 
3rd Annual Gala ~ A Summer Soiree
On Thursday evening, June 11, 2015, The Arc of the South Shore held its 3rd Annual Gala - A Summer Soiree. This tasting style event was held at our headquarters, located on the beautiful shores of Webb State Park. With a crowd of over 250 people, our sponsors, local business leaders and guests were able to enjoy a night of good food, fine wine as well as craft beers and spirits. We also held a silent auction and raffles. The proceeds raised during this night will help enrich the Arc's programming, services and advocacy to the individuals and families of The Arc of the South Shore. In addition to a night of celebration, The Arc of the South Shore honored a longstanding board member, Arthur Davies. Arthur has been on the Board of Director's for more than 10 years serving The Arc. It is with heartfelt appreciation that we honor and thank Arthur for his dedication and commitment to our agency.
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28th Annual Louis Bailey Golf Tournament
Join The Arc of the South Shore on Monday, September 14, 2015 at The Cohasset Golf Club for a fabulous day of golf, food, fun, friendship and prizes to benefit The Arc of the South Shore and the more than 2,000 individuals that we serve each year! REGISTER TODAY
Henley Building Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
In April of 2015, a ribbon cutting ceremony was held to celebrate the recent renovations to The Arc of the South Shore's Day Program space. In attendance were family and friends of The Arc, along with 3 town officials from the Weymouth Planning and  Community Development Department. The Arc of the South Shore was granted $112,000 from the Town of Weymouth's Community Development Block Grant program. With this funding, we were able to completely renovate the bathrooms in the Day Program space. The Arc of the South Shore is grateful to the Mayor of Weymouth and the Planning and Development Department for their continued support.
All Aboard the Arc
All Aboard the Arc spread its message of disability acceptance and inclusion on May16th as nearly 1,000 people descended on Boston Common. A group of individuals from our 9 residential homes joined in on the fun for the day. Special Guest Lauren Potter, who plays Becky in the TV Show "Glee," shared her story of success as a young woman with a disability. The event was also headlined by the MAI Band, Victoria Dion, Miss Amazing Teen of Massachusetts, My Own Voice and Drums Alive. The event is hosted by a statewide network of 18 Arc Chapters. 
37th Legislative Reception
The Arc of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Developmental Disabilities Council hosted the 37th Annual Legislative Reception. This is an opportunity for persons with disabilities, family members, advocates, state agency heads and staff, and legislators to meet and catch up on legislative priorities and other important issues. Governor Baker welcomed the crowd and The Arc of
Massachusetts presented Senator John Keenan with the Legislator of the Year Award.
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| Our Wonderful Volunteers   EMD Serono As the snow melted away, and the flowers began to bloom, EMD Serono and BostonCares held a service day at The Arc of the South Shore. During this all day event, EMD Serono sent 60 employees to volunteer at our headquarters, located at 371 River Street in Weymouth, to paint the outside of our headquarters, reside the Henley Building and construct raised garden beds. Simultaneously, we had an additional 50 EMD Serono employees arrive at our Pleasant Street residential home to paint the entire home. The volunteers worked very hard, and did a wonderful job. A big thank you to all the EMD Serono employees who volunteered their time - all the hard work is greatly appreciated by everyone here at The Arc!! Commonwealth Financial Group On Friday, May 15th, The First Tee of Massachusetts hosted a wonderful day of golfing at the MGA Links at Mamantapett in Norton, MA. Along with Bob Beach, the golf professional from Braintree Municipal Golf Course, and 6 volunteers from the Commonwealth Financial Group, 20 Arc golfers enjoyed a beautiful day on the links learning new golfing techniques and making some new friends!! With the help of the volunteers and golf professionals, The Arc golfers were able to perform in all the planned activities for the day which included both putting and full swing, followed by a luncheon at the clubhouse. Thanks again to Commonwealth Financial Group for supporting the Arc of the South Shore and our golfers!! Your help is always appreciated.  
Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon Our very own Jackie Pettinelli, Eileen Delaney, Bobby Gabrielle, Sue Hogan and Bill Eno from our Community Based Day Supports Program attended The volunteer Appreciation Luncheon at Lombardo's. These five were recognized for their work each week at the Whipple Senior Center in Weymouth! Serve with Liberty  This past May, over 50 local employees from Liberty Mutual Insurance Group participated in the Serve with Liberty program. Serve with Liberty is the Liberty Mutual Insurance global employee community service program. As part of this program, local employees from Liberty Mutual volunteered at several of our residential homes to help complete improvement projects in each of the homes. We had volunteers stationed at the following homes: River Street and Drinkwater Avenue in Braintree, Broad Street in Weymouth, and Pleasant Street in Rockland. The homes look great, with freshly painted rooms and new doors. We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to Liberty Mutual for all their hard work, and supporting The Arc of the South Shore. |
| Strategic Plan Update  Daryl Cook Ivan, Executive Director
As the saying goes, failing to plan is a plan to fail. This is so true! And nonprofit organizations like The Arc of the South Shore must engage in a well thought-out and coherent strategic plan, and then of course, continue to monitor progress toward the plans goals and objectives. The purpose of this article is to provide you with an overview of progress to date on our 2013-2016 agency strategic plan. As of January 1, 2015, the agency ended the Sheltered Workshop and put in place a plan to ensure individuals are receiving appropriate day or employment supports. Individuals are now receiving Employment Supports or Community Based Support Services or a combination of both. In addition, a new curriculum has been implemented that covers 5 key modules for individual growth and development: personal development, community integration, group awareness skills, employment skills training and life achievement trainings. The Day Habilitation Program Goal is to develop and expand the skill based curriculum. The interdisciplinary team meets quarterly to review curriculum implementation and progress of each individual toward their personal goals. The addition of a behavioral clinician and implementation of Positive Behavior Supports has enhanced program quality. Our goal in Workforce Development focuses on employee recognition and development. Over the past two years, we have implemented agency wide and program based employee recognition programs; revised all job descriptions; conducted annual salary surveys that ensure the agency provides competitive wages and benefits package; enhanced agency communication with all employees through a variety of modes especially through the use of the ADP portal, and our employee newsletter, The Messenger . To ensure all of our facilities and buildings are in the best condition the agency hired a full time Facility Manager. This position ensures all buildings are well maintained and that all maintenance and repair needs are addressed. Over the past two years, all buildings and homes have received many upgrades. In Residential Supports we have increased the number of barrier-free bedrooms (with accessible bathrooms) from 12 to 17. Additionally, we have enhanced the quality of our services in residential supports with a staff RN, Behavioral Consultant and the addition of three new Residential Program Managers. The RN, Behaviorist, and Residential Managers are instrumental in the implementation of Positive Behavioral supports. The agency is now an approved shared living provider and will be able to take DDS referrals for shared living services in the future. The agency has experienced program growth over the past two years in two key programs. The Adult Foster Care (AFC) program has grown to 57 members and now has three full time staff. The Personal Care Management program has grown to 797 members. The goal of our Development Department is to raise money through donations and grants and to increase agency visibility in the community. Development has successfully raised funds to purchase program materials for several programs: day habilitation, community based day services, employment, early intervention, and weekend respite. Visibility in the community was achieved via the many events organized by Development and through partnerships with other community organizations. In addition to our annual golf outing and legislative breakfast, there were two new events: Mingle and Jingle, and the 3rd Annual Gala, Our Summer Soiree. Community partnerships resulted in an art show fundraiser and the Hanover Mall Christmas tree contest. In addition, the agency received positive newspaper coverage and we have our own marketing /PR video. The Finance and Business office has substantially addressed their goal to centralize all purchasing; improve employee access to agency information via shared network drive; and updated or developed new agency policies and procedures. The financial management of the agency is the strongest ever allowing the Agency to give all employees a substantial year-end bonus and maintain a generous benefits package. With one year left in our 2013-2016 plan, we have met many of our goals. I am confident that as a team, we will continue to move forward with our strategic plan through June 2016. Our Board of Directors is already starting the conversation and preparing for our next Strategic planning process. A Board planning meeting was held in April to start the process.
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Out and About
Sing along with Lenny and Terrence Palmer!
Thank you to the Weymouth Police and Fire Department as well as Fallon Ambulance Service for coming out and providing an informative and exciting day!
A visit from the Scituate Animal Shelter
Individuals from our Day Hab and Community Basefd Day Support Program created some beautiful artwork at The south Shore Art Center
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Achieve with us.
With your support you can help us achieve our goals!
- Increase our capability and capacity to support individuals with Autism and help us develop our Autism Resource Center
- Develop more community based activities for individuals
- Expand community living options for individuals
- Support self advocacy efforts
- Enhance clinical support to our programs resulting in a positive quality of life for each person
- Create innovative new programming
- Support our capital needs to expand our facilities due to increased referrals
The Arc of the South Shore provides Family Support Services, Residential Services, First Early Intervention, Day Services, Employment Services, Adult Foster Care, Personal Care Services and Community Based Day Supports to more than 2,000 individuals each year.
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Positive Behavior Supports The Arc of the South Shore has been moving forward implementing Positive Behavioral Supports. Clear universal expectations have been written for all the programs and have been distributed. Residential Managers have all had an introduction to PBS. They all participated in making a training video for staff and one for the individuals, teaching what is PBS and what is not. This training has also been presented to the day habilitation program who have also developed a training video. Our Staff never knew learning PBS could be so much fun. Next training will be with Community Based Day Services. Massachusetts Budget Updates The Conference Committee, chaired by Rep. Brian Dempsey and Senator Karen Spilka, released a very positive report on July 7, 2015. As we went into Conference Committee we were concerned about potential shortfalls entering this fiscal year (which started on July 1st). We hope and trust that the full legislature will approve the budget and that Gov. Baker will not veto any of our line items. The highlights:
- Family Support is $1 million higher than the original figure from last year - a relief and a big boost since last year an early 9C cut before the new administration prevented spending of most of the new money allocated in the FY'2015 budget. This means DDS will have $3.5 million to provide in new allocations.
