NYSILC



New York State Independent Living Council (NYSILC)Full Council MeetingMarch 17, 2017Troy Hilton Garden Inn, Sage Ballroom9:00 am to 3:30 pmAGENDA1. Introduction. 9:00 am A.Roll call – Sue Hoger, Chair.B. Open forum.2. Review and approval of Full Council Meeting minutes. 9:20 amA.Review and approval of draft minutes for the November 4, 2016 Full CouncilMeeting (FCM).3. Executive Director’s report – Brad Williams. 9:30 amA.Significant issues/major goals and deliverables (October-December 2016).Staff updates:Amy Wink, Program Coordinator and Erin Dwyer, Administrative Assistant.B.NYSILC Quarterly Contract Report (October-December 2016) – Refer to separatelyattached SILC Monitoring Document).C.Update/changes to 2017 NYSILC FCM dates at Troy Hilton Garden Inn:March 17th, 2017; Friday (Ferris Ballroom)June 9, 2017; Friday (Sage Ballroom) (Was 5/19/17) September 14th, 2017; Thursday (Roebling Library) (Was 9/15/17)Additional details based on coordination with ACCES-VR SRC.November 9th, 2017; (day before Veteran’s Day) (Ferris Ballroom) (Was 11/3/17)D.SILC Congress 2017.4. Treasurer’s Report – Roger Benn. 10:00 amA.Quarterly Fiscal Report (October-December 2016).B.Finance Committee minutes (February 7, 2017).C.Updated sections to Fiscal Policy (Refer to recommended changes).5. Executive Committee Report – Sue Ruff 10:15 amA.Executive Committee meeting minutes (November 10, 2016, December 9,2016, January 13, 2017, February 10, 2017).B.Updates/advocacy related items:Employment First (Refer to attached letter dated 1/17/17).Regents letter (Refer to email trade on issue).Uber letter (Refer to attached letter dated 12/13/16).Strategies to encourage health information sharing (Refer to attachedNYAPRS brief).ACCES-VR WIOA services (Refer to letter dated 1/26/17).6. Break 10:45 am7. Discussion 11:00 amA. Review of NYSILC Committees Materials (Refer to committee materials).Follow first page outline for discussion. 8. Committee & Subcommittee Reports(Minutes have been provided for review. Reports should focus on new activities. activities. Questions can be related to the reports or minutes. Updates will be provided by committees that haven’t been recently active.)A. ACCES-VR SRC report – Lindsay Miller (September 14-15, 2016).B.ACCES-VR report – ACCES-VR (Bob Gumson is on vacation).C.NYSCB SRC report – Cliff Perez.9. Lunch. 12:00 pm10. Review of NYSILC Leadership Development and Civic Engagement Program (LDCEP) 1:15 pmdraft website.Review of LDCEP staging site.Need assistance with content build for resource page (Refer to outline).11. Committee & Subcommittee Reports (Continued). 2:15 pm(Minutes have been provided for review. Reports should focus on new activities. activities. Questions can be related to the reports or minutes. Updates will be provided by committees that haven’t been recently active.)D. SPIL Committee – Sue Hoger (January 25, 2017).E. Consumer Satisfaction – Brad Williams (October 24, 2016, February 7, 2017).F. Public Policy – Brad Williams (October 26, 2016, February 24, 2017).SSAN Quarterly Report (October-September 2016) - (See separatelyattached SILC Monitoring Document).G. Youth Leadership – Zach Garafalo.H. Emergency Preparedness – Sue Ruff (December 6, 2016, February 14, 2017).I. Development – Brad Williams (November 8, 2016, January 31, 2017).J. Database Workgroup – Roger Benn (November 14,2016, Meeting scheduled for March 14, 2017).K. Recruitment – Brad Williams.L. Outreach – Roger Benn (February 17, 2017).1. CBILCO Quarterly Reports – (See separately attached SILC Monitoring Document).a. AIM Corning youth with disabilities (Y3, Oct-Dec 2016).b. ATI Cortland youth with disabilities (Y3, Oct-Dec 2016).c. BILS Bronx healthy living with disabilities (Y2, Jul-Sept 2016). BILS Bronx healthy living with disabilities (Y3, Oct-Dec 2016).d. NCCI Plattsburgh health care and wellness for people with disabilities (Y3, Oct-Dec 2016).e. PILS Putnam healthy living with disabilities (Y3, Oct-Dec 2016).f. RCIL Utica minorities with disabilities (Y2, Jul-Sept 2016).g. BRiDGES/RILC Rockland youth with disabilities (Y2, Jul-Sept 2016). BRiDGES/RILC Rockland youth with disabilities (Y3, Oct-Dec 2016).h. WILC White Plains healthy living with disabilities (Y3, Oct-Dec 2016).i. WNYIL Buffalo youth with disabilities (Y2, Jul-Sept 2016). WNYIL Buffalo youth with disabilities (Y3, Oct-Dec 2016).12. Adjourn. 3:30 pmNYSILC 2017 Winter News Briefs: 2. Review and approval of Full Council Meeting minutesDRAFTNew York State Independent Living Council (NYSILC)Full Council MeetingNov. 4, 2016Troy Hilton Garden Inn, Sage Ballroom9:00 AM – 4:00 PMCouncil Members Present: Zach Garafalo, Sue Hoger (Chair), Shelley Klein, Lindsay Miller, Henry Nixon, Sue Ruff, Ann Scherff, Chad Underwood, Doug Usiak, Joe Bravo, Bob Gumson (ACCES-VR), Robert Meek, Marc Rosen, Edith Prentiss, Clifton Perez, Keith Gurgui, Roger Benn, Helen Fang.Present by Phone: Brett Eisenberg, Luis GutierrezAbsent: Carla Lewis-IrizarryNYSILC Staff Present: Brad Williams, Amy Wink, Erin DwyerOpen ForumHelen Fang brought up the issue of Medicare open enrollment, and spoke to her place of work being available to help with questions or applications.Edith asked a questions regarding the possibility for EPIC (Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage) expansion, and suggested that NYSlLC should talk more on this topic. Helen couldn’t answer the question, but pointed to an agency that might be able to answer. Sue Hoger spoke about her experience as a shelter volunteer during Hurricane Matthew in Georgia. The experience was positive, and she can expand on her experience for anyone who would like to know more. Minutes Full council minutes from September 16, 2016 full council meeting was reviewed and approved. Chad made a motion to approve the minutes, Doug seconded, and the motion was approved unanimously. Executive Director’s Report – Brad WilliamsSILC Consulting: Brad will be presenting with Ann McDaniel from the West Virginia SILC, on the new authorities and how to get them in your state plan at SILC Congress 2017. There will be a second part on the IL regulations. Annual website hits are tracked as a contract outcome, it was just shy of 400,000 website hits, a 30% increase from last year. Many hits came from outside of the United States. Brad followed up with My Blind Spot on the IL History and Tutorial. There is some work to be done to make this fully accessible, but the fixes will need to be done by someone other than My Blind Spot, because they are too expensive. They want $9200 for a month’s worth of work.Chad asked for examples on what kind of work My Blind Spot recommends to make the NYSILC website more accessible. Brad explained the few minor problems with the IL History and Tutorial and the test to make it fully accessible.Leadership Development and Civic Engagement Program vendor was switched from Larry and Liberteks to ES11. ES11 has completed some great work for the project so far. They are working on the homepage/landing page, and then will move on to include content. We are working on draft webinars, marketing plan, media, evaluation, and preliminary grant applications. The Independent Living regulations have been finalized. The SPIL contract with ACCES-VR will be fully executed and signed any day now. The Federal Part B allocation was mistakenly split between two designated state entities, ACCES-VR, and the Commission for the Blind. The SPIL regulations explicitly required that there be only one designated state entity at 100%. The feds mistakenly still sent 16% of the contract money to the Commission for the Blind, and that mistake has to be remediated. Congress will need to pass another Continuing Resolution by December 9th, and there is cause to be concerned if we have not had the funds dispersed prior to that date and a new CR going forward.Erin Dwyer gave an update on some of the work she has been doing - researching and writing a webinar for the LDCEP on how to run for office, and collecting points of contact for the consumer satisfaction survey.Amy Wink has been working on the Consumer Satisfaction Survey links, making sure they all work, and having them translated into Spanish, Russian, and Chinese. Amy also continues to research possible grant sources for the LDCEP, as well as possible links and resources for the LDCEP web page, podcast and webinar ideas, and on website layout with Rocco from ES11.Edith brought up the need for inclusion of people with disabilities as volunteers on campaigns. This is a topic included in the LDCEP webinars.Quarterly Contract Report July-September. No questions.NYSILC full council meeting dates were discussed for 2017. The first is March 17, 2017. The other dates are Friday, May 19, 2017; Thursday, September 14; and Friday, November 3, 2017. The September 14th meeting will be a joint ACCES-SRC/NYSILC full council meeting. We will need their input, but will have to commit to the date on our end. After discussion there was a motion by Edith to accept the dates, the motion was seconded by Zach. The motion was passed unanimously.Edith asked if the hotel can accommodate all of the access needs for both councils at the same time. Brad will confirm this.SILC Congress—Brad will be presenting at the conference, and will attend