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NEWS FROM WASHINGTON
Shelley Rood
AJFCA Washington Director |
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Wednesday, February 20, 2013
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Sequestration Would Slash VAWA Programs By $20 Million: DOJ
If Congress does not take steps to avert the automatic spending cuts that will go into effect on March 1, domestic violence programs funded by the Violence Against Women Act would lose more than $20 million, according to a new estimate by the Department of Justice.
Sequestration would result in a $1.6 billion reduction in current DOJ funding, which would force the department to make steep cuts to vital VAWA programs across the country, according to the report, which was shared with The Huffington Post by a Democratic congressional office. Specifically, the DOJ estimates that $20 million in VAWA cuts would prevent 35,927 victims of violence in the United States from accessing lifesaving services and resources, including shelter, legal services and children's services. The cuts would also reduce funding for domestic violence training and education on a state and local level, which would prevent 34,248 fewer police, prosecutors, judges and victim advocates from receiving the training they need to effectively respond to domestic violence incidents. Continue reading here. |
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There are Now Four Big Plans to Stop the Sequester
On March 1, a whole bunch of deep, automatic spending cuts are scheduled to take effect. This is known as the "sequester," a mechanism that will trim the federal government's budget by $85.3 billion this year and by $1.2 trillion over 10 years.
The trouble is, few people in Washington actually want these cuts. They were designed to be sweeping and crude - affecting everything except Social Security, Medicaid, a few anti-poverty programs, and the ongoing wars. Republicans don't like the fact that the Pentagon's budget gets slashed 7.3 percent this year. Democrats don't like the sweeping, across-the-board hacks to government agencies.
As such, many members of Congress would prefer to replace the sequester with something else. Here are the four of the ideas out there. Continue reading here. |
AJFCA Cosponsors Jewish Disability Advocacy Day on Capitol HillOn February 12th, 40 community leaders including Barbara Abrams, Special Needs Program Director at Samost Jewish Family & Children's Service of Southern New Jersey, gathered in Washington to address public policy affecting people with disabilities. The Jewish Federations of North America and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism hosted the event, which included a keynote address by Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Chair of the House Republican Conference, who shared her personal story about her son with Down syndrome. All together, participants conducted 20 Capitol Hill visits and advocated for the Community First Choice option under Medicaid, which would increase access to home and community-based services and the Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act, which would allow families to more easily save money for their children's long-term needs. AJFCA is proud to cosponsor this event for the third year in a row. Continue reading here.
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20 leaders from AJFCA agencies participated in the Government Affairs Institute held in Washington in early February. The local Cincinnati Enquirer published a story about JFS's participation. If you would like to issue a press release about your participation, please refer to this template press release.
Jewish Family Service Director Goes to Washington to Advocate for Vulnerable
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Beth Schwartz enters the Eisenhower Executive office building in Washington DC for White House briefings.
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PopulationsJewish Family Service Executive Director Beth Schwartz (of Kenwood) convened with government professionals and other lay leaders in Washington DC February 5-7 at the Government Affairs Institute (GAI) to learn strategies to advocate on a range of national issues.
The conference was hosted by The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) in collaboration with the Association of Jewish Family & Children's Agencies (AJFCA).
It included speakers and briefings from members of the media, leaders in academia, White House officials, and members of Congress and their staffs. Participants also met with officials of government agencies such as the Administration for Community Living in the Department of Health and Human Services. Between all the participants, there were 75 meetings on Capitol Hill. Continue reading here.
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Congressman Joyce visits JFSA Cleveland
Congressman David Joyce, the new representative from Ohio's 14th Congressional district, visited the Jewish Family Service Association of Cleveland on February 19th. While on site, Congressman Joyce was able to see a program for adults with schizophrenia that won a SAMHSA award, hear about JFSA's programs for domestic violence, meet JFSA's YouthAbility volunteers working on a project, and speak with the CEO and Board members about the possible effects of the impending sequestration. Congressman Joyce accepted the invitation after meeting with Linas Vysnionis, JFSA Manager of Grants and Government Advocacy, at the recent Government Affairs Institute in Washington, DC.
