John's usual--
Thank you to all of you who came down to 38 West Seminary to say hi to Holly and me! Our boozy hot chocolate (and eggnog martini) bar raised $525 toward the Kenilee Bowling Center Wheelchair Accessibility Project. CLI is almost half-way to fully funding this project, if you can believe it! While we obviously have some work to do to raise the remaining $75,000 that we'll need to complete the full renovation including the facade-- we are pretty confident that we're going to make it. And we're already sketching out our next ambition-- to create a wheelchair accessible co-working space on the second floor of 16 West Main Street. We've been very excited to find someone who can install a wheelchair lift that can make the 2nd floor fully accessible! How cool is that?!
If you scroll down in this newsletter, you'll find a YouTube video regarding the Olmstead Decision's impact on Illinois services. I think this is relevant to Ohio as we move forward out of this pandemic. Somehow, we are going to have to rebuild (post-pandemic) a consistent day service system that our clients and their families can depend on AND make sure that nobody gets sued for ignoring federal laws. When my son was in high school and I was on his case what would happen if he didn't take care of _________, he would often respond "that sounds like a problem for future Graeme."
The future for Ohio is just no longer far enough away that we can afford to ignore all the reasons that Ohio completely changed laws and disrupted 40+ year old County-run day programs. COVID may be less of a threat-- but buying segregated services with public tax dollars (Medicaid and local tax levies) is shaky ground. Ohio's new service, "ADS-Community", funds small-group, community-integrated stuff. BUT-- it pays more because it demands more from providers like CLI-- both in terms of much smaller community-based group sizes AND clear, specific outcomes (think "reason" or "goal") justifying that expense. CLI recognizes that clients, families, and residential providers need consistent day service time slots. Ohio's laws no longer allow old-school workshop services to be paid by Medicaid funds. The new rules require that providers like CLI demonstrate consistent progress toward employment, independent living, and/or community integration goals. CLI believes that it's possible to replace the old model with a new array of day services that combines intensive small-group services with less structured large-group services-- all taking place at community locales.
Confused just a little? Yep-- so are we. 2022 promises to be a bumpy year as CLI, our clients, County Boards of DD, and the whole state of Ohio sort this out. It is more important than ever that individuals with DD and their families advocate clearly for the services each person wants. It is possible to build a better day array service that is customized to each person. However, it is the nature of "custom" that you can't just step into it. The one-size-fits all workshop model is gone. However, replacing that old model with a legal, custom array of daytime services is 100% doable-- one ISP at a time.
John