with the two new staff members. Zach Garafalo is the Region 2 Representative, and he will also be attending the SILC Congress. It is in Phoenix, Arizona in January. Recognition of Members Terming off of the CouncilBrett Eisenberg, Shelley Klein, and Chad Underwood are terming off of the council. Brad thanked them for their service to NYSILC.Shelley served as the NYSILC vice chair and the secretary, and was also on development, public policy, and state plan committees. Shelley thanked Brad and the council for the opportunity and the educational experience of serving on the council. Chad thanked Brad and the council and stated that it has been an honor and privilege to serve on NYSILC, and he looks forward to staying involved and active. Chad and Shelley were both presented with framed certificates thanking them and commemorating their time on the council. As a former chair of the council, Chad was presented with a piece of artwork as a thank you gift. Chad served on several committees during his times on the council.Treasurer’s Report – Roger BennRoger went over the quarterly treasurer report and the finance committee meeting minutes. A motion to accept the report was put forward by Edith and seconded by Lindsay. The motion was passed unanimously.Executive Committee Report – Sue RuffThe Executive Committee minutes are in the packet; the September minutes were reviewed at the last council meeting. The council needs to replace Chad on the ACCES-VR State Rehab Council (SRC). There is not yet a volunteer for this position. It would require someone interested in serving on the ACCES-VR SRC in addition to the council meetings. Edith expressed interest in the position, but would need further information.The letters sent to the NYS Regents and the Governor have yet to receive a response. Sue encouraged everyone to read the letters. Brad spoke to Jennifer Mickle on the Regents Letter. She is the executive assistant and does the scheduling for the chancellor. She acknowledged that the chancellor receives a high volume of correspondence, but that she would see if she could get it back to her attention. Lindsay said that the Regents is working on their budget priorities, and that they’ve been very supportive of ILCs in that regard. Perhaps when the budget piece is over, there will be more of an opportunity to meet. Bob advised to go to the chancellor with very clear and specific asks. He suggested asking how to implement the 5th core service to a greater extent, and the opportunities that redoing agreements with special education create for IL. Once there is a date, the council has to decide who will be in the meeting, and what will be discussed. Regarding the letter to the Governor’s office, Brad thinks the timing is good for another petition based on the content of the letter. The post-election poll will take first priority over the petition. Brad reviewed the subject matter of the letter, identifying priorities with implementing employment policies. Lindsay spoke regarding the Employment First implementation updates given by John Allen. He made reference to potential program bills in the works to move the initiatives forward. NYAIL also has a meeting with Governor’s staff pending, whether the makes sense at this time, or to wait to see the outcome of that meeting. The letter includes the issues with integrated employment and sheltered work. Sue Hoger asked if the letter could be distributed to council members. By July 2017 ACCES-VR is responsible for contacting each sheltered work employee to do an overview of their career exploration options are outside of segregated work in areas of competitive and integrated employment. ACCES-VR is trying to figure out how they are going to accomplish this task. As Ann mentioned, there is a lot of pushback against ending the sheltered workshops. The ILC will in future likely be the best first point of contact for meeting people in these shelters. It cannot be a sheltered work provider. Sue Hoger mentioned that the end of the sheltered workshops has resulted in some high turnover at ACCES-VR, but a neutral person from an ILC would be welcomed by ACCES-VR to go in and speak to the people working in the sheltered workshops.Helen has noticed that ACCES-VR is hiring for these counselor positions throughout the state.Brad mentioned that consideration should be given to how the council will be involved with the integrated workforce alliance. It was decided to review the draft petition with public policy members at lunch time.Ray PeirceRay Peirce spoke to the council regarding core rehabilitation contract updates since the WIOA regulations were finalized. For OPWDD rates and services, the CRS seemed low compared to other systems, and one goal with the new contract was to improve the numbers of people being served.Final regulations came out in August and gave a better idea of the direction they want to go, including adding $10 million to the annual budgets for services and vendors. A draft RFP has been submitted to senior staff for review. It will likely be posted by January or February of 2017. The goal is to implement the new contract in January 2018, finishing the original CRS contract a year early. This timeline is tentative.Self-advocacy for Employment: This is a new service for adults and student. There is a different version for the two groups with essentially the same services. Someone who is seeking employment and new to employment would work with a counselor to discuss what their rights are for reasonable accommodation, how to speak about your disability to your employer, etc. Customized Employment: There is more emphasis on customized employment in the new regulations. A vendor would work with the employer and the job seeker to design a job around the person and employer’s needs. Communication Coaching: Specifically, those on the autism spectrum that may have trouble engaging with employers or professors. This provides support and help increasing communication skills. This is not exclusively for those with autism.Career Exploration Assessment: This is a service where the vendor could do interest inventory, person center planning to discover strengths, interest, and ability, and then developing a report.Job exploration counseling for students and post-secondary counseling for students for those age 16-21 pursuing a job or an education.The new regulations provide for using federal funding for extended supported employment for youth. There is also an emphasis on people learning on the job. There will be a code for work-based development for students to create internships. There will also be a service to provide the wages for the person in the job. Work-based coaching supports will also be available. Ray took questions about the RFP opportunity to clarify the services and trainings that will be available.Helen Fang Helen gave a talk on the 55b employment process in the state of New York. She spoke of the process of getting 55b status as one that can be demoralizing. It is encouraged but it is a challenging process. There is a 55b portal, but the process of qualifying is stringent, you are only certified for three years, and then you have to be recertified. The state website job posting is updated every day. Helen gave examples of other websites and resources and testing to find state jobs. There is always more work to be done to create more job opportunities for people with disabilities. Helen provided numerous links in the materials.LunchPresentation: Robert Kent, General Counsel, NYS Office on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS). Recent trends in alcoholism and substance abuse and their treatment.Robert Kent spoke about the causes and challenges of the opioid addiction epidemic in New York State. He took questions from the council regarding the challenges, available beds, Medicaid coverage, and people in prison and jail who also suffer with addiction. OASAS has an online tool for finding available beds throughout New York State. Treatment deemed medically necessary requires no pre-approval, and whether the patient stays in treatment is not put into question until day 15 of treatment. Leaving New York should not be necessary because there are in-state options available. The question was raised regarding the situation where a patient needs full support in an addiction treatment setting, such a deafness, or paralysis. A question regarding changes in pain management and prescription drug availability was also raised. Robert Kent said that access issues should be addressed for any patient, and over prescribing has also been addressed by OASAS by changing the law regarding opiate prescription. For managing acute pain, the initial prescription can be for no more than seven days. Cancer care, chronic pain, and palliative care have been excluded from the definition of acute pain. Prescribers with a DEA registration will now have to get at least three hours of continuing education every three years on proper prescribing and treatment using pain management using opiate pain killers. Mr. Kent also suggested that beginning the training in medical school would be helpful. The issue of medical marijuana as a possibility for pain medication was also discussed. The use and availability of Narcan and training for its use was also mentioned. It was reiterated that addiction is not a moral failing, but a disease. OASAS has invested in peer supports, there are 14 new recovery centers. The state is divided into ten regional economic development zones. OASAS has contracted with 20 with two in each zone, to create regional 24/7 capacity for peer support and peer engagement. OASAS has invested in peer supports. Peer support services are now Medicaid reimbursable in the OASAS system. This allows for reaching out beyond the four walls of the clinic to provide services. Peers have proven to be a useful tool for helping addicts. Mr. Kent said he’d like to see private insurance companies cover services instead of guarding against access to treatment.Sue Ruff suggested that to recruit more providers, OASAS put more RFPs out on the website that do not need to go through the counties for approval. The great concern was reiterated for the great number of people effected by addiction, some of whom have multiple diagnoses. Sue also reiterated the concern for those with addiction problems who are incarcerated. ACCES-VR SRC: Chad UnderwoodChad reviewed the minutes from the June SRC meeting. The executive committee and the other committees are in the process of completing their annual reports for ACL. There was discussion on the department of labor state stakeholder meetings, they are in the process of putting together a summary from those meetings. The state rehab council is in the process of developing common priorities in relation to the WIOA that will guide committee work over the next year. There was extensive work relating to public hearings that will focus on specific WIOA policy changes. Public forums are coming up soon, and as a result of advocacy the number of forums and their accessibility has increased. The State Rehab Council reviewed progress relating to its information collection initiative, which has been going on for two years, subcontracting with SUNY Potsdam to conduct consumer satisfaction surveys and analysis. ACCES-VR SRC has improved with interagency updates on vocational rehabilitation for those with disabilities. ACCES-VR: Bob GumsonWhen Ray Pierce was on, Bob wanted to discuss one point on using core rehabilitation services. Work readiness was originally built around group work. Providers have found it difficult to find the critical mass to make it worth their while, but the next CRS will have work readiness and soft skill development resources. These are the basic, core independent living skills which IL is built around. There needs to be more peer integration. The first quarterly meetings of the VR and IL teams are in Westchester and Rochester. These are going extremely well. VR is using IL extensively in their referral services. Trainings are being planned for groups of consumers, and there are also individual scenarios of how IL has kept individual people focused on career goals. Bob has been added to the work team that will do a RFP next July called career discovery initiative. It’s open to any provider to bring employment services to youth in school, age 14-21. This will be for in-school use for kids who are in k-12, parochial, trade schools, vocational tech schools, community colleges, etc. The way it’s been written, there will be at least 20 projects throughout the state, looking at something in the six million-dollar range. Commission for the Blind, Clifton PerezCliff is still waiting to be officially put on the commission, so there is nothing to report.SPIL Committee, Sue Hoger and Brad WilliamsIt’s clear going forward under ACL that centers are to do an indirect cost rate under the Uniform Grant Guidance. The newest guidance is that SILCs get their resource plan from the state plan through a contract with the DSE. It could be cost allocation or indirect cost rate, and that is to be determined. Consumer Satisfaction, Brad WilliamsThe alternative language translation is almost complete. An adjustment was made to the gender question, and will be posted soon to the consume satisfaction webpage. Around November 7th, a memo will go out to the centers with instructions, and a request for the points of contact. Last cycle, everything was sent in a zip file. Now all of the information and materials will be available on a webpage. Public Policy, Brad WilliamsThe public policy committee has been working on the post-election poll. The professional pollsters were exorbitantly priced, so we went with the Survey Monkey option. We will send the survey to Marist after the fact with a letter, suggesting that they incorporate the disability question in their surveys. Zogby and Sienna were the other two vendors, and we’ve also asked them to add the disability to question to their standard survey questions. The survey asks for zip codes. This allows us to identify appropriate and inappropriate respondents. The various questions range from issues related to voting and access, candidate choice, party affiliation, issues, and demographics. The survey will be active for two weeks following the elections. Edith will be making cards with the URL to hand out to people she knows, but who are not on her email list. Doug wanted to be sure that the issues available to choose from are not exclusively disability issues. Brad reassured him that they are not, and general issue choices are available. Cliff reminded that NYSILC is going to work with NYAIL on transportation policy. One issue is paratransit parity with fixed route transportation. He is working to get an assembly bill introduced and possibly get the Senate to introduce a “same as” bill in the new-year. Cliff has been working on the issue of making livery service wheelchair accessible for a long time. Ride share has become a big issue and many oppose the effort if they do not first address accessibility, especially when there is no legislation to insure that livery is accessible. The plan was to write two different proposals, one by Cliff on livery and one by Joe Rappaport on the ride share issue. Cliff will work with Meghan from NYAIL and ask for input. Chad raised concern over ride sharing in upstate, especially in rural areas. NYSILC is on record opposing ride sharing until accessible aspects are addressed in the 3-year agenda. Other transportation initiatives are in the agenda. Brad reminded the council that they are now able to do statewide systems advocacy. This allows NYSILC to use public policy to find a direction, and Cliff can inform on transportation. Youth Subcommittee, Zach GarafaloZach has nothing to report at this time. Chad asked what Zach was doing to get the youth more involved in SILC congress. Zach answered that the youth leadership committee would like to share with other IL councils what’s been happening in New York to build this committee. Zach reminded the council that his time to lead the youth subcommittee will be coming to an end, and it will be someone else’s turn to lead in this capacity. Regarding Sue Ruff’s Executive Committee Report, there needs to be a discussion regarding the vacant Member at Large. Doug is interested in this. Lindsay made a motion to nominate Doug as the Member at Large, and Sue Ruff seconded. The motion passed unanimously. Emergency Preparedness, Sue RuffDave Whalen’s DDPC award came through, which is a significant three-year grant. He will be traveling throughout the state to train emergency management personnel and establish core advisory groups that represent people with disabilities. He is also addressing an extensive curriculum on access and functional needs. The state human services committee announced that CMS has rules regarding emergency preparedness for different Medicaid and Medicare providers. There were 17 facility types that were impacted, and the information on those is available by contacting Sue Ruff, such as hospitals, transplant centers, hospice centers, and home health agencies. Shirley Madewell from the DOH is traveling around the state to do access and functional needs training. She has enlisted people from the office of aging to help. Sue can connect you with Shirley to involve Independent Living Centers. Development, Brad WilliamsResource development is now allowed under the new authorities, and there will be a development committee meeting November 8th. The year-end appeal letter is coming up and we will review Doug Usiak’s idea for an IL disability Hall Of Fame (HOF).Database Workgroup, Roger BennThe next meeting is scheduled for November 14th. The committee is in a preplanning stage. Discussions will be based on the NYSILC/ACCES-VR meeting held on September 20, 2017. The group will review updated materials prepared by the vendor (budget, timeline, and description). The vendor wants to discuss options related to the interfaces. The fields need to be verified to the data connected to the ACCES-VR state report to reduce redundancy. Implementation should be in 2018-2019, and will require ongoing maintenance and support. Outreach, Roger BennEveryone had a chance to review the reports. There were no questions.Meeting Adjourned. 