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The Arc of
Northern Virginia Newsletter |
ReSources |
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Greetings!
I am back from the beach and managed to NOT get a sunburn!
As we simmer this July & August remember to contact your legislator about the special ed regs (see article below), and get our your pens to mark your calendar for all the events in the Fall. To see a complete calendar go to our website.
If you haven't already, send in your membership donation. The Arc relies on membership to keep you abreast of all the latest news and events! Our outreach has been making record breaking news all over town. Help us to continue our efforts.
Lynn Ruiz
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Your ad can go here!
Call 703-532-3214 x 114
for details!
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| Don't Miss Your Chance
Special Opportunity to meet with your Senator, Dick Saslaw, the VA Senate Majority Leader in VA!
Join the VA Association of Personal Care Assistants to share your story about why we need wage increases, helath care benefit, and better funding for home care services for our loved ones.
July 30th, 2008  8:45am
Senator Saslaw's Office
5503 Cherokee Avenue, Suite 300 3rd floor
Alexandria, VA 22312
To RSVP:
call Melissa 410-919-8310
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Mark Your Calendar
July 30
Meet Senator Saslaw
410-919-8310
September 27
Life Planning Tools Collaborative Workshop Kenmore Middle School 9-2
more details TBA
September 4-7
SABE- 2008 Self Advocacy
September 29
Dulles Rotary Opportunities Open Golf tournament
October 26
The Arc of Northern Virginia's Annual meeting
An Evening with the Stars
The State Theatre - Falls Church, VA
4-7pm
November 5th - 8th
The Arc's 57th National Convention
Albuquerque Convention Center
Albuquerque, New Mexico
For more community events and happenings GO To our Calendar
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Metro SMARTtrip for Fairfax County Residents
The CSB has over 200 Metro SmarTrip Cards. These cards were given to them by Metro as an incentive and promotion of public transit usage. They provided some free cards to Fairfax County human service agencies (CSB, DFS and DOT). It will help to save you $5 per card since it would cost $5 if you purchased the card. The cards are empty and money would be neded to deposit into it. But you would have save $5 in getting these cards operational.
If you have any Fairfax County residents who could benefit from this resource, please let me know and I can try to get these to them as well. You can have them contact me directly if you like or you can fax me a list of their names and addresses, so I can mail these cards to them. It's a first come, first serve basis. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Nhat Nguyen, MSW
CSB Transportation Coordinator
Intellectual Disability Services
(formerly Mental Retardation Services)
Fairfax-Falls Church CSB
12011 Government Center Parkway, #300
Fairfax, VA 22035
Direct: (703) 324-4404 Mobile: (571) 382-8671 Main: (703) 324-4400
TTY: (703) 324-4495 Nhat.Nguyen@FairfaxCounty.Gov <mailto:Nhat.Nguyen@FairfaxCounty.Gov> Fax: (703) 324-4490
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| I Have a Name Update...
Emails are being sent weekly about a most important campaign,the "I have a dream, I have life, I have a name, Café"
This campaign is spearheaded lead by a group of very talented self-advocates.
With support from The Arc of Northern Virgnia staff we have given self advocates in Northern Virginia the opportunity to take control; one legislator at a time.
We serve coffee and snacks along with ours our dreams, lives, names and legislative agendas. We have a breakfast, brunch and a late snack shift available each day - one or more legislator and his/her staff are invited to the Café.
"I have a dream, I have life, I have a name, Café"
98 N. Washington Street
Falls Church, VA 22046
703-532-3214 ext. 106
Nancy Mercer is the contact person for the RSVPs
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Managing Seizure Emergencies within the School Environment: A Seminar for Professionals & Caregivers
August 5, 2008
7:00-9:30 PM ET
Join EP LiveOnline™ for a seminar that discusses: what school nurses, educators, and families need to know about seizures; the importance of having a seizure readiness plan within the school environment; a review of treatment options; and a discussion on the role of educators and the school nurse when seizure emergencies occur.
