CLI Incorporated

P.O. Box 508

Norwalk, Ohio 44857

CLIsupports.com

419-706-5137

Week of March 3rd, 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.

The Usual--

We made it to March! I think that we still have at least one good snowstorm left before spring is really here-- but anything we get from now on will short-lived. This week coming will be cold, but it won't be long now until temperatures start trending up!

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?

Over the past few weeks we have been learning about financial literacy, how we make money and spend money! Our most recent activity included a simulated application of the skills. Each client was given a job and one month's pay. From there they had to pay their rent and bills. Then they each want "shopping". They had to make a lot of decisions about what was a need vs a want. Then we were able to count up how much money they were able to put into savings!

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

Don't forget to recycle your old election signs & clean plastic stretch wrap. We take all parties & all types

(paper, hard plastic, plastic film)!

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: