Colorado Statewide Independent Living Council Meeting
Minutes
November 18, 2009
Denver, Colorado
Present: Linda LaPointe, Julia Beems, Billy Allen, Debbie Petersen, Patricia Yeager, Carol Hunter, Cindy Powell, James Tucker, Andy O’Riley, Ana French, and Judy Neal.
Excused absences: Jan Ward, Hope Krause
Unexcused absence: Linda Taylor
Staff: Mark Cloer, Rebecca Johnson
Introductions/Approval of Minutes
The meeting started shortly after 9 AM. After introductions, Linda LaPointe, chair asked for approval of the September 16 minutes of the council. Cindy Powell moved to approve the minutes and Julia Beems seconded the motion. No changes were offered. The motion carried unanimously. Judy informed the Council that the person who was to speak about the Medicaid Buy in program (later on the agenda) was unavailable but would be rescheduled.
Rebecca Johnson, staff from DVR and the person who makes all of the travel/meeting arrangements for the SILC and pays our bills attended this meeting. This was the first time for many of us to meet her and she was warmly welcomed. Rebecca announced that the per diem for Colorado Springs and Denver was $66. She indicated that to get the dinner reimbursement you had to arrive home substantially after 8 PM. She also announced that the state was offering electronic funds direct deposit of travel reimbursements. If anyone is interested please contact Rebecca at Rebecca.Johnson@state.co.us .
Committee Reports
Membership
Cindy Powell, chair reported that the committee did meet in Colorado Springs with Judy Neal where they discussed the members’ seats that were up for renewal. Boards and Commissions informed Judy that Larry Williams was ineligible for another term, having served two already. Amy Allred did not re-apply. Carol Hunter, Hope Krause, Billy Allen, Linda LaPointe, Julia Beems and Debbie Petersen did re-apply. Their applications were accepted by the committee. Ana French was accepted as the rep from the Client Assistance Center. The committee recommended to the Executive committee that all those who did reapply be approved and that Ana French be approved as well.
Judy mentioned that a reorganization of the Department of Human Services had slowed down the flow of paperwork, recommending approval of the members re-applying to the SILC, to Boards and Commissions. Also, someone above Nancy Smith questioned why there were so many members from Colorado Springs. Judy’s response was that the Council is striving for statewidedness but its membership often ends up coming from one area or another. In the past, Denver and Grand Junction have been heavily represented. This seemed to satisfy everyone but the information must still flow up the Human Services Department pipeline before going over to Boards and Commissions. The committee is still looking for new members from other parts of the state, those with mobility impairments, TBI, and mental health disabilities.
Finance Committee:
Billy Allen, chair, reported that the committee had met and indicated that the bills for the September meeting have not come in yet and the Needs Assessment project is just getting off the ground. Thus only about 10% of the budget has been spent. By January we should have two meetings of expenses and be fully into the needs assessment costs. He presented the monthly budget report that showed expenses through October 30.
Judy Neal indicated that the Governor is softening a bit on the out of state travel ban. We would have to put in a request 6 weeks before (unless it is DC then it is 6 months prior) the event. Given the poor experience of the SILC Congress meeting last January, the committee was recommending that if there are funds available the Council might consider sending a member to NCIL this summer. That will be considered after January’s expenditure report.
State Plan Committee
Julia Beems, chair, reported that the work with the consultants was going well. Judy, Patricia and Julia were provided training on how to conduct a focus group with a very structured set of instructions. Dr. Brittany Lane will be conducting two groups on November 21: one in Ft Collins (focusing on Hispanics with disabilities) and one in Denver focusing on African Americans. James Tucker will be there to assist as a member of the SILC. Julia and Patricia will travel to the Western Slope to conduct two focus groups in December: deaf individuals in Grand Junction and youth in Craig. The consultants wanted to have all the focus group data in by the end of November but it may be December 30 before that is accomplished. Julia also asked for volunteers to do one on one key informant interviews using a toll free telephone service with a digital recorder. Debbie, Linda LaPointe and Cindy Powell expressed interest in participating.
Funding formula research project in conjunction with the needs assessment
Patricia reported on a project that is a part of the Needs Assessment. It is looking at the funding formula for the Centers. The ARRA funding highlighted some of the problems of the current formula (mainly that all Part C centers had reached the $250,000 threshold). The Illinois’ CILs had an economist construct a formula that takes into account the poverty and geographic aspects as well as number of people with disabilities for each county. All information is based on the Census. Indiana then picked it up and had the Indiana Business Research Center (IBRC) at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business replicate the formula for Indiana and it has been very well received by the directors there. (The document and formula can be found at www.icoil.org, Indiana’s SILC website.)Their state plan and funding priorities are being built around the new formula. In both states the formula shows how under-funded the IL system is. Other states in the Midwest (Okalahoma, Arkansas) are expressing interest as are Bob Michaels and SILC-Net folks.