3. Executive Director’s reportA. Significant issues/2016 major goals and deliverables (October-December 2016)SILC Consulting: Brad will present with Ann McDaniel of the West Virginia SILC at SILC Congress 2017 in a two-part session on the SILC Authorities. He will also be on a panel about the recently passed regulations as they apply to SILCs. Brad also provided direct consulting to the State of Maine SILC on basic non-profit planning/visioning for a segment of their full council meeting 11/17/16 (via conference call). CBILCO How To Manual: Email sent out to the ten CBILCO projects in October providing general guidelines for the “How To” manuals, along with the subsequent submission and review process for late July 2017. Plans for a conference call in April 2017 to check in and inquire about the status of the manuals.NYSILC 2016 Presidential Post-Election Poll: NYSILC conducted its third Presidential post-election poll to assess the voting habits and practices of New Yorkers with disabilities.? redesign of NYSILC website: ADG, new vendor of social marketing, highly recommended a cosmetic redesign of the NYSILC website consistent with the new LDCEP site. Still in Joomla platform. McGowan (IT vendor) will do the bulk of the content switch over.Major Goals/Deliverables for 2016SPIL Development/Approval 2017-2019 – Successfully completed.Consumer Satisfaction – Updated process described on the NYSILC website, consumer satisfaction webpage,?. Webinar held for IL network: . Process moving forward with NYSILC office providing support. Ongoing 2017.Database Project – Project moving forward. Details in committee report. Ongoing 2017.LDCEP – Program/project moving forward with development of website, videos, PPT’s. Launch by end of 2017. Ongoing 2017. More details during after lunch presentation. SILC S & I’s – There will be a need for the council to revise its by-laws, policies and procedures consistent with the new regulations and S & I’s. Ongoing 2017.Note: there will be a need to add a new priority goal/deliverable for 2017: Development – emphasizing the HOF and event.4. Treasurer’s ReportA.Quarterly Fiscal ReportNYSILC Statement of Revenue and ExpendituresMarch 2017 FC Meeting?YTD2016-17ACCESOct-Dec 2016BudgetOct 16-Dec16$ Variance% VarianceBudgetBudgetREVENUEACCES Contract98,880108,48698,880-9,605433,942433,942Fee for Service03250-3251,300Donations Unrestricted2,1721,2502,1729225,000Other Rent Income62562562502,500Interest Income69206926920Misc. income00000?Total Revenue102,369110,686102,369-8,317-8%442,742433,942EXPENSESSalaries and wages42,84143,72542,841-884174,900174,900Employee benefits/taxes12,87212,24312,87262948,97248,972Subtotal, Compensation Costs55,71355,96855,713-2550%223,872223,872Rent6,6168,0006,616-1,38432,00032,000Telephone1,8973,2501,897-1,35313,00013,000Office supplies7021,300702-5985,2005,200Contractual Services4,9529434,9524,0093,7703,770Printing & postage187625187-4382,5002,500Travel expenses2,6252,7502,625-12511,00011,000Transportation 2,6872,7502,687-6311,00011,000Insurance1,0271,6501,027-6236,6006,600Dues/Subscription/Sponsorships750825750-753,3003,300Interest/bank charges332033233200Purchased services20,69320,42520,69326881,70081,700SILC/SPIL meeting expenses5,1218,7505,121-3,62935,00035,000Project Costs2501,250250-1,0005,0005,000Miscellaneous380038038000Subtotal, OTPS48,21952,51848,219-4,299-8%210,070210,070Total Expenses103,932108,486103,932-4,554-4%433,942433,942Net Revenue-1,5632,200-1,563-3,7638,8000Notes:Revenue 8% under to date. Salary/fringe and purchased services all in line to quarter. General operating is under by 8%. Net revenues and expenditures for the quarter were in line with the exception of contractual. An additional $4,110 was expended on LDCEP database which was funded through the savings account. This is what contributes to the $1,563 loss for the quarter because of the difference with the unrestricted donations.4. Treasurer’s ReportB.Finance Committee minutesFinance CommitteeFebruary 7, 20179:00 amMembers Present: Brad Williams, Tom Hosey, Roger Benn, Lindsay Miller, Sue HogerThe first item on the agenda is to review the NYSILC audited financial statement for the 2016 fiscal year ending September 30, 2016. Tom Hosey, CPA, is joining today’s call.In the independent auditor’s report, the last paragraph is an unqualified opinion. Based on the results of the audit, there are no concerns about the fairness of the numbers that follow in the financial statements of the audit.The financial statement is the statement of financial position or balance sheet, and it shows that at the end of fiscal year 2016, the asset ratio, the total current assets divided by total current liabilities is $4.4:1. This means that for every dollar due there is 4.40 in cash available to liquidate those obligations. That is a strong financial indicator for NYSILC. In 2015, it was 4:1, so there has been a slight improvement with a pattern of consistency.There weren’t any significant changes over the previous year. There was a decrease in the amount spent on office equipment. There was $15,000 outstanding on the line of credit at the end of the fiscal year because we were experienced a delay in the advance from NYSED, our fiscal 2017 contract was not executed until November of 2016.On the profit and loss statement, there was a change in net assets of $4,160. This represents NYSILC’s profit for 2016. This is what was expected.For the governmental contract through NYSED, revenue was up just under $7,000, a 2% change. The only other line item with a fluctuation was in the expenses under contractual and purchased services, with an increase of roughly $10,000. This was services related to the SPIL and Consumer Satisfaction Survey, which happens every three years. NYSILC spent just under $8,500 for those services.For the statement of cash flow, the numbers we’ve been talking about are under the accrual basis of accounting. This means we recognize revenue when they are earned not received, and recognizing expenses when they are incurred and not when they are paid. The statement of cash flows has two functions, one is to try to take the accrual base numbers and turn them into a cash basis, and second to reconcile the cash we had on hand at the beginning of the year with the cash on hand at the end of the year. Our actual cash position remained almost unchanged. Operations: we used almost $11,000. We used another $3,500 for property and equipment, and at the end of the year we borrowed on our line of credit, resulting in almost no change for the cash position.For the notes to the financial statement: Footnote one is a summary of the organization and significant accounting policies. The idea is that once we adopt an accounting policy, it will be consistently applied. 86% of total expenses are being spent in program/service area. This is normal for a non-profit the size of NYSILC. When we file our 990 the IRS will make sure we are spending money for the reason we were granted our tax exempt status. Footnote 2: Concentration of credit risk. No cash in accounts that exceed the FDIC limits at year’s end. Economic dependence: NYSILC is heavily dependent on the NYSED contract. Retirement plan: For the simple IRA, NYSILC made contributions amounting to just under $3600 in fiscal 2016. Footnote 5: Line of credit allows for max borrowing of $125,000. We previously discussed there was $15,000 outstanding as of September 30, 2016. Lease commitments: one for office, one for copy machine, and one for a vehicle. These expire at various times through June 2018. In 2016 the lease expense was just under $33,000. Contract programs: The state can come in to audit books and records to be sure we are in compliance with the terms of the contract. Subsequent events, the financial statements are for the year ending September 2016, and we didn’t find any other events that require disclosure.NYSILC has a dual signature policy right now, which reads that dual signatures are needed for any unbudgeted funds over $5,000. The CPA would like to change the policy to read that any check of 5K or greater should require a second signature. This is an additional loss control.This is the last year of a contract with Lubbe and Hosey. We will have to repeat the bid process. Tom Hosey is now at the Marvin & Company. There were no other questions for Tom Hosey.The finance committee voted to change the financial policy, changing the language from needing a dual signature for any unbudgeted item over $5K, to any item of $5K. Lindsay made the motion to change this fiscal policy and Roger seconded. It was passed unanimously. Brad will also present this at the full council meeting.Brad reviewed the fiscal report for October to December of 2016. Revenue was 8% under, in the general operating line. Net revenue and expenditures for the quarter were in line, except for the contractual line. This was due to the Leadership Development program, which is coming from our savings. There were some other spending activities attributed to savings. When that’s subtracted out it gives us our loss for the quarter. It accounted for the $4,100 expenditure for the LDCEP database, and the unrestricted donations. Overall, we are in decent shape for the first quarter of the SPIL, with the nuance of the tracking of the payment for the LDCEP website through the savings account and accounting for it. Roger Benn made a motion to accept the quarterly report, and