Self-Determination is now available for any regional center client who chooses it but it sure ain't running smooth. Tentatively, I think it is getting a little better but boy howdy, is there room for improvement to continue.

If I can be of any help, please feel free to contact me. I'm pleased that there are a few current and recent Imagine employees who are developing Independent Facilitation practices and I'll be glad to connect them with those looking.

This month, the Independent Facilitator Roundtable will be June 5 , at 11AM. The Zoom link is here. The May meeting never happened nor did the make-up meeting. I will miss the June meeting but hope it happens and that any of you who wish to attend.

The Independent Facilitator Network, a confederation of professionals working self-determination (which started at Imagine!) has a Slack Channel you can join by clicking here. Individuals receiving services and family members are welcome and it's a great place to have your SDP questions answered by sad, wise experts.

-Submitted by Doug

Community Connections

  Greetings from the Community Connections Committee! It was great to see those of you able to attend our May meeting, which was our first of 2024. While our group was small the ideas were BIG and I look forward to meeting more often and regularly.

        Some of the feedback I got from those unable to attend were regarding the time and location. With that being said, we will work to make sure our next meeting is at a time that will be more inviting. Additionally, I will be reaching out to our friends at Common Roots Farm about having our next meeting there.

        Many topics were covered at our last meeting. We discussed the increase in business costs, from annual audits to the ongoing costs of PPE. Additionally, we spent time discussing just how much has been dedicated to the direct care team and how rates have been impacted and increased over the past two years. We were able to discuss some goals for the committee and ideas on how to get more involved.

       It remains to be seen but is seeming more and more unlikely that California will approve the final wave of rate increases for support providers this year. However, previously implemented increases have helped Imagine to find more and more candidates, in addition to retaining so many. While some ideas were discussed on how Imagine can raise more funds and decrease costs, care staff wages remain a priority.

       If you have suggestions or topic ideas for our next meeting in July, please pass them along. When we send out the July newsletter we will include the final details on the topic, date and time for it to happen. I and the rest of the committee look forward to seeing and hearing from more of you in the coming months.

Thank you,

Raul Rekow

The next board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, July 17. Close watchers will realize we are not meeting in June as we would normally. This is in order to accommodate my second-try vacation and some vacation planned by Janine. Plus, the board has approved our 2024-2025 Budget which I just be you'd like to pore over so it is attached

We submitted our latest Form 990. This is a disclosure required of 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organizations by the IRS. It has a lot of information about what we do, especially with our funds. If you would like to cast a weather eye on it, you can download it here. Just a note, this is a board-approved submission but also subject to amendment. There were some corrections/explanations needed that didn't; merit missing the deadline.

Our meetings are open to all and if you email Maggie she'll make sure you get in and fed and heard. The agenda for the meeting will include a proposed budget for our fiscal year that begins July 1.

We have completed a two-year audit of our financials through June 30, 2022. You can read it here. It is an unmodified opinion, which is Accountantese for "you're good" and it came with a lot of suggestions with regard to how we can improve our reporting throughout the year. We give an unmodified thank you to our partners at BryMar. We have started our final audit before we are all caught up.

Pharoah's Dream: For your money, you are about to get an extra several hundreds of words meant to bring transparency to upcoming events. These are my views alone but the board has heard them and likely to keep hearing them.

The state of California has been running a large 10-figure annual deficit and that is expected to continue. Between now and the start of July, the Governor and legislature will likely settle on one of two courses of action- either make a strong effort at closing the long-term deficit and hopefully avoid more painful decisions down the road, or vote generously in the short term and hope for the best in the years to come. In the latter case, anything but the best case scenario probably leads to deep cuts quickly.

As of this writing, and likely through mid-June at the least, there are rate reforms due to take effect on July 1 which would improve Imagine's funding. If the state policy-makers decide to address the budget deficit and put the state on a sustainable course, those reforms will be delayed, likely for a year, in which case they could be delayed again. If the rate reforms go through during the budget year, that would be taken as a sign that California will once again wait until there is no choice but to make drastic cuts quickly.

Imagine's 2024-2025 budget has passed. It is balanced and assumes no revenue enhancements, because we are not The State of California. In the event that the revenues are enhanced, I expect that my advocacy to the board will be to spend as little of the new funding as is legally compliant in order to hoard cash that might allow us to get through a looming funding crisis without cutting positions or reducing direct care wages. This will be a very different decision than we have made in the past, especially last year when we gave about 80% of new funding to caregiver compensation. I wanted to be transparent about what my advocacy will be and why.

In truth, Imagine's finances have been improving from a bad place earlier in the year. These improvements are not directly tied to funding improvements but to our ability to hire new people and serve new people more efficiently, which actually is due to the previous revenue enhancements.

If we reopen the budget in the next year, it will be for one or two purposes: to add a position to the leadership team if our growth permits and, possibly, to increase caregiver compensation if the terms of the funding increases require. But I do want to be clear that, to avoid a medium-term future where caregiver wages are no longer sustainable, I will be urging the board on a course of saving more more and paying less more until the state budget seems sustainable again.

We are still recruiting board members. We are working to diversify the board and to add a GAAP-trained treasurer. An attorney wouldn't be bad either. Neither would you. If you know someone with a passion for our mission who might like to volunteer, please write to me.

-Submitted by Doug

The May Revise Budget was released early.

It seeks to close a portion of the projected Budget Deficit, mainly through delays of various short term expenditures and construction projects. There is no substantial change to the portion of the budget that funds Imagine and rate reform which would make a significant improvement to Imagine's funding, remains in the budget. Some early action was proposed to address about $14 billion of the budget deficit and these actions are well under way.

There remains a similar amount of deficit to close. The numbers seem to get a little less reliable as the budget season goes on. As mentioned in the Transparency section above, I'm not in a place of trust with regard to the funding included in the budget and suspect that either substantial cuts and delays are either imminent in the budget or that worse cuts are not far ahead.

As always, thanks to Marty Omoto of CDCAN for amplifying the transparency and circularity of information between the community and policy-makers. If you would like to receive CDCAN's extensive reporting, write to Marty. CDCAN's work is entirely funded by the donations of those of us who benefit. Write to me or to Marty if you'd like to kick in. In the photo is Alex Omoto, Marty's son and my friend, at the Master Plan kickoff meeting, giving events their due.

-Submitted by Doug

The "One Pager" is a tool designed to be a starting place or other way point. It is a simple tool and an elegant one with a profound impact.

It is often the first tool we use with a new client as a way to get to know them. It is typically the first tool we show a new caregiver.

It's also a powerful way to explore what we've learned and how the person we serve has grown and changed. When you workshop a new one-pager, its simplicity gives a great opportunity to realize how much more specific the team and the person can be. And whenever the one-pager is renewed, it is better and more helpful as the starting point for training a new caregiver, introducing a new doctor, etc.

Staff and Client Birthdays:

BIRTHDAYS:

Tenisha M.!

Jerico S.!

Ian S.!

Ryan T.!

Emily S.

Sophia S.

Dafne P.

Luis B.

Yuliana E.

Victor M.

Joanna Z.

Alejandro F.

Enrique R.

Noe R.

Evelyn L.

William S.

Cassandra T.

ANNIVERSARIES:

Rebecca N. 9 Years!!!!

Jaliyah R. 3 Years!!!

Terry J. 3 Years!!!

Stephanie S. 2 Years!!

Jessica O. 2 Years!!

Pamela V. 1 Year!

Wendy T. 1 Year!

Omar M. 1 Year!

Brittany K. 1 Year!

Savana S. 1 Year!

Nathaniel B. 1 Year!

Thank you for your commitment!