- Adult Autism Services line is tagged at the full amount projected in spending this year for the new line item. In addition, the Conference Committee added $300,000 to fund the Autism Commission, which avoids cutting back service dollars for this use.
- Day and Employment received the full maintenance amount for which we advocated. The "maintenance" protects those who require more individualized services in day habilitation which are funded through DDS, but it also means that no Turning 22 students who graduated last year will lose their job coaches and related services - every year new students "Turn 22" and require day/employment services. The full allocation for such services appears in the following year in this line item.
- Transportation - a big boost to maintain services; lack of transportation continues to be a barrier for employment and maintaining social connections.
- Final increase to comply with chapter 257 for residential services. This is a significant investment which completes the first round of addressing chapter 257 with residential.
- Turning 22 and children's autism waiver each received $500,000 more in funding than last year.
- In MassHealth, language restores caregiver respite funding in the AFC program (so a 3-month hiatus in that funding is now over) and a study on dental benefits is required. The latter will compare benefits in 2016 to those in 2010 (last large series of cuts in the budget due to the recession).
- Early Intervention is higher than both versions and above last year's total. EI has not yet benefited from chapter 257 rate adjustments. This is a key issue this year with the administration as they compete with hospitals and other settings for key staff.
You can view our chart of line items here. It's time to thank our conferees, and soon our legislators, for a very positive budget for our community |
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Become A Member
Join The Arc of the South Shore today and be an advocate for tomorrow. As a member you join us on a local level in support of the more than 2,000 families served annually by The Arc since 1951. It also give you automatic membership in The Arc of Massachusetts and The Arc of the U.S. providing statewide and national advocacy efforts on behalf of children and adults with developmental disabilities and autism. One hundred percent of your dues will go toward making your voice heard on state and national levels and making sure the people that we serve are well protected. Become A Member Now!
The Arc of the South Shore is looking for volunteers to participate on our Government Affairs Committee. We are also taking applications for new Board Members. If interested, please send your resume and letter of interest to Daryl Cook
Advocacy efforts Include: Budget and Appropriations, Civil Rights, Education, Employment, Family Support, Health Care, Housing, Long Term Supports & Services, Medicaid and Social Security
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Family Supports Survey ~ Help us Help You!
The Arc of the South Shore continually works to expand and improve its programming so that we can better serve the South Shore Community. We are currently creating an Autism Resource Center to fill the void of services for people with autism in our community by:
- Expanding our current Saturday Respite Program
- Growing our clinical capacity to compliment our current Master's level clinician with BCBA Certification
- Providing training for all staff in ABA practices
- Incorporating Positive Behavioral Supports
- Increasing the use of evidenced based practices
- Utilizing The Arc's National Autism Now Program ~ A National Autism Resource and Information Center
Please fill out the survey and let us know what services are important to you. The survey will take less than 5 minutes and will be extremely helpful in allowing us to put together an exceptional program.
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Upcoming Events and Programs
2015 Summer Leadership Institute July 20-22, 2015 ~ Providence, Rhode Island Hosted by the Arc's National Conference of Executives this three day conference was created to provide attendees with focused training in organizational and program development necessary for serving a diverse I/DD community. More Information
Social Security Presentation
Wednesday, July 22, 2015 ~ Thayer Public Library ~ 9:30am
To register contact Katie Hanley
Sensory Processing Disorder Webinar
Wednesday, July 29, 2015 ~ 7pm-8pm
Presented by Kim Martell, MA, OTRL/L, BCN
South Shore YMCA Inclusion Camp 2015
iCan Bike Program Summer Camp
August 10-14, 2015
Teaches individuals with disabilities how to ride a conventional bike and become a lifelong independent rider, a milestone in life that creates confidence, independence and friendship. Learn More
The 28th Annual Louis Bailey Golf Tournament
Monday, September 14, 2015 ~ Cohasset Golf Club
Register Today
Special Needs Estate Planning
Thursday, September 17, 2015 ~ Abington Public Library ~ 6pm - 8pm
Presented by Attorney Annette Hines
To register contact Katie Hanley
The Great Pumpkin Give-A-Wey Saturday, October 3, 2015 ~ Weymouth Town Hall and Libby Field Come visit The Arc of the South Shore table for fabulous raffle prizes and giveaways! The Arc 2015 National Convention October 3-5, 2015 ~ Indianapolis, IN Registration Transition from School to Adult Life Saturday, October 3, 2015 ~ Best Western,, Marlborough, MA ~ 8am - 4pm More Information Autism Insurance Law Presentation Tuesday, October 6, 2015 ~ Abington Public Library ~ 6pm-8pm Presented by Autism Insurance Resource Center To register contact Katie Hanley Guardianship Presentation Thursday, October 22, 2015 ~ Abington Public Library ~ 6pm-8pm Presented by Attorney Annette Hines To register contact Katie Hanley Mingle and Jingle ~ A Family Holiday Concert Featuring The Atlantic Symphony Orchestra Thursday, December 10, 2015 ~ Thayer Academy, Center for the Performing Arts For more information or sponsorship opportunities contact, Brenda Linden |
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