Lindsay seconded. It was approved.The SEFCU saving statement was also reviewed without questions.Brad advised the committee of a change to the simple IRA. Nothing is changing or being altered except the financial provider. There were no questions. We will think of four local CPAs and request information on their services. We will discuss and review proposals at a future meeting.Adjourned.4. Treasurer’s ReportC.Updated sections to Fiscal Policies6. Updated NYSILC Fiscal PoliciesApproved November 2005Reviewed and revised June 2011Reviewed and revised May 2013Sections 1.0 and 1.4 updated April 2016NEW YORK STATE INDEPENDENT LIVING COUNCIL (NYSILC)Fiscal PolicyPOLICY 1.4 - AUTHORIZED SIGNERS FOR DISBURSEMENTSPolicy Statement: It is the policy of the council to require certain management and/or Governing Body signatures on checks disbursed.Policy Interpretation and Implementation:Individuals authorized to sign checks on behalf of the council include the officers of the executive committee who are the signatories on the bank accounts and the executive director. A current listing of the officers can be found on the NYSILC website at . These individuals are approved to sign bank cards and this policy can be used for documentation of resolution. This flexibility assists the council to address a unique aspect. Council members are geographically distributed from across the state. When necessary, any unbudgeted amount over $5,000 must require a double signature as described in 1.0 (D). Any checks other than payroll made out to the executive director must be signed by one of the council member signatories. Any additional changes to this policy must be recommended by the executive committee and approved by the full council. POLICY 1.0 - SEGREGATION OF DUTIESPolicy Statement: It is the policy of the New York State Independent Living Council (NYSILC) hereafter referred to as “the council,” to properly segregate fiscal duties among staff, contractual service providers, and the executive committee of the council.Policy Interpretation and Implementation:D. The finance committee shall review and approve the budget/expenditure reports at meetings and submit the reports at the full council meetings. When required, arrangements will be made with the officers of the corporation to co-sign checks for any unbudgeted amount over $5,000 for appropriate expenses. When cash flow is needed, documentation will be provided to support request to borrow funds from the Revolving Line of Credit (RLC) if enough funds are not available in the account. At the bottom of the request will be a summary of how much is currently on the RLC and what the new balance will be with the proposed draw. A copy of all requests and approvals shall be kept with the fiscal records of the council for review. 5. Executive Committee ReportA.Executive Committee meeting minutesExecutive CommitteeNovember 10, 201611 AMCommittee Members Present: Brad Williams, Sue Hoger, Doug Usiak, Bob Gumson, Roger BennStill waited on the NYSILC 3-year contract. Because it was a sole-source contract, it required a more stringent review. A sign-off page was traded with the SED for form A, which had an incorrect contract number. Brad is hoping for a signed contract by the end of next week. This should release the $108,000 advanced payment before the continuing resolution, which is set for December 9th. NYSILC is paying about $500 a month in interest on the line of credit. Bob asked Brian Hackett if the situation was unique on this contract, and it is happening consistently with all contracts. Brad will email Bob next week with a request on the status of the $34,000 payment for the fourth quarter so that Bob can get someone’s attention on the matter at SED. The advanced payment cannot be received until the contract is fully executed. This is a matter of grave concern. Brad has investigated the cost of health and dental for the NYSILC employees. It is unclear if the MWBE rules still apply to NYSILC with a sole source contract. MWBE forms were not a part of the contract. Fortunately, HMS, an MWBE vendor, was the most cost-effective vendor (even versus NYCON).The committee discussed what percentage of the increasing healthcare costs will be absorbed by NYSILC, rather than passed on to the employee. The employee can only be held responsible for 9.7% of the cost of the plan. This is a future discussion because the personnel manual currently states that employees are entitled to individual health and dental coverage. Regarding Brad’s coverage, which addresses his compensation, the group discussed the matter confidentially. It was agreed that Brad needed to work with the bookkeeper to balance the Fringe line item (of which the health/dental line item is a major cost). Doug made the motion to empower Brad to make decisions about the insurance plan for NYSILC. Sue seconded the motion, and it was passed unanimously. Brad wanted to inform the committee of upcoming business. Tom Hosey is working with Brad for the independent audit. There will be a year-end appeal (donations). In addition, we will be conducting a post-election poll and report and will need to invest time on the annual 704 report. Brad asked the committee if they would endorse the Development Committee’s recommendation to pursue an Independent Living Hall of Fame to recognize the work of colleagues. Sue Ruff moved to support the IL Hall of Fame, and Roger seconded the motion. Sue pointed-out that the committee will have to do the work to come up with sponsors, a system of selection, and other logistics. The motion was passed unanimously. The ACCES-VR SRC and NYSILC joint council meeting has been confirmed for September 14, 2017. The SRC ACCES-VR liaison will be Lindsay Miller. Brad spoke with Edith regarding her interest in the position. A couple of the council meeting dates may need to be changed because of the hotel’s pre-bookings. Brad will let the council knows when he the dates are settled. Bob reminded the committee that the March meeting has a new member orientation the afternoon before. Brad responded that it has been taken care of, and the hotel is booked on both March 16 and 17. May and November are creating issues. The May meeting might need to be pushed into early June.Meeting adjourned.Executive CommitteeDecember 9, 201611:00 AM Members Present: Brad Williams, Doug Usiak, Zach Garafalo, Bob Gumson, Roger BennThe minutes for the last meeting were reviewed with no questions. Brad gave an update on the NYSILC contract and the line of credit. The fully executed three-year contract has been received, the advanced payment was received before the continuing resolution, with interest. The line of credit has been reduced to zero. Our ACL liaison, Deb Kotter is still trying to figure out whether or not New York has been given 100% of the Part B allocation to date. Brad and Bob believe that is still 16% less from the 10 week continuing resolution period (ending 12/9/16) amounting to an amount of $$32,000. We believe that ACL only sent ACCES-VR their previous percentage of 84% of the funds instead of 100% as the single DSE. In previous years, 16% of the budget was allocated through the Commission on the Blind. Brad is continuing to work with Deb Kotter regarding the Part B funds.There is no MWBE requirement in the contract. The bookkeeper will be keeping track of percentages and dollars sent to MWBE just in case. Bob thinks it is unnecessary.Doug asked what the responsibility of the SILC is toward the Elderly Blind. Brad will look into this question. Bob suggested that the question can be taken to the SILC Congress, but he does not remember any connection existing between the Elderly Blind and the SILC in the WIOA regulation language. Just like there is no NYSCB sign off on the SPIL, there should be longer be a connection to the Older Blind.The bookkeeper has been a tremendous help with choosing the new health and dental coverage. She recommended the essential plan for Brad’s daughter, allowing for two-person health coverage for Brad and his wife. As a result, the enrollment process has begun with MVP this week. The cost is within the line-item budget of $49,972.The independent audit is all set, the drafts of the audit and the 990 are ready for review. Brad will transition his efforts to the draft 704 report. It is the top priority. The yearend appeal is doing well. Many people have been generous. The SPIL evaluation will happen in January, because it is dependent on the 704 narrative. The post-election survey was successful and we received positive feedback related to the report. Pauline Barfield has set up two radio interviews for Brad. The endgame is to do some advocacy work with the pollsters to have them include trends with people with disabilities on their standard polls. The petition related to employment for people with disabilities is publically available. There was a meeting with the integrated workforce alliance on Wednesday. It is a combined effort with NYAIL, NYSILC, the IL network and advocates for a final push to get the governor to prioritize Employment First and the employment of working-aged New Yorkers with disabilities.SILC Congress is coming up. Zach has worked hard in the planning of this event. He noted that there would be some good