March 11, 2024
Minutes
Minutes
Attendees via Zoom: Alina Smith, Anna McDougal, Betsy Hopkins, Brenda Smith, Brian Harnish, Carol Snyder, Catherine Thibedeau, Craig Patterson, Dale Hess, Mark Moore, Paul Stevens, Paige, Darla Chafin, David Cowing, Debbie Dionne, Evan Murray, Helen Hemminger, Jamie Whitehouse, Janet DiBiase, Jennifer Frey, Jon McGovern, Julianne Zaharis, Kim Humphrey, Kim’s parents, Linda, Lori Lyons, Lorraine DeFreitas, Luann Lawler, Margaret Cardoza, Mary Catus, Melissa Bliss, Molly Thompson, Monique Stairs, Paula Bush, Rachel Dyer, Robin Levesque, Sara Fleurant, Shelley Zielinski, Shelly King, Shenna Bellows, Sheril, Stacy Giberson, Titus O’Rourke, Vickey Merrill, Cullen Ryan, and a few people who didn’t identify themselves and/or left prior to the conclusion of the meeting.
Cullen Ryan introduced himself and welcomed the group. Minutes from the last meeting were accepted. For the sake of time, Cullen read the names of participants.
Featured Speaker: Kim Humphrey, Founder and President, Community Connect Maine communityconnectme.org; Self-Advocates: Anna McDougal, Brian Harnish, Carmie Fadden, Dale Hess, and Jon McGovern; Shenna Bellows, Secretary of State; Evan Murray, Director of Civic Engagement at Democracy Maine; Molly Thompson, Voting Access Advocate at Disability Rights Maine. Topic: It’s your life, your voice, your choice! Digital storytelling video sharing- It’s Worth the Fight, Alyssa Live, Chasing Your Dreams with Anna McDougal, Your vote, every vote!
Cullen: Today we have a really exciting presentation. I am pleased to welcome Kim Humphrey, Founder and President of Community Connect Maine; Self-Advocates: Anna McDougal, Brian Harnish, Carmie Fadden, Dale Hess, and Jon McGovern; Secretary of State Shenna Bellows; Evan Murray, the Director of Civic Engagement at Democracy Maine; and Molly Thompson, Voting Access Advocate at Disability Rights Maine. This group of presenters will be sharing the digital storytelling series It’s your life, your voice, your choice! We’re going to have the pleasure of watching four of these digital storytelling videos. This type of storytelling is an extremely effective form of advocacy. Thank you, Kim, for all of your work with Community Connect and for pioneering digital storytelling in Maine!
Kim Humphrey: I’m really excited for this presentation and to talk about our work at Community Connect and how we’ve been using digital storytelling to do it. It’s been a very fun, interesting, and enjoyable experience.
Begin Presentation (Click here for the presentation):
Kim: We thought a lot about our mission and how to influence positive change and we kept coming back to how important the visibility of the disability community is. In 2020, we turned our network into a 501c3 Nonprofit and made the initial focus on being able to create and share stories and facilitate that within the disability community. This led to the Connecting Voices Project which includes the digital story making trainings, sharing the stories through the creation of the film Invisible (click here for an invitation to the next showing of this film in Biddeford on 3/25), and a voting video to increase voter turnout in the disability community.
The group watched four (4) digital storytelling videos:
Worth the Fight
-Reflections after the video: A self-advocate stated that she didn’t know that COVID side effects could affect the disability community in that way. It was stated that this side effect is extremely rare. He overcame a lot and him and his mother speaking up shaped a good outcome.
Alyssa Live
-Reflections after the video: It was stated that was a great video.
Chasing Your Dreams with Anna McDougal
Anna McDougal: The video is about dreams that came true for me. It’s about overcoming obstacles and life and being independent.
Kim: The next video includes four self-advocates who did a phenomenal job. Secretary of State Shena Bellows helped to produce this video. And Evan Murray, Director of Civic Engagement at Democracy Maine, helped lend his expertise, as did Molly Thompson who DRM’s Voting Access Advocate.
Your Vote, Every Vote!
Brian Harnish: I live in Orono and recently started working for DRM. I thought it was important to eliminate the stigma that people with disabilities don’t know how the voting process works.
Jon McGovern: I’m from Bangor. What motivated me to do the video is I wanted to see everyone get out and vote. Voting is very important. Your vote is your voice!
The Honorable Shenna Bellows, Secretary of State: I wanted to thank everyone for participating in that video. It’s so important for self-advocates to participate in the process and speak out about it. Your vote is your voice, you’re holding us in the government accountable to ensure that access is granted to everyone. Digital storytelling and having the courage to put yourself on camera is not easy. They made it look easy! But everyone gets better through practice. When I think back to 2016 when I first started working with Anna, she taught me so much about the self-advocacy community and what I need to know – and it’s made me a better Secretary of State. Thank you for telling your own stories and your own truth through your digital storytelling. And thank you Kim, for creating the process through which these stories came to be.
