainer” initiative to increase accessible transportation in your community. The two-day training offers teachers and trainers the basic tools needed to expand community transportation options. Multiple training locations and dates are available. Applications are required to reserve a place in training.
Online Autism Conference—Held Autumn, 2006
For Archived Discussions:
www.autism2006.org
Report Schedule
April 30
April/May - RFQs and Continuation Application** due to ADD
June 30
October 31
*If this link does not take you directly to the Private Resource Library, please log in, choose 'Private Resource Library' from the left side menu, and proceed to the 'ADD Report Schedule, Instructions & Templates' section.
**ADD will mail the continuation packets, and the accompanying letter will contain the actual due date.
FAMILY STORIES
Family Support Success Story — Oregon
The Oregon Family Support 360° Project, Juntos Podemos Centro Para Familias (Together We Can Family Center) helps a mother find needed dental assistance for her son with cerbral palsy.
Archived Family Stories
COMMISSIONER'S COMMENTS
Commissioner's Comments — Sustainability — July 2007
One of the things that really impressed me is the maturity of the projects as reflected by what people have said and the questions they have asked...
Archived Commissioner's Comments
E-NEWSLETTERS
July 18, 2008
Archived E-Newsletters
|