Supported by an educational grant from Valeant Pharmaceuticals
http://www.epliveonline.org/ep_20080805.html
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Dear members of the Alliance--
The Arc is preparing for the upcoming "funding cycles" at the state and local levels. This means that we are developing our legislative goals for the state--which will be addressed in the January session as well as the goals for the community that will be addressed in March 2009, in the different counties and cities. We are focused on building community capacity through adequate funding of the "Waivers" and looking for funding for "non-waiver eligible" folks... But in Virginia we still have institutions that are "home" for many aging people with ID and a couple of children...Virginia continues to struggle as it builds its community system--trying to balance the needs of the people who have lived in the training centers all their lives versus the people on the waivers vs. people on the waiting lists vs. people who haven't even been counted...Here is some homework (with a little bit of editorial).
In 2008, Should we Re-Build Large Training Centers?:
One big issue that was addressed by our legislators in June 2008 (out of session) was to put money into funding the "rebuild" of two training centers--Central Virginia Training Center and South East Virginia Training Center. They are old buildings that have many health and safety issues-- These are places that people with ID live and call home, but they are also called institutions. We have one in Nova--the Northern Virginia Training Center on Braddock Road. All of the person's needs are taken care of in these settings--"technically"; those people who are on Medicaid Waivers are eligible to live in these settings--but have "waived their rights" to live in the institution and have asked for their Medicaid dollars to be used in the community--
In the ID/DD world we talk allot about person centered planning--putting the person with the disability in charge...Ideally this would be the case...In an underfunded system, person centered principals often get lost...
It is important to understand the current review of our training center models in 2008--and how they are addressing the movement to put the person with a disability in charge... ( FYI: The training center models are "support choices" that many other states have closed as they have been viewed as too restrictive and warehousing.)
Why is it important to develop an opinion on why or if Virginia should continue to view institutions as a "choice" for long term care--Please read the attached report by the Office of the Inspector General--and decide for yourself if this is how we want Virginia to spend its limited resources.
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NOTICE: Public Comment Welcomed
Virginia's Community Integration Strategic Plan
Virginia's Comprehensive Cross-Governmental Strategic Plan to Assure Continued Community Integration of Virginians with Disabilities at http://www.olmsteadva.com has been updated and will be submitted to Governor Kaine by August 31, 2008 pursuant to Executive Directive 6 (2007).
The updated Plan was developed by the Community Integration Implementation Team (including over 20 state agencies in four Secretariats; two statewide councils; and representatives of local government and local agencies) working in close collaboration with Virginia's cross-disability stakeholder Community Integration Advisory Commission. The Plan sets out specific goals, strategies and implementation actions designed to create additional community integration opportunities for all individuals with disabilities.
The Community Integration Advisory Commission invites you to comment on this Plan by:
Submitting written public comment from June 16 ~ July 18, 2008 via:
Email to: olmstead.public.comment@governor.virginia.gov
Fax to: 804-786-3389
Letter to: Office of Community Integration
1111 East Broad Street, 4th Floor
Richmond, Virginia 23219
Presenting oral public comment from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Tuesday, July 29, 2008 at the Virginia Housing Center, 4224 Cox Road, Glen Allen, Virginia 23060. Comments will be limited to 5 minutes each.
This NOTICE and the Plan are available in alternative formats by request to the Office of Community Integration at 804-371-0829.
Please share this NOTICE with any interested groups or individuals.
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 The Arc of Northern Virginia is known as the leader in providing effective advocacy and indispensable direct services for families, children and adults living with intellectual and developmental disabilities to enable full, welcoming community participation. Celebrating its 45th year, The Arc of Northern Virginia serves people with cognitive, intellectual, and developmental disabilities and their families in Northern Virginia by providing services to individuals and families with supports for independent living such as: Personal Support Trusts, Developmental Disability Medicaid Waiver support coordination, Developmental Disability Medicaid Waiver Service facilitation, Guardianship program, Information & Referral, Education & Training, & Individual and Systems Support Advocacy. If you have received this email from a friend, please feel free to go to our website and add your own email address to our "Sign up for our e-Newsletter" box. You will receive the latest news about disability in Northern Virginia directly in your mailbox! Sincerely,
Lynn Ruiz  Designation #14617 Lynn Ruiz The Arc of Northern Virginia |
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