-A self-advocate stated that not everyone understands the voting process. People also aren’t always aware about the accessible online voting – highlighting that would be advantageous.
Secretary Bellows: I’m happy to come anywhere to talk about voting. We could bring a sample ballot, voter registration cards, and talk through those processes. This gave me an idea for another digital story! Certain photography is prohibited are polling stations, but there’s nothing that prohibits someone from photographing oneself. Perhaps someone documenting the process through absentee voting and creating another digital story would be helpful.
Molly Thompson, Disability Rights Maine (DRM): This has been such a fun and uplifting hour! My entire job is about voting. In partnership with our clients and allies, through our Voting Access initiative, DRM works to remove barriers to voting and to educate and train people on voting rights. Last November we were able to survey all of Maine’s polling places and created a comprehensive report. Leading up to the Primary Election, we conducted voting access training for more than 200 people. There was a significant improvement for access and polling place compliance for the Primary Election compared to what we saw in last November’s election. We will be very busy – our goal is to get to every polling place in Maine before the upcoming November election.
Discussion:
-A self-advocate stated that she was involved with a project Molly worked on involving creating opportunities for people with disabilities to become poll workers – which is fantastic. She stated that the training for this could be improved. Poll workers ought to be more informed in general. She also stated that her husband, who is legally blind now but has not always been, was thrilled to discover that he can still vote with accessible voting! She added that petitioners outside posed challenges for people with disabilities leaving the polls as people were convinced to sign up for things without understanding what they were signing and any potential consequences.
Evan Murray: I’ve been loving hearing people’s responses! Thank you for inviting me to be part of this. My job is making sure everyone can vote and you all are a really important part of everyone. My job as the interviewer was to help self-advocates organize their thoughts and say what they wanted to say. I had a wonderful time doing this and met some amazing people doing very important work. I also do election observation and the people on site for the Primary Election were thrilled with the changes Molly made to make the polling place more accessible. I’m also happy to answer questions and/or talk with people or groups.
Kim: You were invaluable in helping us do this and I’m so glad I got to know you through this process.
-A self-advocate stated that she is worried about what will happen to adults with disabilities when Lifespan waiver starts.
Cullen: This was absolutely fantastic – thank you all! Every aspect of this was phenomenal. Thank you all for this and for being here today – well done!
End Presentation (round of applause would have occurred were it not for everyone being muted and on Zoom)
DHHS – Office of Aging and Disability Services (OADS) - www.maine.gov/dhhs/oads
Betsy Hopkins: I want to echo everyone’s comments about these videos – this was easily the best hour I’ll spend this entire week. They were so well done, and I loved each story. I was so impressed, honestly. Thanks to all of you!
I heard the comment regarding fear around the Lifespan waiver, and I will give some updates about Lifespan. I think it would be helpful for us to discuss this more at some point because we don’t intend Lifespan to be what you’re fearing. We want Lifespan to provide additional options for people. If people like what they have now they can keep them wherever they are. We’re also working with our provider community to provide the new services that will be available with the new Lifespan waiver.
Dr Mills and I went around the state and did some in-person meetings last fall with providers, self-advocates, and other stakeholders – we’re doing that again the week of May 15th. We’ll be sending out a schedule of those meetings so people can join us. These meetings are essential for us to make Lifespan the best it can be because we know it’s absolutely important that we get it right.
-A self-advocate stated that she recalls Betsy stating previously that using these videos to train DHHS staff and perhaps providers. This would still be advantageous.
Betsy: I do think that’s a good idea, and we’re updating various training materials so thanks for the reminder, I’ll definitely take that back!
Janet DiBiase – Maine Parent Federation (MPF): MPF is working on a series of webinars about ways to support each other as we all prepare to transition to Lifespan.
Betsy: We would love to be able to meet with parents or have them join us at those in-person meetings in May. I’ll also be speaking about the Lifespan Waiver during the Annual Maine Parent Federation Conference keynote address on 3/25.
Betsy: I want to introduce Sara Fleurant, the new Housing Coordinator at OADS. She’ll be helping us on a number of different housing-related projects over the course of the next couple of years.
SIS-A: We have a SIS-A Q&A session coming up in May as well.
Click here to see frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the SIS-A assessment and the current incentive.
Contact the Maximus Help Desk to schedule a SIS-A assessment:
Call 833.771.4639 or email [email protected].
SUPPORT: Contact the Maine SIS Assessments Help Desk: Interested members should contact the Maine SIS Help Desk and ask that an assessment be scheduled: (call 833.771.4639 or email: [email protected]). Maximus will follow up to schedule an appropriate date/time and location.