workshops regarding regulations. He will send more information for what the proposed schedule looks like. The Congress is the middle of January during the work week.The SPIL committee will do its evaluation in January. Web developer ES 11 is making good progress on the LDCEP website. ADG is working on our social media plan with Kathy Van De Loo. She wants everything consistent, along with the NYSILC website, which will be updated. The content delivery is being reconsidered, whether it should be done in Webinars versus YouTube. The Consumer Satisfaction survey is on track with the webinar next week. CSR numbers are coming in. The database project is underway, but there is a need for education with the centers. Jeremy McGowan is in the process of developing an education piece that will discuss how it’s built in layman’s terms, what it’s going to do and how it works, and what the benefits are from a center’s perspective. Doug asked about the needs of data collection for NYSILC vs. that for ACCES-VR, so that centers are not having to collect for two separate entities. It might be good to add more members to the database workgroup to give a larger representation from the centers. The benefits that the database may offer to the centers was discussed, along with the addition of new data that is to be collected, and the merits of collecting specific data. Further discussion on the merits of these choices will be necessary. The FLSA federal law has been delayed. NYCON informed its membership. Since NYSILC is under $500,000, it does not need to comply. However, by December 31st NY will put through its own version for overtime compensation and minimum wage. This will require workers be classified as exempt or non-exempt. In section 1.2 of NYSILC personnel policy there are categories of employees. Brad explained the definition of those terms. There was discussion regarding how many employees in the NYSILC office meet the exempt or non-exempt standards. Doug understands it to mean that Brad is the only exempt employee at NYSILC. The committee will wait for more growth before deciding on the exempt/non-exempt language. Meeting adjourned.Executive CommitteeJanuary 13, 201711:00 AM Members Present: Brad Williams, Sue Ruff, Doug Usiak, Zach Garafalo, Bob Gumson, Roger Benn, Alan KriegerThe executive committee met along with Alan Krieger to discuss the SPIL evaluation process. In order to more actively monitor the SPIL progress, a shift in the committee structure may be necessary. It is an ongoing and evolving process. Alan Krieger explained the value-added evaluations, such as not only counting how many council meetings are held, but how many were held with a quorum. This is a value-added criteria by which to evaluate. More pointedly would be to discuss the results of a council meeting. It attempts to capture the value of the outcome of an objective. The second outcome evaluated in the last year of the last SPIL is the number of people serving on NYSILC committees, with a target of 45. NYSILC has been better about setting and reaching this target. There have been 104 people active in the committees, but the value-added evaluation would allow for those who are on the calls and actively serving in their committee. When the number is tallied with the value-added criteria in mind, the number of active committee member is 66. When compared to the target of 45, the target has been exceeded. We wanted to substantiate and track some of the activity and impact of the council and committees. This is the total number of issues addressed by the committees and the unresolved issues. These things are tracked in the quarterly reports. There were 23 issues addressed through the committee process in the last year, so the outcome was exceeded based on a target of 12. For example, the Public Policy committee worked on the 3-year public policy agenda which is posted online. The SPIL committee worked hard on the SPIL formulation and development. The SPIL process was retooled based on WIOA considerations and came up with an improved State Plan. The outreach committee worked on an Excel spreadsheet to help monitor the quarterly outcomes of the capacity building projects. The database project is an unresolved issue. It is making progress, but it continues to be carried over. There are four unresolved issues as a target, and that outcome is substantially met. We easily exceed the target of four in a given year as we address other issues in the target of 12 issues addressed. There are two sub-targets. Brad asked Alan about the unresolved issues measure. During a given quarter an issue might be unresolved, but then it becomes resolved throughout the year. Alan clarified that the target is actually the issues being met, and that unresolved is not a target, just issues to be addressed when necessary. When an issue is addressed, it is discussed and action is taken to move it one way or another beyond just discussion. This allows a record on issues that are unresolved, yet good work is being done on those issues by the council. You want a target of so many resolved issues a year, and keep a record of the unresolved issues that are being worked on. Alan asked if there were a small write up on the successfully resolved issues, and Brad answered that it is in the July quarterly report. It reflects that 23 issues were addressed and five unresolved issues were resolved. He will follow up with an email to the group.The two targets related to SPIL evaluation are percentage of SPIL objectives that are fully completed and total number of targets completed during the year both at 100%. Only one out of five objectives was fully completed (SSAN) and all of its seven targets. The NYSILC objective was close. Allen stated that a 100% target is never realistic, so you should never set your target that high. This is where we’ve learned is that we are responsible for evaluating the SPIL and not necessarily associating an unrealistic measure for it. Overall, there were 30 total targets. The preliminary information shows that 13 targets were exceeded, 7 targets were met, and two targets were substantially met, 5 targets partially met, and 3 targets were not met. The first three categories are combined to reflect 20 completed targets out of 30, which is an excellent result. This is only a small decrease from the previous year. The target for the number of young adults participating in sponsorship target was 12. There were 5 applications received for the Pat Figueroa sponsorship. It was a decrease from the previous year. The activity included individuals participating in the NCIL Conference in Washington DC from individuals related to the youth leadership subcommittee and ATI Cortland. Emily Ladau, who became the youth representative to the NICL board, asked for support to attend future board meetings. The sponsorships also supported the ADAPT summit which was in NY instead of Chicago this year. They assisted six individuals from New York, although they did not put in formal applications, so they were not counted. Application from the Figueroa grants from the past 4 years were entered into an online Survey Monkey link which provided results. Now we send the Survey Monkey link instead of a hard copy. Based on uniform grant guidance, we will transition the outreach subcommittee into a monitoring committee, and the Figueroa sponsorships will become the responsibility of the youth leadership subcommittee in 2017. Alan reminded that part of evaluation is learning what you can do better next time, and putting that plan into the plan going forward. Doug raised questions about the objectives and outcomes needing improvement. After a very lengthy discussion, it was decided that the council will use the time normally allotted for presentations during the full council meetings this year for training. Alan Krieger will provide session to help members to improve their understanding of evaluation, monitoring, and what are appropriate measures and how to best articulate them.Note: in the follow up email, Brad provided the updated materials and reminded the group that they were evaluating an objective from 2016, which was the third (last) year of the previous state plan written four years ago. The council has been learning over the years. It has made progress, including in the new state plan. Everyone agreed that it would be beneficial to continue the learning process. Brad will talk with Alan and revise the SPIL evaluation process for the remaining committee meetings so that they are more discussion oriented (review of summative results, focusing more on the formative – what did we learn). Since the meeting was fifteen minutes over the usual time limit, Brad gave a quick update on current activities as indicated on the agenda. Nothing major to report. No questions.Meeting adjourned.Executive CommitteeFebruary 10, 201711:00 amBrad Williams, Sue Ruff, Zach Garafalo, Bob Gumson, Sue Hoger, Doug UsiakBrad continues to make contact with the Chancellor of the NYS Regents. This was originally sent out in October. Brad noted in an email where Glenn Liebman announced that the state Education Commissioner Mary Ellen Elia is the keynote speaker at MHANY education summit. However, we’re just trying to get our request