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Upcoming Events
- "A Night to Shine Prom" from 6-9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 13. The dance is at the Christ's Church at Mason. Click here for details.
- DD Awareness and Advocacy Day is Tuesday, March 3. It's at the Statehouse in Columbus. Events are free, but registration is required. Details here.
- "Empowering Families Symposium: Advocating for Children with Special Needs" is 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, March 13, at Xavier University's Cintas Center.
Gary Tonks, Executive
Director of The Arc of
Ohio, is the keynote
speaker. Register for
the session here.
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From Feb. 27 to March 7, theaters around Cincinnati are participating in the ReelAbilities Film Festival. It's the largest national film festival dedicated to celebrating the lives, stories and art of people with disabilities.
The film "It's All About Friends" premieres at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 4, at the Kenwood Theater. Hamilton County DD Services is hosting this film and tickets sales benefit our agency. Click here to buy tickets for "It's All About Friends."
You can learn more about the festival and the other films here.
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CMS Update
The Ohio Department of DD transition plan forum was held Jan. 10 at Beckman. Many people attended to learn more about the plan and to share their thoughts with state officials.
If you weren't able to attend, you can download the presentation and handout, and watch a video of the presentation (from another forum) on DODD CMS Transition Plan website.
Based on public comments, the Office of Health Transformation will refine and revise the transition plan, which will be submitted to CMS by March 17.
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Award-winning levy campaign!
In November, the 2014 levy campaign won a Bronze Award at the Cincinnati Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Blacksmith Awards!
The campaign also recently won a Merit Award from the East Central District PRSA Diamond Awards. These regional awards include entries from Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and West Virginia.
Thank you to everyone who helped with the campaign!
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News around the nation
On Dec. 19, President Barack Obama signed the ABLE Act into law. ABLE amends the federal tax code to allow tax-free savings accounts to help finance disability-related needs. Click here to read more and see some reactions to this historic news.
News around Ohio
The Strategic Planning Leadership Group engaged the statewide developmental disabilities community in processes to help set strategic direction, and improve Ohio's developmental disabilities service system during the next 10 years. Click here to read the final report.
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New book about autism
Jennifer Brown, mother of Richard, who goes to Kidd Center, has published a new book, Snapshots of Richard: Living with Autism.
 In the book, Brown offers sketches of life with Richard from the time he is first diagnosed to his transition to semi-independence. It's available for sale on Amazon.
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Introducing...
The Bobbie B. Fairfax School and the Margaret B. Rost School now have Facebook pages! Click on the pictures or the links to "like" the pages and stay on top of what's happening at each of the schools.
 
Margaret B. Rost School |
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From The Superintendent
January 2015
State of the Agency
Happy New Year, a bit belated!
The first few weeks of 2015 have already flown by. They've been marked by a flurry of informational sessions led by us and other organizations. We've been sharing information, perspectives and plans related to several important state and national issues that are challenging the traditional ways that services have been delivered for more than 40 years. You have been hearing about these issues for a couple years and will continue to hear about them as this year progresses and developments occur. Documents from the communication forums that our agency conducted in the last part of January to share how Hamilton County DD Services is responding to and planning for the impact of these issues will soon be posted on our website. If you were one of the 200-plus people who attended those forums, thank you. At the forums, people served, families, guardians, and providers openly shared their thoughts and concerns about the present and future of services for people with disabilities in Hamilton County and beyond. You are being heard! We will continue to listen to you and work with you to make person-centered decisions together. In addition, we need your help to share information and provide input to us and possibly lawmakers and others as we move forward in planning. If you would like to help, please contact us by email at [email protected]. Though many details about how these issues will impact services and funding are unknown, we do know that we are going to have to change. We do not know what that change will look like. But it won't happen overnight and it will be planned so that people served are not jeopardized. We will walk through this together with our vision of community integration for all people with developmental disabilities clearly in mind, and our mission to promote and support opportunities for people with developmental disabilities to live, work, learn and fully participate in their communities. Alice C. Pavey |
Family has 'unbelievable' day at Statehouse in Columbus
When Elise and Bill Fessler headed to Columbus with their son, Robby, to provide testimony on the CMS Transition Plan, it was, as Mrs. Fessler describes, "a day that could not have been scripted better."
Before the hearing, the Fessler family decided to explore the Statehouse and stumbled upon the governor's office door.
"I decided to try to give his office copies of the testimonies we had brought and to see the face of someone with severe challenges. Robby can't advocate for himself with words, but experiencing him hopefully shows how 'one size does not fit all' in the world of disabilities," Mrs. Fessler said.
"As we were trying to talk to a lady at the office door, Gov. Kasich walked up. We introduced ourselves and told him to please keep all levels of disabilities in mind."
Kasich asked the Fesslers into his office and had a staff member call John Martin, the Director of the Ohio Dept. of DD. "We had some common ground and some different perspectives," Mrs. Fessler said of the conversation.
Martin also ensured the family could speak first at the meeting, so they could leave if needed. "Bill did a wonderful job and the testimony was well-received," she said. "Robby can only take so much advocating and he did wonderful in a very full day."
As they were leaving, the family was stopped by a reporter for The Columbus Dispatch, and the comments were featured in an article, which can be read here.
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Congratulations to Director of Integrated Services Matt Briner, who recently completed the Ohio Association of County Boards of DD Executive Development Program!
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We'd like to extend a huge thank you to Ilsco Corp. of Oakley, the Kidd Center and Northwest Community Church Youth Group for their donations of hygiene and cleaning supplies! These donations mean the people we serve can use that extra money to ease medical or transportation costs, buy another needed item or go out into the community and do something they enjoy.
| Joe Kettler, Frank Steinmetz and Jim Dwyer from Kidd |
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Staff at Ilsco Corp. and the church Youth Group
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To learn more about this program or become one of our community partners, please contact Mark Buttelwerth by phone, (513) 559-6684, or via email at [email protected].
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