If you have other SIS assessment related questions: Contact the Maximus – Maine SIS Help Desk team from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST, Monday – Friday to learn more:
-Lifespan Waiver FAQs (4th Edition): In June 2023, the Department announced that future updates about the Lifespan Waiver would be published in regularly updated Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) documents. The latest Lifespan Waiver FAQ is now released. You can find this document in the Resources section of the Lifespan webpage:
Lifespan 4th Edition FAQ As new information is developed, there will be additional Stakeholder Information sessions provided. The Lifespan Waiver is expected to start in 2025, with additional public comment periods. For more information about the public comment opportunities, please see question 7 of the FAQ.
-Provider Lifespan Readiness Grants: In preparation for the new Lifespan Waiver, OADS is working with providers to offer “Provider Readiness Grants” using American Rescue Plan Act funds under Section 9817 to help providers be ready to provide many new services in the waiver. OADS is meeting with a provider stakeholder group to provide input on a provider survey, which will inform the grant process and offer providers options to apply for the grants by late spring 2024.
Cullen: Thank you, Betsy, for being here and providing all of these updates!
DHHS – Children’s Behavioral Health Services (CBHS), Office of Behavioral Health (OBH) - www.maine.gov/dhhs/ocfs -
Alina Smith: CBHS is in the process of merging into OBH. There won’t be any changes other than branding and work on the website.
DOL – Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) - www.maine.gov/rehab/dvr - No update
Office of Special Services and Inclusive Education (OSSIE) - www.maine.gov/doe/learning/specialed
Titus O’Rourke:
Dyslexia Initiative: Dyslexia Awareness kits have been sent to 100 schools. To support Maine SAUs in the purchase of a high-quality Dyslexia Screener, OSSIE is offering the opportunity to apply for a reimbursement of up to $4,500.00 for Maine SAUs. Dyslexia Awareness presentations to schools and educational partner groups such as MCLA, MPA, etc. For more info, contact: [email protected].
Maine SEEDS (Special Educator Engagement, Development and Support): An initiative supporting new special educators through communities of practice and supporting SAUs in developing grow-your-own programming for new educators and special educator apprenticeships. For more info, contact: [email protected]
Math4Maine: Making Math Meaningful For All: Math4ME is Accepting Applications for the Newest Cohort. Math4ME is a free, three-year, whole-school project designed to support all educators (classroom teachers, special educators, ed techs, and interventionists) in strengthening math proficiency for all. There is a virtual info session on 3/20 at 4pm. (Find application and info session registration information here.) For more info, contact: [email protected]
Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS): PBIS is currently recruiting districts for their 4th cohort next year. An information session was offered last month, and the application and resources can be found online. For more info, contact: [email protected].
Transition Maine: 1st Annual "I Belong" Youth Summit: The Maine Department of Education, Office of Special Services, and Inclusive Education (OSSIE) is hosting our 1st Annual Transition Maine Youth Summit with the theme of "I Belong". We aim to connect our students with exceptionalities with individuals and organizations that provide real-world opportunities in our communities. "I Belong" means recognizing the person holistically. "I Belong" is about recognizing the intersection of identifiers, including unique experiences and perspectives, to promote economic inclusion for all our students. Disabilities do not exist in a silo, and neither do their career options. Together, we will explore 18 career pathways that reflect employment opportunities in Maine. For more info: Click Here. Contact: [email protected]
-A self-advocate stated that one of the most helpful things is meeting alumni.
Titus: Our guest keynote speaker is a young man in his first year whose goal is to become a special education lawyer. We also have a steering committee comprised of people with disabilities guiding the work – and they are taskmasters! I’d love to meet with you to help shape the summit. We’re flexible and will pivot to meet needs.
Disability Rights Maine (DRM) Update:
Staci Converse couldn’t attend today’s meeting but sent the following update via email: DRM’s youth self-advocacy team has been facilitating self-advocacy and supported decision-making (SDM) trainings for folks with intellectual/developmental disabilities aged 14-25 all over the state of Maine. They are excited about the opportunity to connect with and empower young Mainers.
There are flyers for all of our meetings, which occur every Wednesday from 10:30-11am, and we have a virtual drop-in session. The first Wednesday from 4-5 pm of every month we have an in-person Chapter Meeting at the Equality Community Center in Portland. And the last Wednesday from 11am-12pm of every month we have a Virtual Statewide Chapter Meeting. There is also a list of trainings we provide. Lastly, Kate Turpen, the project director, sends out a monthly newsletter updating the community about their happenings and any unique upcoming opportunities for young people. Kate’s email is [email protected] if anyone would like more information or to sign up to be on the newsletter! Information about the meetings can also be found online.
