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March 2004 E-Newsletter

Welcome to the 5th issue of the Center for Self-Determination E-Newsletter.
This month you will find:

· Immersion Learning
· Individual Budgeting Guidebook - Hot off the Press
· Alliance for Freedom
· CMS System Change Meet in Baltimore
· Income Links - Doreen & Darcy have a New Website
· STATE Info
· Partners in Policymaking Vision Statement
· Center Newsletter
· Quote of the Day

Immersion Learning in ATLANTA ~ Register Now!

It's closer than you think! The deadline for getting the Immersion Learning discounted registration rate of $350 is March 31. After that date, the fee will go up to $400 per person.
The Immersion Learning about Self-Determination is 3 and ½ days of intense, individualized teamwork which will result in a working plan for self-determination and systems change for all participants.

It is always a good idea to make arrangements for flights and book hotel rooms early, of course, but especially for those folks who wish to be part of the Planning Stream, please register now and make your travel plans as soon as possible. Planning Teams should be identified and organized well before we all leave for Atlanta, as they will then begin working with Center consultants to maximize their time together at the Immersion Learning. All Teams must be registered by April 15, 2004.

Look for Immersion info and register on-line at www.self-determination.com or call Kris Copeland kcopeland@twmi.rr.com at 734-306-9641 (cell) or 734-427-2136 (home). For more information regarding the planning aspects of the Immersion Learning, contact Tom Nerney at tomnerney@earthlink.net.
Tom's Home Office Number is: 203-746-0502 or (cell) 734-751-1682.

Individual Budgeting Guidebook ~ Hot off the Press

Guaranteeing the Promise of Freedom through Redefining Quality and Creative Individual Budgeting is finally available for sale! This handbook is designed to be used as a guide to individual budgeting. Written in easy-to-understand language with six handy templates and accompanying keys that explain the meaning of certain line items, the guidebook offers basic direction in how to simultaneously budget and develop a life plan.

Guaranteeing the Promise incorporates new planning assumptions about living in one's own home and generating income; getting better connected to one's community; and, facilitating relationships. All of these concepts are laid out in a budget template that can be modified according to local custom for the system and then modified for each individual based on personal dreams, desires and ambitions. There are many blank line items acknowledging the uniqueness of every individual.

Guaranteeing the Promise of Freedom through redefining quality and creative Individual Budgeting is best used in conjunction with the Center for Self-Determination two-day individual budget learning opportunity.
To order copies visit http://www.self-determination.com/pdf/guidebookad2.pdf

"Train-the-Trainer" based on Guaranteeing the Promise of Freedom will be held June 23-25 2004 in Midland, Michigan for selected individuals. To obtain an application to attend this limited opportunity with the Center for Self Determination, contact Pat Carver at pcarver@chartermi.net.

ALLIANCE for FREEDOM

Support in the Center for Self- Determination ensures that our voices collectively are amplified, focused and heard by thousands of Americans … including those who are capable of helping us change the rules, re-invent the systems, and transfer vital control to people with disabilities. We need to remain very serious about the principles of self-determination and the implementation that ensures the everyday freedoms many take for granted.

To read a letter from Tom Nerney and make a donation to support the work of the Center for Self-Determination, click on:
http://www.self-determination.com/membership/donation.html

CMS System Change Meet in Baltimore
Tom Nerney's invited presentation at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services meeting on systems change focused on the confusion between setting the allocation for an individual budget with the actual development of an individual budget. Tom's basic thrust was two fold.
1. Setting the allocation is essentially an exercise (though a necessary one) in rearranging the chairs on the deck of the Titanic. We tend to describe this function as "scientific" and we attempt to design systems that will predict costs based on various assessment tools. In fact what we are doing is predicting expenditures based on available resources. Otherwise, these systems would predict very similar costs across all states if used uniformly. The sad truth is that state Medicaid budgets and expenditures vary so much that some states spend almost four times on average what other states spend.
2. States need to spend much more time on the expenditure side of the question. If we really believe that quality must be improved and we must also learn how to be more cost efficient, then we will design budget templates that are modeled after the achievement of universal human aspirations not typical human services.
Tom then went on to describe the Center's new budget guidebook "The Promise of Freedom".
(See previous Article.)

