CLI Update - Week of January 30th, 2023

Week of January 30th, 2023

More OHgo shots. You can learn more about this

great non-profit on their site www.ohgoreach.org.

John's usual--

Just another reminder that the Norwalk Arts Center (NAC) is raffling off a trip to Ireland Tickets are $100 and they are aready almost all sold. I still have 3 tickets left. NAC and their board members have been great partners to us at CLI and I really appreciate their enthusiasm for improving our community. You can learn more about NAC and this raffle by going to their website norwalkartscenter.org.

This coming week the highlights from the National Day Calendar site (nationaldaycalendar.com) are:

Monday- Bubble-Wrap & Croissants
Tuesday- Hot Chocolate, Inspire Your Heart With Art, Plan For Vacation, & National Backwards Day
Wednesday- Dark Chocolate, Texas, Girls/Women in Sports, Get up, Baked Alaska, Serpent, & Freedom
Thursday- Groundhog, Optimist, Tater Tots, & Heavenly Hash
Friday- 4 Chaplains, Bubblegum, Missing Persons, Women Doctors, Wear Red, & Carrot Cake
Saturday- Ice Cream For Breakfast, Hemp, Homemade Soup, Create A Vacuum, & Thank A Mail Carrier
Sunday - Nutella, Shower With A Friend, Weatherpersons

One exciting thing that happened last week is that DODD finally released a special payment to direct care providers equal to 6.5% of our quarterly billing for the 2nd Quarter of 2022. This has been more than a year in process. It was initiated by a statewide group of County Boards of DD in late 2021 to help providers retain staff-- and is funded collectively by County Boards of DD. Every quarter, DODD will send participating providers a payment equal to 6.5% of our Medicaid billing for that quarter. CLI is then to divide that money up between employees who were employed by CLI during that quarter and are still employed by CLI right now. We will be getting 2 more of these payments for 2022 and I expect that we'll continue to get them through 2023, but I don't think this will continue indefinitely. I think most people recognize that quarterly bonuses aren't enough, that we have to fix the rates so that providers can afford to pay staff more-- not just bonuses. However, I appreciate the investment/support that both the state and the collective counties are making in providers. Direct care staff definitely deserve more.

We've shared AbilityWorks Talent Show flyer below-- and we're inviting other providers to join CLI's Thursday Zoom Bingo. We think that more collaboration benefits everyone. I don't know much about this talent show, but if you are interested in learning more about it, I'll be happy to put you in contact with the people that do at AbilityWorks.

That's al I have for this week. Keep those hands clean!

John

CLI would like to introduce readers to our newest staff person-- Ron Ross.

Ron's interests are are demolition derby, traveling, bowling, and working on his mustang when it's warm outside.

Word on the street is that Ron won the Erie County Fair Demolition Derby last year. We're pretty excited that he's offered to let us help paint his car for next season!

Ohio Statehouse DD Day: Registration for the DD Awareness and Advocacy Day

This year’s event is scheduled for Wednesday, March 1, 2023, at the Ohio Statehouse. A program featuring speakers with developmental disabilities, family members and other stakeholders will begin at 10:00 a.m. in the Statehouse Atrium. Following the 1-hour program, participants have the opportunity to meet with legislators and staff.

Appointments will be made for all participants who wish to meet with their Representatives and Senators. New to this year’s event is dedicated space for adult changing tables. You can register yourself and others here.

Firelands Local's Margaret Reffner celebrated a birthday last week. Margaret is an invaluable member of FL's team and has headed up our Document Destruction business for almost 20 years!

We're going to try to do better celebrating birthdays. Olivia has started a list of birthdays and there is a crew of people that are pretty excited about it. Here's a group after delivering a hand-made card to Margaret at the shop.

If you'd like to be on the birthday list-- let us know!

Firelands Local LLC

James Johnson james@firelandslocal.com 419-921-6400

Click here if you'd like to learn more about paid workshop services!

Did you know that CLI is still running our virtual Bingo that we started in 2020?

We're doing it on Thursday afternoons and it is open to anyone, whether at home or another day service provider location. It's a lot of fun and a good way to connect with people that you might not otherwise get to see.

Did we mention that there are prizes?

CLI's Good Works Cafe offers a free community lunch every Friday afternoon at the Norwalk Reservoir Clubhouse.

Thanks to the generous donations (money & food), CLI is able to take care of our neighbors and also get some real life restaurant and customer service job training.

If you'd like to learn more or would like to donate to this cause--

please contact Rhonda White by phone at 419-706-5136 or by email at Rhonda@CLIsupports.com

Question of the week

Q: I'm interested in participating in virtual Zoom Bingo on Thursday afternoons. How do I get an invitation to join?

A: Send an email to either Oliva (olivia@CLIsupports.com) or Tammy (tammy@CLIsupports.com). They'll send you an invite. We'd love to have you join us.

This is free-- but just a reminder--t you will need a device like a computer, or an iPad, or a smartphone that has a camera, microphone, and is connected to the internet.

Video(s) of the week:

CLI's three-part mission

increase the earnings, status & quality of life of people with developmental disabilities
increase the earnings, status & quality of life of people who support people with developmental disabilities
actively work to improve the communities in which we all live