Federal & Housing Updates:
Cullen:
State Legislature Update –
Laura Cordes could not attend today’s meeting. The following is updated information:
As this group knows from last month’s presentation, Laura Cordes created a Google doc for the Second Regular Session of the 131st Legislature to support the MCHQS' interest in monitoring and engaging in bills of interest. The doc contains an updated list of bills of interest, links on how to testify in person, by zoom, and/or how to submit testimony, as well as a list of Committee members (click here for more information).
The Second Session, or the “Short Session”, is scheduled to run from 1/3/24 – 4/17/24. In the short session only emergency bills, Governor’s bills, and bills carried over from the previous session can be heard. There are a number of carryover bills that are being considered. Many of these have already had public hearings and as such will not receive additional public hearings. Public Hearings and Work Sessions for the Second Session are well underway.
For information please refer to the Google Doc.
Governor’s Supplemental Budget
Bills of Interest: To look up any bill click on this link and enter the bill number:
Cullen Ryan introduced himself and welcomed the group. Minutes from the last meeting were accepted. For the sake of time, Cullen read the names of participants.
Featured Speaker: Kim Humphrey, Founder and President, Community Connect Maine communityconnectme.org; Self-Advocates: Anna McDougal, Brian Harnish, Carmie Fadden, Dale Hess, and Jon McGovern; Shenna Bellows, Secretary of State; Evan Murray, Director of Civic Engagement at Democracy Maine; Molly Thompson, Voting Access Advocate at Disability Rights Maine. Topic: It’s your life, your voice, your choice! Digital storytelling video sharing- It’s Worth the Fight, Alyssa Live, Chasing Your Dreams with Anna McDougal, Your vote, every vote!
Cullen: Today we have a really exciting presentation. I am pleased to welcome Kim Humphrey, Founder and President of Community Connect Maine; Self-Advocates: Anna McDougal, Brian Harnish, Carmie Fadden, Dale Hess, and Jon McGovern; Secretary of State Shenna Bellows; Evan Murray, the Director of Civic Engagement at Democracy Maine; and Molly Thompson, Voting Access Advocate at Disability Rights Maine. This group of presenters will be sharing the digital storytelling series It’s your life, your voice, your choice! We’re going to have the pleasure of watching four of these digital storytelling videos. This type of storytelling is an extremely effective form of advocacy. Thank you, Kim, for all of your work with Community Connect and for pioneering digital storytelling in Maine!
Kim Humphrey: I’m really excited for this presentation and to talk about our work at Community Connect and how we’ve been using digital storytelling to do it. It’s been a very fun, interesting, and enjoyable experience.
Begin Presentation (Click here for the presentation):
Kim: We thought a lot about our mission and how to influence positive change and we kept coming back to how important the visibility of the disability community is. In 2020, we turned our network into a 501c3 Nonprofit and made the initial focus on being able to create and share stories and facilitate that within the disability community. This led to the Connecting Voices Project which includes the digital story making trainings, sharing the stories through the creation of the film Invisible (click here for an invitation to the next showing of this film in Biddeford on 3/25), and a voting video to increase voter turnout in the disability community.
The group watched four (4) digital storytelling videos:
Worth the Fight
-Reflections after the video: A self-advocate stated that she didn’t know that COVID side effects could affect the disability community in that way. It was stated that this side effect is extremely rare. He overcame a lot and him and his mother speaking up shaped a good outcome.
- An aside regarding the subject of this video: Reactions to vaccines do indeed occur but are extremely rare. This video is not designed to suggest vaccines are not a good idea, only to suggest that the system needs to be more responsive to people facing any type of issues at any time, for any reason, and the video provides a good example why responsiveness is important. And self-advocacy is imperative when the system is not responsive.
Alyssa Live
-Reflections after the video: It was stated that was a great video.
Chasing Your Dreams with Anna McDougal
Anna McDougal: The video is about dreams that came true for me. It’s about overcoming obstacles and life and being independent.
Kim: The next video includes four self-advocates who did a phenomenal job. Secretary of State Shena Bellows helped to produce this video. And Evan Murray, Director of Civic Engagement at Democracy Maine, helped lend his expertise, as did Molly Thompson who DRM’s Voting Access Advocate.
Your Vote, Every Vote!
Brian Harnish: I live in Orono and recently started working for DRM. I thought it was important to eliminate the stigma that people with disabilities don’t know how the voting process works.
Jon McGovern: I’m from Bangor. What motivated me to do the video is I wanted to see everyone get out and vote. Voting is very important. Your vote is your voice!