Patricia suggested it might be better to have the formula re-worked with Colorado Census numbers before showing it to the Center Directors. At that point they will have a complete picture of a formula being used in several other states. So as a part of the needs assessment, a doctoral level student in Statistics at UNC is replicating the formula with Colorado numbers. Patricia hopes to have a report by the January meeting. We want to make sure that no center loses any funding because of any proposed new formula. If the formula looks as good here as it has in other states, she will be asking the SILC to bring a Center director from Illinois to explain the formula and how it works to the SILC and ACCIL.
Public Policy Committee
Carol Hunter, chair, indicated that her committee was working on a series of issue briefs, using the demographic data from the National Disability Statistics Center, that will paint a picture of what it’s like to have a disability in Colorado. The committee will be presenting their initial work later in the meeting.
Executive Committee
Linda LaPointe, chair reported that the committee met monthly to discuss such issues as budget expenses, SILC meeting agendas, etc. Recommendations on Council membership were accepted. She indicated that Mark had sent out press releases on the new officers to newspapers around the state. James Tucker gave several tips on how to get releases actually covered in the news.
Finance Report
This was given under committee reports. There was no action to vote on.
SILC Coordinator Report
Mark Cloer spent the last two months preparing for the November general meeting, staffing the regular November SILC meetings, working with the contracted assessment team, and carrying out the tasks of the SILC Coordinator.
He spoke with two center directors which have expressed their willingness to provide refreshments and a location to host two focus groups. The focus groups will be held Saturday, November 21, 2009.
Mark attended a RSA training Meeting to better understand what RSA will be looking for as we develop our new Sate Plan. He also worked with RSA in facilitating member participation for their November visit.
ACCIL Report
The ACCIL representative was not at the meeting so no report was given.
State Rehabilitation Council Report
Debbie Petersen attended the SRC meeting where much of the discussion focused on the RSA review which was going on at the time. One of the topics of discussion was the ‘roller coaster” effect of the way that money is allocated for VR services in Colorado. RSA was struck by how difficult it is to operate in a feast or famine environment. There was a review of DVR policies concerning the Ticket to Work program that clarified when a consumer signs an Individual Work Plan it means that the Division is getting that consumer’s ticket.
A retreat is being scheduled to define the relationship between DVR and the SRC. A brief task force of members from both DVR and SRC has been appointed to work on this. Debbie reported that the client waiting list for services has been reopened. One day a month about 400 consumers are taken off the list and begin receiving preliminary services. Several new counselors have been hired.
DVR Report
RSA monitoring visit
Judy began by explaining the role of the federal Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) with regard to the Rehabilitation Act. They are the arm of the federal government that distributes federal rehabilitation dollars and monitors the state VR agency, CILs and SILCs among other organizations funded under the Rehabilitation Act. During the first week of November they were in Colorado to do a monitoring visit which the agency has been preparing for over the last 6 months or so.
Disbursing ARRA funds
Sean Barrett is the IL rep for Colorado at RSA and Judy was able to get clarifications on the process for releasing the ARRA funds. There can be no ARRA funds disbursed until the state plan amendments have been approved by the SILC and DSU, then RSA must approve them. Part B and the OIB (Older Individuals who are Blind) amendment will be completed first and submitted. Then the Part C amendment will be completed. As soon as the one amendment is approved those dollars will be allocated; the same is true for the second amendment. There will need to be a public hearing which will probably be held in Denver, along with posting on the SILC website for comment. Judy is shooting for the part B/OIB funding to start flowing within several months and predicts the Part C funding will start in March.
Judy then talked about the exit interview with RSA and DVR, which Patricia attended as the SILC rep. Both agreed that Nancy Smith and the agency got compliments on several program aspects that may be shared with the rest of the country as best practices. RSA expressed amazement that the agency could function as well as it does given the “roller coaster” funding cycles in Colorado. And, of course, RSA had identified areas in which they wanted to see improvements.
RSA is very concerned with the way that the federal dollars are disbursed to the centers and expressed some surprise that the process was allowed by the state with its funding. Specifically, they are very uncomfortable (to the point of questioning the legality) of disbursing funds in a 1/12th manner. Federal law requires that dollars spent be linked with services provided and documentation should be provided as well. This could cause a change in the way Part B funds are disbursed and ultimately the way CILCs funds (state funded IL dollars) are disbursed. On the other hand RSA was very excited by how the OIB funds and program is structured. A panel of consumers and others were convened to develop priorities for that funding, an RFP was developed and DVR uses performance measures as a criterion for the next award. (JUDY is this accurate?)