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DESCRIPTION: The Community Transportation Association of America, with support from the U.S. Administration for Community Living and in collaboration with the Federal Transit Administration and national partners, has published an opportunity for grants of up to $20,000 for up to 20 organizations for a six month period. The goals of the project are to: 1) have the successful applicants document in detail their current work with older adults, people with disabilities of all ages, including people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, in the transportation services planning and implementation process; 2) undertake and complete a six-month project to expand upon their current inclusive planning and implementation work to make it more person centered; and 3) outline a plan for next steps in FY 2014 should additional funding become available for further expansion of person-centered transportation planning that meaningfully involves older adults and people with disabilities. Recipients will be expected to share their practices at the national level through the project's Knowledge Sharing Network.
ELIGIBILITY: Qualified organizations, including non-profit or county or city governmental agencies, regional planning organizations, councils of government and Tribal Nations/Tribal Organizations that are involved in the administration, delivery or coordination of transportation, aging and/or disability services are encouraged to apply.
DEADLINE: March 20, 2013 and request for proposals can be found here.
*NOTE: A teleconference for interested applicants will be held on March 5, 2013 at 2:00pm ET.
Call in number: 1-800-245-1683
Passcode: 267438
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The Ruderman Family Foundation
DESCRIPTION: The Ruderman Family Foundation has announced the launch of the 2013 Ruderman Prize in Disability, its second year, which will provide $250,000 in funding to recognize innovative programs and services that foster full inclusion of people with disabilities in the Jewish community worldwide. The $50,000 awards will be given to five organizations that work in the disability arena, serve those in the Jewish community, and actively champion inclusion in their work.
ELIGIBILITY:
- Applicant organizations must be Jewish or have unique Jewish programs.
- Applicant programs must serve Jewish people with disabilities.
- Applicant programs must promote inclusion in the mainstream community. The Ruderman Family Foundation does not consider segregated programs that serve only people with disabilities to be inclusive and therefore segregated programs are not eligible for the Prize.
- Ruderman Prize recipients from 2012 may apply again in 2013, but it must be on behalf of one or more different programs than they were honored for last year.
- Current grantees and partners of the Ruderman Family Foundation are ineligible to apply on behalf of programs funded by RFF, but are eligible to apply on behalf of any other inclusion programs not funded by RFF.
- Individuals are not eligible to apply.
- Applicant organizations must be nonprofit and nongovernmental (NGOs). For-profit businesses and government entities are not eligible for the Prize.
- Eligibility is not limited to the geographic or program areas the regularly Foundation funds; applications are welcome from any country in the world.
- Organizations located outside the United States must demonstrate in their application that they have a U.S. fiscal conduit prepared to accept Prize funds on their behalf.
- The Foundation may request additional information after the application is submitted in order to clarify data or enhance their understanding of an organization or program. A site visit may be requested.
DEADLINE: March 18, 2013.
CONTACT: Click here for more information. ____________________________________________________________________________________
U.S. Department of Labor
DESCRIPTION: YouthBuild is a community-based alternative education program for youth between the ages of 16 and 24 who are high school dropouts, adjudicated youth, youth aging out of foster care, youth with disabilities, and other at-risk youth populations. The YouthBuild program simultaneously addresses several core issues facing low-income communities: affordable housing, education, employment, crime prevention, and leadership development. The YouthBuild model balances in-school learning leading to a high school diploma or a GED certificate, as well as occupational skills training in preparation for career placement.
ELIGIBILITY: Nonprofits, including faith-based groups, governments, employment centers and public housing authorities
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Implementation Support to Integrate Care for Medicare-Medicaid Enrollees
The purpose of this funding opportunity is to solicit applications for eligible states to participate in a Cooperative Agreement to support the effective implementation of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) approved designs to integrate care for Medicare-Medicaid enrollees. Funding under this Announcement is available only to States that received a design contract for a Demonstration to Integrate Care for Dual Eligible Individuals and also have a signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with CMS) to implement their demonstration design.
The application deadline is April 1st at 3:00pm EST. Click here to download the application. This notice is for states to apply. Please consider sending this to your contacts in the state legislature or governor.
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