The Honorable Shenna Bellows, Secretary of State: I wanted to thank everyone for participating in that video. It’s so important for self-advocates to participate in the process and speak out about it. Your vote is your voice, you’re holding us in the government accountable to ensure that access is granted to everyone. Digital storytelling and having the courage to put yourself on camera is not easy. They made it look easy! But everyone gets better through practice. When I think back to 2016 when I first started working with Anna, she taught me so much about the self-advocacy community and what I need to know – and it’s made me a better Secretary of State. Thank you for telling your own stories and your own truth through your digital storytelling. And thank you Kim, for creating the process through which these stories came to be.
-A self-advocate stated that not everyone understands the voting process. People also aren’t always aware about the accessible online voting – highlighting that would be advantageous.
Secretary Bellows: I’m happy to come anywhere to talk about voting. We could bring a sample ballot, voter registration cards, and talk through those processes. This gave me an idea for another digital story! Certain photography is prohibited are polling stations, but there’s nothing that prohibits someone from photographing oneself. Perhaps someone documenting the process through absentee voting and creating another digital story would be helpful.
Molly Thompson, Disability Rights Maine (DRM): This has been such a fun and uplifting hour! My entire job is about voting. In partnership with our clients and allies, through our Voting Access initiative, DRM works to remove barriers to voting and to educate and train people on voting rights. Last November we were able to survey all of Maine’s polling places and created a comprehensive report. Leading up to the Primary Election, we conducted voting access training for more than 200 people. There was a significant improvement for access and polling place compliance for the Primary Election compared to what we saw in last November’s election. We will be very busy – our goal is to get to every polling place in Maine before the upcoming November election.
Discussion:
-A self-advocate stated that she was involved with a project Molly worked on involving creating opportunities for people with disabilities to become poll workers – which is fantastic. She stated that the training for this could be improved. Poll workers ought to be more informed in general. She also stated that her husband, who is legally blind now but has not always been, was thrilled to discover that he can still vote with accessible voting! She added that petitioners outside posed challenges for people with disabilities leaving the polls as people were convinced to sign up for things without understanding what they were signing and any potential consequences.
Evan Murray: I’ve been loving hearing people’s responses! Thank you for inviting me to be part of this. My job is making sure everyone can vote and you all are a really important part of everyone. My job as the interviewer was to help self-advocates organize their thoughts and say what they wanted to say. I had a wonderful time doing this and met some amazing people doing very important work. I also do election observation and the people on site for the Primary Election were thrilled with the changes Molly made to make the polling place more accessible. I’m also happy to answer questions and/or talk with people or groups.
Kim: You were invaluable in helping us do this and I’m so glad I got to know you through this process.
-A self-advocate stated that she is worried about what will happen to adults with disabilities when Lifespan waiver starts.
Cullen: This was absolutely fantastic – thank you all! Every aspect of this was phenomenal. Thank you all for this and for being here today – well done!
End Presentation (round of applause would have occurred were it not for everyone being muted and on Zoom)
DHHS – Office of Aging and Disability Services (OADS) - www.maine.gov/dhhs/oads
Betsy Hopkins: I want to echo everyone’s comments about these videos – this was easily the best hour I’ll spend this entire week. They were so well done, and I loved each story. I was so impressed, honestly. Thanks to all of you!
I heard the comment regarding fear around the Lifespan waiver, and I will give some updates about Lifespan. I think it would be helpful for us to discuss this more at some point because we don’t intend Lifespan to be what you’re fearing. We want Lifespan to provide additional options for people. If people like what they have now they can keep them wherever they are. We’re also working with our provider community to provide the new services that will be available with the new Lifespan waiver.
Dr Mills and I went around the state and did some in-person meetings last fall with providers, self-advocates, and other stakeholders – we’re doing that again the week of May 15th. We’ll be sending out a schedule of those meetings so people can join us. These meetings are essential for us to make Lifespan the best it can be because we know it’s absolutely important that we get it right.
-A self-advocate stated that she recalls Betsy stating previously that using these videos to train DHHS staff and perhaps providers. This would still be advantageous.
Betsy: I do think that’s a good idea, and we’re updating various training materials so thanks for the reminder, I’ll definitely take that back!
Janet DiBiase – Maine Parent Federation (MPF): MPF is working on a series of webinars about ways to support each other as we all prepare to transition to Lifespan.
Betsy: We would love to be able to meet with parents or have them join us at those in-person meetings in May. I’ll also be speaking about the Lifespan Waiver during the Annual Maine Parent Federation Conference keynote address on 3/25.
Betsy: I want to introduce Sara Fleurant, the new Housing Coordinator at OADS. She’ll be helping us on a number of different housing-related projects over the course of the next couple of years.
SIS-A: We have a SIS-A Q&A session coming up in May as well.
Click here to see frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the SIS-A assessment and the current incentive.
Contact the Maximus Help Desk to schedule a SIS-A assessment:
Call 833.771.4639 or email [email protected].