for a meeting to discuss youth transition for the IL network. Brad will continue to make contact with the Regent’s office.The agenda is attached. We are now using . This will save money and the platform records the calls for us. Zach moved to approve the minutes, and Sue Ruff seconded the motion. The motion was approved.New member orientation is coming up next month on the afternoon of March 16th. Brad will update the orientation manual and then it can be distributed to the four new members. This will give them plenty of time to review the document before the meeting. When we have the executive committee call the week before the meeting, we’ll get final numbers for those of you who can participate in the new member orientation. Some members indicated their commitment.SILC Congress was a positive event and planned well. There were breakout sessions with good information. Zach mentioned that it was heavily content-driven. There were 42 SILCs represented at the Congress. New Orleans is the location of the congress for the next two years. We are trying to find out who the Region 2 representative will be. New York and Puerto Rico are the only two participating in Region 2, New York is responsible for providing the representative. The representatives have been narrowed to two candidates, and Brad will discuss the time commitment and get it narrowed down to the one candidate. Zach did a great job as the Region 2 rep over the past two years. Zach mentioned that it is a significant time commitment, and this was communicated to the council members interested in the national volunteer opportunity.The next item is the Employment First letter and the Regents Letter. The Employment First petition had an impact, with people giving off-the-record responses. The message was that it created some pressure for those involved. In the end, it made people realize that advocacy efforts have to be more focused for Employment First, and maybe we need to dialogue with each other before the MISCC meetings. John Allen mentioned that they’d like to put their efforts to the thousands of state vendors, and getting them to hire at least one person with a disability. They recently distributed their Employability Toolkit regarding hiring people with disabilities. Sue said they looked at it two months ago with the Workforce Group, and the person they asked to create the toolkit is in public relations, so she was reviewing it as a marketing concept. Some problems with the toolkit were pointed out to be fixed, but Sue insists they are dragging their feet on the Employment First initiative, and it hasn’t been put in the budget. Sue believes that John Allen is not getting support from the Employment First Commission. Bob said that he was led to understand that the toolkit will focus on getting 20,000 employers to hire a person with a disability. This may be replicating what the feds did with their 7% requirement for federal contractors. The NYAPRS newsletter came out yesterday with what looked like a link to the toolkit. However, when Bob hit that link, he got a graphic PDF that his screen reader could not read. This is an ongoing problem with the state using PDFs that people cannot access. Sue believes this should immediately be taken up with John Allen. It is unacceptable that a toolkit marketing access to employment is itself inaccessible. Brad will follow-up with John Allen regarding this issue. Doug says that the framing of the issue should be that the state out there working with people and for people with disabilities. They should lead by example with making information accessible. There may be another link that is accessible. It should be noted that the Regents letter was addressed at the start of the meeting.Brad gave the work priority updates for 2017. For the Consumer Satisfaction Survey, the Database Project, the Leadership Development/Civic Engagement website, and the Development Committee or the Disability Hall of Fame event.We might need to revise and create policies and a comprehensive manual that will dovetail into the standards and indicators when they are approved. Bob mentioned that he will not be available for the March 16 or 17 meeting, so Brad may want to get another person to represent the DSE for those meetings.Meeting Adjourned.5. Executive Committee ReportB.Updates/advocacy related items:Employment First letter 1/17/17.State of New York Employment First Commission (logo)January 17th 2017Mr. Brad Williams, Executive DirectorNew York State Independent Living Council111 Washington Ave, Suite 101 Albany, New York 12210Dear Mr. Williams,Thank you for your continued support and interest in the ongoing efforts of the Employment First Commission in New York State. Please be assured that the Governor remains committed to the vision set forth through Executive Order 136, and to increasing employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities in New York State. The Employment First Commission is working diligently to address the priorities that were set forth in the March 2015 report. At this juncture all feedback is welcome, but we feel the direction that the Commission has taken to this point is building a critical foundation through which the remaining components of the Employment First Policy can be realized. For example, in the coming months we will be making an appeal to the over 100,000 vendors doing business with New York State to create an inclusive workforce strategy and by employing at least one individual with a disability. While making this appeal, we are also providing businesses with a tool kit to assist them in this process, while linking them to essential partners in this process like the New York State Business Leadership Network. This action is historic in nature, and serves to lead to significant opportunities for individuals with disabilities. Overall, the Commission feels strongly that in order to see true systemic change we must prioritize the following in the coming year:Working with Civil Service to establish a strategy to enhance the 55b and c program.Systematically engaging all New York State vendors in the employment of individuals with disabilities.Providing training and technical assistance to the community of providers on changing their internal culture to fully embrace the concept of employment as the first option for people with disabilities. In addition to these immediate priorities, the Employment First Commission will continue to take your suggestions into consideration as we plan further action. Your feedback and input is vitally important to New York’s future success in this area. If you have immediate questions or concerns, please contact Andrew Karhan at Andrew.karhan@omh. or 518-474-9892.Sincerely, John B. Allen, Jr.Chair of New York State Employment 1st Commission5. Executive Committee ReportB.Updates/advocacy related items:Regents letter/email trade on issue.From: Tony Lofrumento [mailto:Tony.Lofrumento@] Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 2:12 PMTo: Brad Williams <BradW@>Subject: RE: NYSILC letter to NYSED Regents?Thank you, Brad.?Have a great weekend.?Tony?From: Brad Williams Sent: Friday, February 03, 2017 1:37 PMTo: tony.lofrumento@Subject: NYSILC letter to NYSED Regents?Tony,?Thank you for speaking to me today. Here is the email I referred to, which contains the letter and meeting request. As mentioned in the letter, I can be reached at NYSILC, 111 Washington Avenue, Suite 101, Albany, NY 12210, (518) 427-1060 X5, bradw@. ?Brad WilliamsNYSILC?From: Brad Williams Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2017 11:22 AMTo: jennifer.mickel@Cc: Regent.Rosa@Subject: NYSILC letter to NYSED Regents?Hi, I am following up after the New Year. After sending the initial letter via email (and hard copy) and touching base with you with the follow up, I decided to wait until January. I have a full council meeting on Friday, March 17, 2017. This letter will be one of the items on the agenda. The council will want to know if there was any progress made with the letter to the Regents (and the Chancellor) and meeting about Independent Living and youth transition.?Brad WilliamsNYSILCFrom: Brad Williams Sent: Wednesday, November 02, 2016 1:44 PMTo: 'jennifer.mickel@' <jennifer.mickel@>Subject: NYSILC letter to NYSILC Regents?Per telephone conversation. One month follow up.?Brad WilliamsNYSILC?From: Brad Williams Sent: Monday, October 03, 2016 12:55 PMTo: 'Regent.Rosa@' <Regent.Rosa@>; 'RegentsOffice@' <RegentsOffice@>Cc: 'Regent.Brown@' <Regent.Brown@>; 'Regent.Tallon@' <Regent.Tallon@>; 'Regent.Tilles@' <Regent.Tilles@>; 'Regent.Young@' <Regent.Young@>; 'Regent.Cea@' <Regent.Cea@>; 'Regent.Norwood@' <Regent.Norwood@>; 'Regent.Cashin@' <Regent.Cashin@>; 'Regent.Cottrell@' <Regent.Cottrell@>; 'Regent.Finn@' <Regent.Finn@>; 'Regent.Chin@' <Regent.Chin@>; 'Regent.Ouderkirk@' <Regent.Ouderkirk@>; 'Regent.Collins@' <Regent.Collins@>; 'Regent.Johnson@' <Regent.Johnson@>; 'Regent.Mead@' <Regent.Mead@>; 'Regent.Hakanson@' <Regent.Hakanson@>; 'Regent.Reyes@' <Regent.Reyes@>; shoger@; 'Kevin.Smith@' <Kevin.Smith@>; 'Debora Brown-Johnson' <Debora.Brown-Johnson@>; Frank Coco <Frank.Coco@>; Raymond Pierce <Raymond.Pierce@>; 'Robert Gumson' <Robert.Gumson@>Subject: NYSILC letter to NYSED