With regard to the IL/SILC program, Patricia reported that Judy was singled out as having a great impact on improving the program-RSA heard this from all stakeholders. RSA did comment on the lack of a working relationship between the SILC, the Centers and the DSU. It seems that there is misinformation on all sides and it was recommended that a two day conference of all three stakeholders be held to educate everyone about each other’s roles. It was also pointed out that the definitions of IL services are included in the 704 report instructions as well as FAQs on the RSA website. There should not be a discrepancy between centers’ reporting services based on “lack of clarity” on what constitutes a specific service. Patricia suggested it would be good to have Sean Barrett come out to facilitate that workshop so that all the stakeholders heard it from the federal officials together. The SILC is considering holding such a workshop as a “fifth” meeting this year.
Old Business
Emergency Preparedness project
Julia Beems reported on her work with the 9th District “CMIST” committee formerly known as the special needs committee. Julia and Patricia held the first training of consumers on a snowy day in Denver on October 21st. Two consumers attended, both of whom were non verbal and used communication devices. A staff member from the state Homeland Security division and the convener of the CMIST group, an emergency planner from Aurora also attended. The emergency planner and a firefighter helped with the presentation about the issues confronting people with disabilities and the first responders/EP planners. It was an eye-opening experience for all involved. The EP planner and Homeland Security staff member finally “got it” as to how complex this planning will be for the wide variety of consumers living in the community. It was clear that the two consumers had not given this any thought. A number of strategies for people with severe disabilities and those who use communication boards were developed. Julia and Patricia believe that it may be better to do this training in disability specific groups so as to give more attention to the strategy development part of the training.
As a result of this experience, the next CMIST meeting was nearly completely focused on people with disabilities living in the community. The planners are beginning to articulate that they are charged with saving as many people with the money they have and that people with disabilities may get short shrift if they don’t have good plans and use existing programs/resources. While this isn’t what we want to hear, at least they are starting to recognize the scope of emergency planning for people with disabilities living in the community.
Julia is also attending the Ready Colorado website meetings and working on getting it accessible and stocked with information relevant to the disability community. September is Emergency Planning month and it was suggested as a goal of the next state plan that the second EP brief be released. It would focus on individual responsibility and resources to create a personal preparedness plan. There are plenty of checklists out there for people with specific disabilities-just a matter of making them available for use.
New Business
More on RSA visit
Linda LaPointe and Debbie Petersen attended the workshop on creating the State Plan that RSA staff put on while they were visiting DVR. The state plan should start with the end result in mind. RSA staff recommended looking at from the view of “ A person with a disability can wake up and say, ‘My life has improved because of X goal.’ Goals should have a map to get there that includes action steps and measurements that show you accomplished the objective/goal. Data is needed in order to identify goals and determine needs as well as measure outcomes. Keep asking why until you get down to a specific activity or action.
Patricia talked about the conference call that Sean had with members of the Executive committee. She indicated that he was complimentary about the issue brief as an acceptable way of conducting advocacy for the SILC. He asked to see the SILC operating manual and the group suggested that a memorandum of understanding about the independence of the SILC from the DSU should be developed.
Public Comment Period
No one was at the meeting from the public and no public comments were offered.
Public Policy Committee Presentation
The public policy committee identified the issues of employment, healthcare, income and poverty, housing, transportation and civil rights (voting) as areas in the demographic study that the National Disability Stats program provided to the SILC. Each member of the committee is taking a topic and creating a half page of significant information in bullet points for a one page issue brief on that topic. The goal is to paint a picture of what it’s like to have a disability in Colorado and what it should be like given the topic (i.e., transportation, housing, etc.). Handouts were emailed to the SILC members in advance of the presentation. As the issue briefs are finished they will be distributed to the Legislature, other policy makers, the CILs and consumers.
Presentation on Partners for Access to the Woods program
Carol Hunter presented information on her program which creates and fosters access to the woods for people of all ages and abilities. She works with university students at the School of Mines and at UCD to design and build various aspects of access from ramps and tactile signage to testing soil hardening materials for trails that are natural and mimic the environment in which they are placed. She is also creating a birding program for youth and adults who are blind.
For her presentation to the SILC, she demonstrated the concepts of slope and cross slope on trails using several 2 by 4 posts. Currently the program is seeking funds to construct universal access to and along the old Berthoud Pass wagon road. The project is estimated to take 2 years to construct and the land is already purchased. It will showcase the history of that area, allow colleagues from around the country involved in designing universally accessible outdoor areas to see what works, allow Craig Hospital and other rehab facilities to bring their patients here to practice outdoor wheelchair skills and give school children access to all of the above.
The meeting adjourned at 2 PM. The next meeting will be in Denver on January 20th, location to be determined.
Recorded by
Patricia Yeager
Patricia Yeager, Secretary