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About Us
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The mission of The Arc of Massachusetts is to enhance the lives of individuals who have intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. We accomplish this through advocacy of supports
and services based
in the community.
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All Aboard The Arc!
Become a rider or make a pledge toward The Arc's awareness and fundraising event.
Make a difference!You can help The Arc of Massachusetts or a local affiliate.
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Upcoming Fundraising Events at The Arc | |
The Charles River Center May 15 - Click here to read more. |
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New Administration on Community Living | |
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the creation of a new Administration for Community Living (ACL) within HHS. The ACL will bring together the Administration on Aging, the Office on Disability, and the Administration on Developmental Disabilities into a single agency that supports both cross-cutting initiatives and efforts focused on the unique needs of individual groups, such as children with developmental disabilities or seniors with dementia.
Assistant Secretary for Aging Kathy Greenlee is the administrator of the new organization while the Deputy Principal Administrator is Henry Claypool, who serves as the senior advisor to Secretary Sebelius on disability policy. For more information, visit here.
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Employment Now | |
The 2012 Employment Matters! Conference, presented by the Massachusetts Chapter of APSE (www.apse.org), and co-sponsored by the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission, is being held on Tuesday, April 24th, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester. This event is designed to appeal those interested in issues related to employment of people with disabilities, including individuals with disabilities, family members, professional staff, educators, and others. Deadline is April 19 to register- Go here tolearn more. |
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New Cable Show Posted on Youtube | |
The "Disability Effect" hosted by Stephen Benjamin produced its first show last week. Adam Hill, board member at The Arc of Massachusetts joined Leo Sarkissian to kick off the series and included some talk on transition. To see the show please go here.
Steve is the chair of the Bridgewater-Raynham Special Ed PAC. The show will include a variety of topics over the year. |
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Tuesday, April 17, 2012
- Promising Budget -Next week House debate
- Berwick and Hackbarth report focus should be on health care waste, not capping services
- Transiton Training Sessions
- New Administration on Community Living established in Washington, D.C. - see side bar
- Amendment Sponsors on Turning 22 and Salary Reserve
- Employment Now Conference -see side bar
As always you can contact us at advocate@arcmass.org
Regards,
The Staff |
| Promising House Ways - Means Budget | |
As reported earlier, The House Ways and Means FY'13 budget was released on April 11. This budget is the best budget released for our constituents in 3 ˝ years. We appreciate the leadership of Chair Brian Dempsey, members of the House Ways and Means Committee and House members.
However, we want to emphasize two priority items that will come up in house debate next week: Turning 22 and Salary Reserve.
- Turning 22 - An amendment sponsored by Representatives Garballey, Chan and Dykema (#706) request the House members to add an additional $2 million to the $6 million the House Ways and Means Committee has recommended. Although the Ways and Means Committee provide more funding than the Governor's budget, we need these additional funds to reach more of those who require adult services. It is projected that 730 students will be graduating this coming year in need of Turning 22 services.
- Salary Reserve (#259) sponsored by David Linsky asks the House to provide $28 Million for this unfunded account. It is crucial to fully fund this line item because it is the only way to address pay increases to the human service workforce. Unfortunately, these workers have not received an annualized raise in 3 years even though health care premiums and other costs continue to spiral out of control resulting in increased costs for human service workers. Nearly half of state representatives have signed on to co-sponsor the Salary Reserve (74 in total).
In a previous announcement, we recognized the House Ways and Means Committee members. We want to acknowledge them again, as well as our friends in the House who have supported persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Thank you!
There are several other amendments in play during the House budget debate affecting constituents, including DDS Family Support and Respite (#35--sponsored by Rep. Scibak), DDS Service Coordination/Administration (sponsored by Rep. Khan), Early Intervention (sponsored by Rep. Kafka), DPPC (sponsored by Rep. Sannicandro), and Mass. Legal Services (sponsored by Rep. Balser).
To see all the present cosponsors of the Turning 22 and Salary Reserve amendments look below.
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Study Reports Health Dolllars Wasted | |
UPI.com has posted a summary on a recent article published in the American Medical Association's Journal. This article, co-written by former Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Director Donald Berwick and policy analyst for the RAND Corp. Andrew Hackbarth, suggests "The need is urgent to bring U.S. healthcare costs into a sustainable range for both public and private payers. Commonly, programs to contain costs use cuts, such as reductions in payment levels, benefit structures and eligibility. A less harmful strategy would reduce waste, not value-added care. The opportunity is immense."