Income Links ~ Doreen & Darcy Have a Web Site

Center members and those of you who have been fortunate to attend their high-energy trainings, are familiar with Doreen Rosimos and Darcy Smith. As consultants for the Center and as business partners in Income Links, LLC, their work has them criss-crossing the country, sharing the philosophy that anyone can earn money and take greater control of their lives.
Self-Employment is increasingly being considered as a creative way to support people with disabilities in fulfilling their career and life goals. The primary focus of Income Links is on the production of income for those who are impoverished. This includes people with disabilities, no matter how significant, Indigenous peoples and Native Americans.
To learn more about self-employment for people with disabilities, and to see examples of life-changing business plans and micro-enterprise development, go to the Income Links, LLC website at: www.incomelinks.homestead.com

Or contact Doreen directly at:

Doreen Rosimos
Income Links, LLC
45 Daley Road
Fitzwilliam, NH 03447
603-585-3020
doreen@together.net

State Info

Iowa

Under the direction of Jack Hillyard, Director of the Employment Policy Group at the Center for Disabilities and Development, University of Iowa, a new approach to providing employment for students in transition is taking place. Iowa's Youth Demonstration initiative is based on a self-determination approach that would meld all available resources for those of transition age up to 25 years and allow them to be placed with a fiscal intermediary. The project's selection of a fiscal intermediary exceeds the standards already incorporated into many self-determination projects. In Iowa the fiscal intermediary will be the credit union in the person's local community. The Iowa Credit Union Association has endorsed this strategy and committed to the project. Achieving a level of fiscal sophistication and credit-worthiness are two of the goals related to employment that are central to this project.

Last month Center Director Tom Nerney joined several resource individuals and spent two days brainstorming with state, university and school personnel in Des Moines, Iowa. These two days were devoted to creating strategies on how to join a Social Security Waiver of income and assets together with a Medicaid 1115 Waiver similar to the Center's proposal outlined in The System of the Future www.self-determination.com/publications/systemfuture1.html .This project has already secured a Social Security Waiver similar to the Florida Waiver recently announced by the Commissioner of Social Security. Stay tuned for further developments.

Partners in Policymaking

"We, the Partners in Policymaking of 2004, envision by 2020 a world where all are accepted, respected, supported and valued as contributing members of an inclusive community."
Could this be said any better? The primary focus of our work often gets lost among the struggles of freeing up money, interpreting a certain rule or regulation or contending with multiple layers of bureaucracy. Sometimes it is necessary to re-group and remember what it is we are searching for-Freedom, Responsibility, Support, Authority, and Confirmation.
The statement above was the result of work done in February by the participants of Michigan Partners in Policymaking© . It is based on an exercise that was facilitated by Pat Carver, Center Communications Coordinator. As a part of the Partners in Policymaking © national curriculum, each class develops a vision statement to guide them through the work they are charged with upon graduation from the training.
The entire exercise can be useful for any planning group or gathering of folks who want to stay true to the call for social justice inherent-but not always apparent - in our work.
Partners in Policymaking© Homepage: http://www.partnersinpolicymaking.com/index.html
(See Quote of the Day).

Center Newsletter

If you have not received your Winter 2004 issue of the Center for Self-Determination newsletter in the mail yet or you want multiple copies for distribution, contact Kris Copeland at kcopeland@twmi.rr.com
You may also find the newsletter on the Center website:
http://www.self-determination.com/pdf/winternews2004.pdf

Quote of the Day

When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.

Audre Lorde
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Center for Self-Determination E-Newsletter and AccessAbilities Back Issues may be found here:

http://www.empowering-alternatives.com/Center_for_SelfDetermination_Newsletter_and_AccessAbilities-backissues.html