- SIS-A Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for members, family, and other support team members – updated 10/27/23.
- SIS-A Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for community case managers (CCMs)
- OADS Website - "A Path for ME" Needs Assessments
- Maine SIS-A Resources - Maximus Website
- SIS-A Assessment Report - AAIDD Sample
- OADS Presentation - Orientation to "A Path for ME" Needs Assessment
- American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) Website
SUPPORT: Contact the Maine SIS Assessments Help Desk: Interested members should contact the Maine SIS Help Desk and ask that an assessment be scheduled: (call 833.771.4639 or email: [email protected]). Maximus will follow up to schedule an appropriate date/time and location.
If you have other SIS assessment related questions: Contact the Maximus – Maine SIS Help Desk team from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST, Monday – Friday to learn more:
- Phone: 833.771.4639
- Email: [email protected]
-Lifespan Waiver FAQs (4th Edition): In June 2023, the Department announced that future updates about the Lifespan Waiver would be published in regularly updated Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) documents. The latest Lifespan Waiver FAQ is now released. You can find this document in the Resources section of the Lifespan webpage:
Lifespan 4th Edition FAQ As new information is developed, there will be additional Stakeholder Information sessions provided. The Lifespan Waiver is expected to start in 2025, with additional public comment periods. For more information about the public comment opportunities, please see question 7 of the FAQ.
-Provider Lifespan Readiness Grants: In preparation for the new Lifespan Waiver, OADS is working with providers to offer “Provider Readiness Grants” using American Rescue Plan Act funds under Section 9817 to help providers be ready to provide many new services in the waiver. OADS is meeting with a provider stakeholder group to provide input on a provider survey, which will inform the grant process and offer providers options to apply for the grants by late spring 2024.
Cullen: Thank you, Betsy, for being here and providing all of these updates!
DHHS – Children’s Behavioral Health Services (CBHS), Office of Behavioral Health (OBH) - www.maine.gov/dhhs/ocfs -
Alina Smith: CBHS is in the process of merging into OBH. There won’t be any changes other than branding and work on the website.
DOL – Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) - www.maine.gov/rehab/dvr - No update
Office of Special Services and Inclusive Education (OSSIE) - www.maine.gov/doe/learning/specialed
Titus O’Rourke:
Dyslexia Initiative: Dyslexia Awareness kits have been sent to 100 schools. To support Maine SAUs in the purchase of a high-quality Dyslexia Screener, OSSIE is offering the opportunity to apply for a reimbursement of up to $4,500.00 for Maine SAUs. Dyslexia Awareness presentations to schools and educational partner groups such as MCLA, MPA, etc. For more info, contact: [email protected].
Maine SEEDS (Special Educator Engagement, Development and Support): An initiative supporting new special educators through communities of practice and supporting SAUs in developing grow-your-own programming for new educators and special educator apprenticeships. For more info, contact: [email protected]
Math4Maine: Making Math Meaningful For All: Math4ME is Accepting Applications for the Newest Cohort. Math4ME is a free, three-year, whole-school project designed to support all educators (classroom teachers, special educators, ed techs, and interventionists) in strengthening math proficiency for all. There is a virtual info session on 3/20 at 4pm. (Find application and info session registration information here.) For more info, contact: [email protected]
Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS): PBIS is currently recruiting districts for their 4th cohort next year. An information session was offered last month, and the application and resources can be found online. For more info, contact: [email protected].
Transition Maine: 1st Annual "I Belong" Youth Summit: The Maine Department of Education, Office of Special Services, and Inclusive Education (OSSIE) is hosting our 1st Annual Transition Maine Youth Summit with the theme of "I Belong". We aim to connect our students with exceptionalities with individuals and organizations that provide real-world opportunities in our communities. "I Belong" means recognizing the person holistically. "I Belong" is about recognizing the intersection of identifiers, including unique experiences and perspectives, to promote economic inclusion for all our students. Disabilities do not exist in a silo, and neither do their career options. Together, we will explore 18 career pathways that reflect employment opportunities in Maine. For more info: Click Here. Contact: [email protected]
-A self-advocate stated that one of the most helpful things is meeting alumni.
Titus: Our guest keynote speaker is a young man in his first year whose goal is to become a special education lawyer. We also have a steering committee comprised of people with disabilities guiding the work – and they are taskmasters! I’d love to meet with you to help shape the summit. We’re flexible and will pivot to meet needs.
Disability Rights Maine (DRM) Update:
Staci Converse couldn’t attend today’s meeting but sent the following update via email: DRM’s youth self-advocacy team has been facilitating self-advocacy and supported decision-making (SDM) trainings for folks with intellectual/developmental disabilities aged 14-25 all over the state of Maine. They are excited about the opportunity to connect with and empower young Mainers.
