ARRM News and Public Relations

Legislators Continue to Visit Sites Across the State

Minnesota Legislatures continue to visit homes across the state. These site visits are a great way to show Legislators first hand the important work that is being done every day. Legislators want to know how the votes they are casting on complex issues are effecting every day people, these site visits are a great way to see the peoples faces they represent when they vote as opposed to spread sheets and numbers. Below is some feedback and stories from some of the visits:

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Representative Leon Lillie visited us at REM Ramsey in Maplewood. We spoke with him about budget cuts and how they will affect staffing and quality of life. He re-iterated to us that it was going to be another tough year at the capitol.

--Chrissy Tauber

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Representative Tom Tillberry visited REM Ramsey in Moundsview. He was able to stay for about an hour and met a lot of people. Rep. Tillberry requested that we write a letter telling a little bit about how budget cuts are affecting the lives of the people we serve.

--Chrissy Tauber

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Representative Carol McFarlane visited REM Ramsey in White Bear Lake. Rep. McFarlane strongly suggests personal contacts as opposed to blast emails or template letters to share our stories. She was very impressed with our services and how the homes looked, she also said that she supports our services and encourages us to keep advocating!

--Chrissy Tauber

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Senator Wigen visited REM Ramsey in Maplewood, he was very interested in the services we provide and impressed with the homes. Senator Wigen supports our services and strongly suggests that staff and consumers who are interested in advocating get out there by going to town hall meetings and writing letters to your representative. He stated that teachers have a huge presence and are very "tough competition."

--Chrissy Tauber

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Representative Carolyn Laine visited REM MCS in Columbia Heights. We were able to chat for about an hour over pizza and expressed concern for the budget cuts and let her know the reasons why cuts would hurt so bad. Rep. Laine said that because human services, health care an education budgets are so large they are normally the first that get cut.

--Eileen Holm

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Representative Lyndon Carlson visited REM Hennepin in Crystal. He was able to speak personally with consumers, staff, parents and guardians. He let us know that he is supportive of Health and Human Service and DD issues and that he was not in agreement with the cuts that were made by the Governor.

--Paul Jaeger

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Representative Bob Gunther visited REM Heartland in Fairmont. We had a discussion with him about budget cuts and he expressed that he is not optimistic about the upcoming legislative session.

--Lori Larson

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Senator Kathy Sheran and Representative Terry Morrow visited REM Heartland in Mankato. Among other things, some topics that were discussed were brain injury services, mental health supports and funding issues and the impact on current community supports.

--Mark Turbes

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Representative Lyndon Carlson makes visit in Robbinsdale

At the end of November Representative Lyndon Carlson was able to visit a Dakota Communities home in Robbinsdale.

Representative Carlson is the Chair of the Finance Division Committee and is very familiar with the fiscal challenges we are facing today. Representative Carlson's advise is to support revenue increases.

Senator Linda Scheid visits Dakota Communities!

This past week Senator Linda Scheid attended a holiday party at one of the Dakota Communities Brooklyn Center homes and had the opportunity to meet and visit with people who live at the home and family members.

Senator Scheid strongly urged family members to get involved in grassroots advocacy as the most effective way of influencing legislation.

ARRM Providers make Commitments for Future Advocacy

At our 2009 Leadership Conference in September we asked our providers to tell us what their own commitments will be in the upcoming year in order to advance our grassroots advocacy work. We had a lot of great ideas, here is a small sample of some of the things said:

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"I will commit to involving my staff, family, members and the people I serve to be more involved in advocacy. I will commit to developing the tools people will need to become more involved and will make it easy and simple for them to participate in contacting their legislators."

--Meredith Jurowski

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"I will commit to increasing the engagement of the individuals and family members we serve, it's about them and the consequences could be dire."

--Curt Bossert

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"I will commit to bring the persons served to the town meetings to share their own stories or have staff assist with telling their stories."

--Karin Stockwell

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"I commit to initiating a year-round grassroots effort at our agency in order to keep the momentum going continually."

--Tim Nelson

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"I will commit in making a personal contact with each legislator that serves the district where each of our homes are located."

--Tim Nelson

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"I will commit to providing training on how to tell your story and how to get others involved."

--Lisa Math

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"I commit to having an annual plan that develops a grassroots council to include parents, spouses, clients and staff."

--Rhonda Peterson

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"My commitment is to follow-up with each of the federal legislators whose office we visited in DC this month and to ask for a site visit."

--Paula Hart

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"I commit to having orientation to include legislative information. I will provide the same information at staff meetings and at parent meetings. I will collaborate with other providers in our area for a higher profile and pursue a student volunteer intern from MSU to assist in the effort."

--Carol Lee

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"I will commit to work towards getting our family members more involved in grassroots efforts, as well as make a personal effort to connect with staff and assist them in grassroots efforts."

--Judy Docken

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"I commit to helping to build confidence and a message of self advocacy with families so they feel better prepared to get involved with legislation."

--Beth Tollefson

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ARRM would like to challenge all of our members to make personal commitments of grassroots advocacy. As we enter the legislative session it has never been more important that our voices are loud and strong.

Grassroots Advocacy at work; Minnesota Legislators visit ARRM members accross the state

Over the last few months Minnesota Legislators have been taking time and visiting ARRM members across the state. A face-to-face meeting with your legislator is a powerful opportunity to illustrate the important work you do and help them understand who you are.

These site visits are not only a great way to make a connection with your legislator but they also provide us with valuable information and feedback to use as we move forward, here is some of the feedback we received:

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I expect education funding to be beefed up this upcoming session. I encourage you to bring forward ideas and initiatives for system change that will improve efficiency and allow us to do more with the same or less financial resources.