Twenty percent of the more than $2.2 trillion spent on healthcare in the United States each year is wasted according to the article. Six categories of waste include:
- Over treatment
- Failures of care coordination
- Failures in execution of care processes
- Administrative complexity
- Pricing failures
- Fraud and abuse
The authors state that these six areas represent enormous opportunities for cost-cutting and improvement, but the actual total might be far greater.
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Transition Training Webinars | |
The Arc of Massachusetts is pleased to host two more webinars on Transition.
On April 24, 12 noon to 1pm, Meg Grigal/Maria Paiewonsky of the Institute For Community Inclusion will present Think College!
Doors to colleges are opening for people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities in many different ways all over the country. This webinar will provide information on the benefits of attending college, national trends, and opportunities in Massachusetts. Participants will learn about the role of parents, students and funding strategies.
On May 1, 7:00 PM Pat Pakos and Kerry Mahoney of The Arc Transition Project will present The Transition Time Line.
What should you be thinking about as the clock ticks away toward adulthood? The presenters will walk you through the transition timeline.
Please test your computer in advance. Firefox users need to go to tools, options- where you'll need to change security setting (allow add-ins) and context, where you should allow pop-ups. Please note - the webinars are free but if you choose to use your phone for session, webex charge is 14 cents or more per minute. We recommend using your computer speaker or headphone for audio - where there is no charge.
To register go here and then, type in a word related to one of the topics above ---- for example, Timeline or College. Pick that session when you see and then pick register. Fill in required or all questions and you are all set. Each session requires a registration.
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House Amendment Sponsors | |
Sponsors of #706, Turning 22: Representatives Garballey, Chan and Dykema were joined by Representatives Garballey of Arlington, Chan of Quincy, Dykema of Holliston, Dwyer of Woburn, Linsky of Natick, Scibak of South Hadley, Kaufman of Lexington, Fox of Boston, Arciero of Westford, Ross of Attleboro, Madden of Nantucket, Ferguson of Holden, DiNatale of Fitchburg, Canavan of Brockton, Beaton of Shrewsbury, Conroy of Wayland, Kocot of Northampton, O'Day of West Boylston, Peisch of Wellesley, Farley-Bouvier of Pittsfield, Brodeur of Melrose, Ayers of Quincy, Timilty of Milton, Campbell of Methuen, Andrews of Orange, Nyman of Hanover, Rosa of Leominster, Sannicandro of Ashland, Garlick of Needham, Creedon of Brockton, Smola of Palmer, McMurtry of Dedham, Puppolo of Springfield, Sánchez of Boston, Gobi of Spencer, Fallon of Malden, Murphy of Weymouth, Khan of Newton, Provost of Somerville, Lawn of Watertown, Hecht of Watertown, Galvin of Canton, Smith of Everett, Walsh of Framingham, Cariddi of North Adams and Cusack of Braintree.
Sponsors of #259, Human Services Salary Reserve: Representative David Linsky was joined by Kevin Aguiar, Denise Andrews, Brian Ashe, Bruce Ayers, Ruth Balser, Matthew Beaton, Antonio Cabral, Thomas Calter, Christine Canavan, James Cantwell, Tackey Chan, Cheryl Coakley-Rivera, Nick Collins, Thomas Conroy, Stephen DiNatale, Paul Donato, Peter Durant, James Dwyer, Christopher Fallon, Tricia Farley-Bouvier, Robert Fennell, John Fernandes, Michael Finn, John Fresolo, William Galvin, Sean Garballey, Denise Garlick, Anne Gobi, Jonathan Hecht, Carlos Henriquez, Kate Hogan, Russell Holmes, Donald Humason, Louis Kafka, Michael Kane, Jay Kaufman, John Keenan, Kay Khan, Peter Kocot, Jason Lewis, Timothy Madden, Liz Malia, Paul Mark, Christopher Markey, Paul McMurtry, Charles Murphy, James Murphy, David Nangle, James O'Day, Jerald Parisella, Alice Peisch, George Peterson, William "Smitty" Pignatelli, Denise Provost, Angelo Puppolo, Kathi-Anne Reinstein, Dennis Rosa, George Ross, Jeffrey Sanchez, Tom Sannicandro, Angelo Scaccia, Paul Schmid, John Scibak, Carl Sciortino, Frank Smizik, Joyce Spiliotis, Thomas Stanley, William Straus, Benjamin Swan, Walter Timilty, Chris Walsh, Martin Walsh and Daniel Winslow.
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