There are flyers for all of our meetings, which occur every Wednesday from 10:30-11am, and we have a virtual drop-in session. The first Wednesday from 4-5 pm of every month we have an in-person Chapter Meeting at the Equality Community Center in Portland. And the last Wednesday from 11am-12pm of every month we have a Virtual Statewide Chapter Meeting. There is also a list of trainings we provide. Lastly, Kate Turpen, the project director, sends out a monthly newsletter updating the community about their happenings and any unique upcoming opportunities for young people. Kate’s email is [email protected] if anyone would like more information or to sign up to be on the newsletter! Information about the meetings can also be found online.
Federal & Housing Updates:
Cullen:
- Tax Package – The House passed its tax package, the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024 (H.R. 7024), at the end of January. The bill now faces a full vote in the Senate. The tax bill includes provisions to expand the Child Tax Credit (CTC), as well as top two top legislative priorities related to affordable housing (also included in the bipartisan Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act that has widespread bipartisan support). The tax bill would do the following for affordable housing:
- Restore the 12.5% allocation increase for nine percent LIHTCs for 2023 to 2025 (about 25% more housing could be created); and
- Lower the 50% bond financing test to 30% for 2024 to 2025 (streamline the ability to create that housing).
- FY 24 Budget – On 3/8, Congress passed, and the President, signed a bipartisan FY 24 budget for 6 appropriations bills (including T-HUD). The remaining 6 appropriations bills are operating under a continuing resolution which expires on 3/22.
- FY 24 THUD Budget – The final FY24 THUD spending bill provides significant funding for HUD’s vital affordable housing and homelessness programs. Overall, the final spending bill provides HUD programs with $70 billion, which is $8.3 billion more than FY23-enacted levels. The final spending bill provides significant resources for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program, which was funded at $32.4 billion, or a $2.1 billion increase over FY23-enacted levels. This funding level is higher than the levels proposed in either the House or Senate versions, which could have led to a loss of 80,000 to 112,000 housing vouchers, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. As a result of the higher funding level, there should be sufficient resources to renew all existing rental assistance contracts and expand rental assistance to an additional 3,000 households.
- S 570, Medicaid Dental Benefit Act of 2023 – Introduced by Senator Cardin, this bill requires state Medicaid programs to cover dental and oral health services for adults. It also increases the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (i.e., federal matching rate) for such services. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) must develop oral health quality and equity measures and conduct outreach relating to such coverage. Additionally, the Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Payment and Access Commission must report on specified information relating to adult oral health care.
- S 2767/HR 5408 SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act – This bipartisan, bicameral bill was reintroduced in the Senate and House. The bill will update SSI’s asset limits for the first time since the 1980s to ensure people with disabilities and seniors are able to prepare themselves for a financial emergency without putting the benefits that they rely on to live at risk. After advocacy from Maine Senator Collins signed on to this bill.
- HR 7055 The Eliminating the Marriage Penalty in SSI Act (EMPSA) – This bill excludes a spouse's income and resources when determining eligibility for Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and disregards marital status when calculating the SSI benefit amount, for an adult who has a diagnosed intellectual or developmental disability. (SSI is a federal income supplement program designed to help aged, blind, and disabled individuals with limited income and resources meet basic needs.). (This was added to the update in the meeting based on the recommendation of an attendee.)
- S 1557/ HR 3238 The Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act – Senator Angus King cosponsored bipartisan legislation to create nearly two million new affordable homes across the country – including thousands in Maine. The Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act would expand the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) to provide more homes for low-income people, support small businesses trying to attract workers, and fill the state’s gap of more than 20,000 affordable housing units. It appears this bill has strong bipartisan support, increasing its likelihood for passage.
State Legislature Update –
Laura Cordes could not attend today’s meeting. The following is updated information:
As this group knows from last month’s presentation, Laura Cordes created a Google doc for the Second Regular Session of the 131st Legislature to support the MCHQS' interest in monitoring and engaging in bills of interest. The doc contains an updated list of bills of interest, links on how to testify in person, by zoom, and/or how to submit testimony, as well as a list of Committee members (click here for more information).
The Second Session, or the “Short Session”, is scheduled to run from 1/3/24 – 4/17/24. In the short session only emergency bills, Governor’s bills, and bills carried over from the previous session can be heard. There are a number of carryover bills that are being considered. Many of these have already had public hearings and as such will not receive additional public hearings. Public Hearings and Work Sessions for the Second Session are well underway.
For information please refer to the Google Doc.
Governor’s Supplemental Budget
- The Governor released the Supplemental Budget in February. (For all budget-related information click the following links: Part A: Budget Line Items by Department; Part B: Attorney General Budget Line Items; General Fund Bill Language: Written Bill Text of the Budget.)
- These are proposed adjustments to the biennial FY 24 and FY25 budget that was adopted last year.
