CLI Incorporated

P.O. Box 508

Norwalk, Ohio 44857

CLIsupports.com

419-706-5137

Week of March 10th, 2025

March Madness Anyone?

CLI is running a March Madness tournament this month. The cost to play is $10 per bracket. This isn't a fundraiser, so all the money collected goes into payouts. Look for more information in next week's newsletter. In the meantime-- start building those brackets!

Have you seen anyone from CLI do something that impressed you? Did we do anything that made you wish we hadn't?

Take 3 minutes and fill out a quick survey to tell us about it. There's a FREE Ohio Lottery Scratch Off ticket in it for you-- and we'll keep it confidential if you want us to.

Don't complain to Jackie Hugg that you "can't draw". Ron told Jackie that and now there's a whole wall of self-portraits (including Ron's)!

The Usual--

CLI Programs were closed yesterday, Monday, March 10th, so that we could host a regional DSP training at

16 West Main Street. We're very excited to partner with OPRA (the Ohio Provider Resource Association) on this. Firelands Local LLC staff helped make sure that those of you working stiffs could get back & forth to work without your normal CLI driver.

We will be changing the newsletter publishing day of the week soon. We've been issuing them on Monday mornings, but we are going to move them to Thursdays so that we can include more information about the week to come, not just pictures from the week past. More on this later.

There is still a lot up in the air about potential cuts to Medicaid. This is important because Ohio's DD system can't work at all without federal Medicaid dollars. It would be great if all of us would reach out to our US senators and our US representatives to make sure that they understand that if the government does cut Medicaid funds, it is important to be careful with how those cuts are made.

The contact information is:

Senator John Husted

198 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

(202) 224-3353

Senator Bernie Moreno

B33 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

(202) 224-2315

Representative Jim Jordan

 2056 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

(202) 225-2676

Representative Robert Latta

 2470 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, DC 201510

(202) 225-6405

I know that everything going on right now can be overwhelming, but we need to pay attention so that we can act quickly if there is a threat to federal funding for DD services.

That's all I have for now. There is still a lot of cold & flu bugs going around, so keep washing those hands!

-John

What's new in Thrive?

We were busy this week! We finished up our Financial Literacy class by taking a trip to Millers grocery store. We took time to compare brands and prices, deciding what was the best value. Then we purchased the ingredients we need for our cooking classes coming up in a couple of weeks. 

We also needed to take care of our plants. They are really growing! Caitlyn led us as we transplanted them into bigger pots!  

Julie d'Aliberti

Community Access Facilitator

419-706-2635

Want CLI to help you plan & do fun stuff with your friends?



Don't be shy!

Firelands Local LLC

Congratulations to James Johnson & the whole FIrelands Local Crew who were recognized last week as Ohio's Clean Marina Program's "Partner of the Year"!

James Johnson

james@firelandslocal.com

419-921-6400

The Good News from the Good Works Cafe--

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

staffed entirely by volunteers with DD made from food donated by OHgo and other

community partners!

Question of the week

Q: Why is CLI so worried about what happens with what the US government does about Medicaid?

A: Generally speaking, CLI and all DD providers' services are paid with a combination of federal (66%), county/State (34%). As with Social Security, the reality is that our Medicaid system can be very inefficient. However, it is important that our leaders take a cautious, thoughtful approach to how they save money and/or improve efficiency. The reality is that Ohio's DD system is propped up by federal Medicaid dollars. A second reality is that being a DD provider is a very low-margin business to be in. Most of us do not have deep pockets-- and whatever long-term savings we did have were wiped out because of COVID and the slow recovery. This is especially true for day service providers like CLI. If the Medicaid funds were suddenly turned off, services to people with DD would almost immediately stop AND many DD providers would very quickly go out of business. This would mean that it would be very hard to restart services again if/after Medicaid funding were re-established.

Missed a newsletter? All of our old ones are achived on our website:

Shared Video(s) of the week: