n
Inside Children & Disability
Culture — p. 5
Volume 10, Number 1
n
New Bus Boarding Policy — Page 2
SOURCES
January 10, 1999
1
“Lose not courage, lose not faith, go forward.” — Marcus Garvey
RESOURCES
January 10, 1999
LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES Disability Organizations Gear Up for 1999 Session by Charlie Smith, Editor
T
From top left, Board President David Harris, Co-Director Mary Kay Kennedy. From bottom left, Co-Director Rick Cardenas, Vice President Carol Robinson.
Changing Leadership At ACT by Denise DeVaan
L
eadership is often defined by business and academic leaders as the art of initiating and creating change. Leadership for change requires having a shared vision, clear goals, and the ability to involve others both in creating the vision and in working to make the vision become reality. The Board and staff at Advocating Change Together, Inc. (ACT) take their leadership role within the disability community seriously. For nearly 20 years they have worked to increase the numbers of persons with disabilities who will use their leadership skills to work on human and civil rights issues within the community and the workplace. The commitment to involve new people and develop new leaders has been demonstrated in a recent action the Board took to name
new officers and create a model of shared executive leadership among staff. For several months the Board of ACT has explored ways in which leadership can be shared, and the strengths of Board and staff can best be used. The Board took action to change officers and add a new member. Richard Mathison served as Board President for six years and has stepped down in this capacity. Now he will have more time to use his leadership abilities in helping ACT provide trainings and will be joining the staff for a training in North Carolina in January. Carol Robinson joined the Board as a new member. The Board took action to change the officers. Outgoing officers included Richard Mathison, President, Gloria Steinbring, Treasurer, Katie Ranck, Vice
President. This team of officers served for four years. New officers include David Harris, President, Carol Robinson, Vice President, and Tom Black, Treasurer. Joan Mielzarek has maintained her position as Secretary. “I appreciate the dedicated service given to ACT by Richard Mathison and the other outgoing officers. They have done great work. The disability community will continue to benefit from their talents in other aspects of ACT’s work,” said Mary Kay Kennedy, Executive Director. The Board took action to launch a new model of executive leadership for ACT by naming Mary Kay Kennedy and Rick Cardenas as Co-Executive Directors. Over the past ten years Mary Kay has
ACT - cont. on p. 3
he 1999 session of the Minnesota state legislature began on January 5. This year’s legislative roundtable sponsored by the Minnesota State Council on Disability was held on January 6. The purpose of the roundtable is to bring disability groups together to share their legislative priorities for the year.
Care to more easily access that program. Reforms sought may include, but are not limited to: increasing MNCare income limits; removing 4-month uninsured barrier; easing the transition between MA and MNCare; and removing the $10,000 limit on hospitalization.
The following is a summary of the priorities of various disability organizations for the upcoming session. The positions of any participants not included here will be reported in the February issue of ACCESS PRESS. For more information on the agendas outlined below, contact the specific organizations.
4. Improve cross-departmental cooperation: Urge improved cross-departmental cooperation among DHS, DES/RSB, CFL and other state departments that are working on work incentives issues.
MN Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) Work Incentives Priorities For 1999: 1. Establish Medicaid Buy-in Option: Allow continued Medicaid coverage on a gradual, sliding fee scale for working persons with disabilities who, but for income, would otherwise be eligible for Medicaid (MN Medical Assistance). Note: This option would be in addition to — not in place of — the existing SSI 1619(b) program. 2. Expand Medicaid asset/resource limits: Allow working persons with disabilities on Medicaid to save for retirement, for a down-payment on a house, and for other significant expenses. 3. Expand MinnesotaCare: Allow working people with disabilities whose needs can be met by Minnesota
5. Expand Minnesota’s Senior Drug program to people with disabilities, ages 64 and younger. 6. Improve Social Security work incentives: There is a need for a more gradual phaseout of Social Security benefits as income increases. In addition, people who take the risk to move off of SSDI need to be able to resume cash benefits more easily if their health status later changes. Efforts to pursue these changes are on hold pending federal reauthorization of the Social Security Administration’s waiver and demonstration project authority. National Federation of the Blind Of Minnesota The Federation will call upon the governor of Minnesota to propose and the 1999 Minnesota legislature to enact a $1,000,000 increase in the annual baseline appropriation for State Services for the Blind.
The Metropolitan Center for Independent Living (MCIL) Transit: An overall priority of MCIL and CCD’s Transit Advocacy Committee is to encourage movement toward an integrated accessible transit system within the seven county Metropolitan area. Metro Mobility: To advocate in support of: the Metropolitan Council’s budget request for $40.1 million for the next biennium to fund the system; an increase in service hours and area in the second and third ring suburbs where new affordable, accessible housing is being built; more actual revenue hours on the street in areas already being served (revenue hours refers to the time a vehicle makes its first pick up to the time it makes its final drop off); use of the Americans With Disabilities Act, (ADA,) as a minimum standard for delivery of transit service rather than a maximum. Metro Transit service: To monitor the implementation schedule created by the Transit Access Advisory Committee, (TAAC,) to integrate new lift-equipped buses into the existing fleet; continue to monitor service quality to ensure compliance with the ADA; monitor planning conducted by the Metropolitan Council regarding transit needs. Housing: To work for passage of the Minnesota “Visitibility,” standards which will incorporate five standards for accessibility into any new construction of housing stock with the use of state funds. These standards include, 32 inch doorways, 42 inch hall-
Leg. 99 - cont. on p. 6