- The Appropriations and Financial Affairs (AFA)Committee has held joint Public Hearings in conjunction with the relevant standing Committees on all of the proposed changes. Beginning this week, the AFA Committee will be holding Work Sessions for Committee report-backs.
- In her State of the State written address, Governor Mills noted a forthcoming plan that “reforms our approach to educating pre-k children with disabilities, eliminating our status as an outlier among states, and ensuring that our children receive the “free, appropriate, public education” they deserve.” Part W of the Budget (begins on page 42 of the Budget) is the Budget initiative pertaining to this. Part W Summary:
- Requires organizational improvements within the state intermediate education agency, Child Development Services, including data and financial systems improvements, expansion of eligibility for Part C early intervention services, and allows for extended Part C option to continue IFSPs until the start of the school year when the child is 4 years of age, if the family chooses this.
- Provides that, beginning July 2029, all school administrative units are responsible for child find and ensuring a free, appropriate public education for resident children eligible under IDEA Part B Section 619, whether or not the school administrative units operate public preschool programs, and requires the Department of Education to implement a funding formula to provide funds for school administrative units when they assume responsibility for the Section 619 children.
- Reorganizes the resources and staffing in CDS Part B to support the work of schools through regional service hubs.
- Establishes the Preschool Special Education Fund and authorizes the distribution of funds to school administrative units who have voluntarily assumed the free, appropriate public education for the costs of special education and related services for children aged 3 through 5. Bills on the Special Appropriations Table require funding for passage and would likely need to be pulled from the Table and included in the Supplemental Budget in order to be funded.
Bills of Interest: To look up any bill click on this link and enter the bill number:
Monique Stairs – Speaking Up For Us (SUFU): The Governor’s Supplemental Budget does not include funding for LD 1666, An Act to Modernize the State Supplement to Supplemental Security Income by Updating the State Supplement and Removing Marriage Disincentives. This bill passed the House last Session and was carried over (this bill is included in the spreadsheet above). This has not currently been funded but I would encourage people to reach out to the AFA Committee.
Cullen: I want to again express my thanks to everyone in this group for your collective advocacy educating Legislators about what you’re encountering, offering your expertise, and helping them understand the needs of people with ID/DD, so that they can make good decisions. Sharing your personal stories is very effective, and we’re all better for it. Thank you for raising your voice; I hope you continue to do so throughout this Session! Every seat in the Legislature will be up for election/re-election this fall. Please continue to raise your voice and tell your stories. This Coalition strives to be an informational clearinghouse, and a vehicle for collective grassroots advocacy – striving to make the world a better place for people with disabilities, a world in which they can truly live, be included in their communities, and they can launch and thrive. Telling our stories is essential to ensure we move the needle forward.
Other Business:
Cullen: Helen Hemminger is retiring next month, and I wanted to express my great appreciation for all of her work. Thank you for everything and congratulations on your retirement!
The next meeting will be on Monday, April 8, 2024, 12-2pm, via Zoom*.
Featured Speakers and Topic TBD.
Unless changed, Coalition meetings are on the 2nd Monday of the month from 12-2pm.
(In 2024 the October and November meetings will be the 3rd Monday due to the holidays)
The Maine Coalition for Housing and Quality Services provides equal opportunity for meeting participation. If you wish to attend but require an interpreter or other accommodation, please forward your request two weeks prior to the monthly meeting to [email protected].
Cullen: I want to again express my thanks to everyone in this group for your collective advocacy educating Legislators about what you’re encountering, offering your expertise, and helping them understand the needs of people with ID/DD, so that they can make good decisions. Sharing your personal stories is very effective, and we’re all better for it. Thank you for raising your voice; I hope you continue to do so throughout this Session! Every seat in the Legislature will be up for election/re-election this fall. Please continue to raise your voice and tell your stories. This Coalition strives to be an informational clearinghouse, and a vehicle for collective grassroots advocacy – striving to make the world a better place for people with disabilities, a world in which they can truly live, be included in their communities, and they can launch and thrive. Telling our stories is essential to ensure we move the needle forward.
Other Business:
Cullen: Helen Hemminger is retiring next month, and I wanted to express my great appreciation for all of her work. Thank you for everything and congratulations on your retirement!
The next meeting will be on Monday, April 8, 2024, 12-2pm, via Zoom*.
Featured Speakers and Topic TBD.
Unless changed, Coalition meetings are on the 2nd Monday of the month from 12-2pm.
(In 2024 the October and November meetings will be the 3rd Monday due to the holidays)
The Maine Coalition for Housing and Quality Services provides equal opportunity for meeting participation. If you wish to attend but require an interpreter or other accommodation, please forward your request two weeks prior to the monthly meeting to [email protected].