-- Sen. Kathy Sheran (23)

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I was able to meet with Rep. Patty Fritz. She was very positive and appreciative of our kinds and services; she, in fact, knew three of the four consumers in one of the programs we visited, as they and she are long time Faribault residents. She addressed some of her personal experiences with folks with disabilities and of course her nursing experiences. The only area she appeared somewhat reluctant to discuss was the disparity between state operated and private programs in terms of staff wages and benefits. Rep. Fritz emphasized the importance of writing letters and other forms of outreach to legislators.

--Linda Olsen

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We had a good meeting with Senator Ann Lynch. She said that there would probably be additional cuts and we expressed to her our message that we have taken our share of cuts and are looking for fairness. We described how state employees and nursing home workers had been treated in comparison and she suggested we put together a list of all the costs disability providers had sustained or fee increases. Sen. Lynch also said that we need to remind folks that moving to waivered services was a conscious decision that the legislature made.

--David Doth/ Linda Sandvig

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We had a get to know you meeting with Senator Bonoff which was initiated by a parent of someone that DCI serves. Senator Bonoff was very gracious in interacting with everyone, she was curious about our history, funding and service models. We didn't ask for any specific support at the time of the meeting and Senator Bonoff asked us very basic questions about our funding and our sources of funding. This was a very positive meeting.

--Paula Hart, DCI

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Senator Ann Rest attended a BBQ event we had as a grand opening for our new pergola and gardens at the apartments in Robbinsdale. We had a large gathering with people served, family members, employees and a new Board Member. Senator Rest stated that she really enjoyed meeting everyone, she is a strong advocate and encouraged us to keep at it in getting our stories out and increasing grassroots advocacy.

--Paula Hart, DCI

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Rep. Joyce Peppin and her two daughters came to a BBQ event we hosted in Maple Grove in order to better get to know Rep. Peppin. Rep. Peppin worked for a provider when she was at UMD, we had very positive interactions and she expressed that she really enjoyed the tour of the house.

--Paula Hart, DCI

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If you would like help setting up a site visit please contact our Field Organizer, Sara Krogman at skrogman@arrm.org or you can reference our web site's ARRM advocacy tools for toolkits on how to schedule and perform a site visit.

Hammer supporter Rena Sarigianopoulos profiled in Twin Cities Metro magazine

Rena talks about her longstanding relationship with ARRM member, Hammer Residences. Read the full article here.

ARRM getting fresh ideas and feedback at regional provider meetings

ARRM staff has held three regional meetings with providers – with one to go next Tuesday in southeast Minnesota at the National Eagle Center in Wabasha from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

The disability providers – members and nonmembers – have given us fantastic input to better meet their needs as we all move through these challenging times. At the same time, we’re restructuring our staff to allow us to be in frequent contact with you where you live and work.

We’ll summarize input from these four regional meetings and lay out our plan for enhanced member relations after the Wabasha meeting. Nancy Peterson is our point person for implementing the plan – and all of us will be involved in meeting with you individually and in groups. 

We thank the four hosts for this fall’s regional meetings:

• Blue Sky, Inc. in Detroit Lakes

• Residential Services of Northeast MN in Duluth

• Habilitative Services, Inc. in Mankato

• Great River Homes in Wabasha

We invite all providers to the meeting at the National Eagle Center and encourage current members to invite nonmembers!

Among the folks attending the Regional Meeting in Mankato were, from the left, Heidi Vorwerk (MBW), Vicki Sieve (MBW), Mary Iliff (HSI) and Laurel Whelan (HSI).

Dakota Communities Honored for Initiatives Supporting People with Disabilities

EAGAN - Dakota Communities was honored by The Arc of Minnesota with The Boggs Mitchell Award during Arc’s Annual Awards Banquet on October 24th at the Plymouth Radisson Hotel. The award recognizes a chapter or community organization providing year-round, challenging and inclusive recreational/leisure-time programs for people with disabilities. The Arc of Minnesota is an advocacy organization supporting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families.

Toni Boelter accepted the award on behalf of Dakota Communities as a founding member of its Therapeutic Recreation Department in 1997. The nonprofit supports people with disabilities in 32 residential group homes. During her 18 years with the organization, Boelter has worked to put into practice the idea that people with disabilities should live, work, volunteer and play alongside their families and neighbors.

“Therapeutic Recreation is more than bingo and bowling,” said Boelter. “It’s creating opportunities for people to become active participants in their own lives and communities through volunteerism, sports, gardening, wellness initiatives, and the arts.”

Dakota Communities has created a host of inclusion initiatives in collaboration with groups such as The University of Minnesota’s Landscape Arboretum, The Boy Scouts of America, Wilderness Inquiry, St. Paul Jewish Community Center, and the YMCA.

“We are proud and honored to be recognized with this award from the Arc,” said Dakota Communities President and CEO Paula Hart. “This is yet another indication of our commitment to creating challenging and rewarding opportunities for people with disabilities to be full members of their communities.”

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Harry Meyering professional caregiver creates YouTube video

This inspiring video features Special Olympics athletes from the Harry Meyering Center.

Opportunity Partners and Dunwoody have new options for disabled

From the StarTribune

Opportunity Partners and Dunwoody College of Technology are collaborating to provide new learning opportunities and career options for people with developmental and other disabilities.

Dunwoody's curriculum designers and Opportunity Partners staff together are developing "Certified Learning Platforms" for people with disabilities. One track being developed is Professional Cleaning, which will allow more than 75 current Opportunity Partners clients as well as new students to advance their skills in this area, Opportunity Partners said. It is expected to begin late this year, training to meet employer specifications.

Those completing the training will earn a joint certification from Dunwoody and Opportunity Partners.

Opportunity Partners, based in Minnetonka, is a nonprofit organization that provides employment and residential services to 1,500 people with developmental disabilities, autism and other special needs.