Regents?NYSILCNew York State Independent Living Council, Inc."Empowering New Yorkers with disabilities"?See attached letter to Chancellor Rosa requesting a meeting to discuss youth transition and longer-term resource options for the Independent Living (IL) network.?Chancellor Rosa will also receive a hard copy of the letter. The Regents and all others identified in the “cc” list will receive online copies of the letter.?Brad WilliamsExecutive DirectorNew York State Independent Living Council (NYSILC)5. Executive Committee ReportB.Updates/advocacy related items:Uber letter 12/13/16.Multiple logosDecember 13, 2016 The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo Governor, State of New York Executive Chambers, Capitol Albany, New York 12224 Dear Governor Cuomo: As advocates for people with disabilities in all corners of New York State, we are writing to urge you to make accessible transportation options for New Yorkers with disabilities a priority, especially as you and the Legislature consider authorizing rideshare services across the state. To that end, we request a meeting with you before any ridesharing proposal is introduced. In the past few years, you and your Administration have played a prominent, positive role on accessible taxi service in New York City, which we greatly appreciate. You now have another chance to champion accessible taxi transportation across the rest of the state. Our view, and the view of our members across upstate and downstate, is that any rideshare proposal must include a provision that a substantial percentage of rides offered by rideshare companies must be in wheelchair accessible vehicles before the companies are authorized to operate in a given city or region. Ridesharing and the need for accessibility must go hand in hand with guaranteed real accessibility, not put off with a promise that it will be dealt with sometime in the future. Need for accessible taxi service The limited availability of accessible transportation services is a major barrier faced by individuals with disabilities throughout the state, often leading to unemployment, the inability to access medical care, lack of access to voting sites, and isolation from friends, family, and full community participation. As such, providing accessible transportation options is essential to the State’s community integration obligations under Olmstead.Survey after survey confirm this need. For example, the most recent New York State Independent Living Council Needs Assessment Report illustrates the dramatic unmet desire for adequate transportation for people for disabilities. NYSILC’s executive summary notes that transportation is in the top three needs for persons with disabilities statewide and is cited as “least available” service overall. NYSILC’s report also showed that “transportation” was ranked just behind “finances” as the “greatest daily challenge” facing persons who have disabilities who want to live independently, with 43.5% rating it their greatest daily challenge. The need for transportation was uniform, whether respondents were from rural, urban or suburban areas.Accessible service across the state Outside New York City, there is no wheelchair accessible taxi service except in limited locations. In some communities, unreliable paratransit is the only option; in others, there is nothing. A few taxi companies, particularly in the Capital Region, have accessible vehicles, but most have none. (For many years, we have urged the legislature to pass legislation that would require taxi companies to offer accessible service.) In New York City, there has been substantial progress. Your role in achieving this progress cannot be understated. In 2011, your Administration guided negotiations that required all 2,000 new medallions to be accessible, along with 20% accessible taxis in the green cab fleet. In an accessibility report you also required, the City of New York later promised to bring the green taxi fleet to 50% accessibility by 2024. At the same time, the State created a tax credit to assist taxi providers to purchase accessible vehicles, or to modify vehicles to make them wheelchair accessible. Two years later, these steps paved the way to the City of New York’s settlement with the Taxis For All Campaign to require 50% accessibility in its yellow taxi fleet – a landmark agreement that would not have been possible without your original action. Unfortunately, the progress in New York City has been slowed dramatically due to Uber’s presence. Since the Taxis For All Campaign’s agreement in 2013, Uber and other rideshare operators have competed with yellow taxis for the same riders, but with none of the rules imposed on yellow taxis, including the 50% accessibility requirement. Yellow taxis have lost as much as 30% of their business, and the City did not sell 1,650 of the new accessible medallions. Meanwhile, Uber operated not one accessible vehicle in New York City out of 42,424 vehicles in all until recently. (The company now says it has 50 accessible vehicles on city streets.)In our meetings with Uber, the company’s representatives have told us they have no plans to offer accessible service in upstate locations.Potential for progress If made to include accessible vehicles, Uber could potentially help expand transportation options for many people with disabilities. However, without a mandate requiring rideshare companies to make their fleets as accessible as possible and to guarantee true equivalent service for persons with disabilities, we will be stuck where we have been for decades – with no or little accessible transportation for tens of thousands of New Yorkers. In fact, a rideshare bill without accessibility requirements could potentially make the situation worse by putting what accessible taxi service that does exist upstate out of business. We know your Administration is eager to authorize insurance coverage legislation that would effectively allow rideshare companies to operate statewide. But the State should not and cannot allow a new business to operate throughout New York that refuses to serve a segment of the population and in fact discriminates against tens of thousands of New Yorkers.We would very much like the opportunity to meet with you to discuss this urgent matter further. Please contact Meghan Parker at MParker@ and 518-465-4650 to set up a meeting. Yours truly, Lindsay Miller Executive Director New York Association on Independent Living James Weisman President & CEO United Spinal Association Edith Prentiss Chair Taxis For All Campaign Brad Williams Executive Director New York State Independent Living CouncilMaria Alvarez Executive Director New York StateWide Senior Action Council, Inc. CC: Senator Joseph Robach Senator James Seward Assembly Member Cahill Assembly member Heastie Assemblyman David Gantt Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Morelle Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan5. Executive Committee ReportB.Updates/advocacy related items:Strategies to encourage health information sharing/NYAPRS brief.Strategies to Encourage Health Information Sharing and Patient-Provider Collaboration January 9, 2017NYAPRSIntroductionIt’s now clear that “the issue of whether, to what extent, and how individuals should have the ability to exercise control over their health information represents one of the foremost policy challenges related to the electronic exchange of health information.” BackgroundStates vary in their approach to the sharing of protected health information (PHI), endorsing several different approaches that include: ? Opt-In, where the default is that no patient health information is shared without the expressed consent of the patient ? Opt-In with restrictions, where only specific patient health information is shared without individual consent? Opt-Out, where the default is for all health information of patients to be broadly shared automatically unless the patient declines to allow it? Opt-Out with exceptions, where the default is for some health information of patients to be included, but where the patient can allow only select data to be includedNew York State’s ProposalWhile New York currently employs an affirmative Opt-In approach, the state has been convening a Value Based Payment Patient Confidentiality Work Group over the past 3 months that has been encouraged to look at a full Opt-Out approach that some believe will improve patient health outcomes for beneficiaries of both Medicaid and commercial insurance while providing financial incentives to providers and savings for the state. However, in order to move to an Opt-Out approach the state would have to identify “what amendments or reinterpretations (of laws, regulation and the Medicaid Model contract) …can be implemented to allow for data sharing for the purposes of VBP?”NYAPRS opposes a move to an Opt-Out approach in New York, consistent with our long history of working to advance both the healthcare and the health rights and choices of New Yorkers. We strongly believe that if the state commits to a robust comprehensive patient education program, the vast majority of New Yorkers will voluntarily Opt-In to the broad sharing of their PHI, as upwards of 94% are currently doing in other states and in New York.On the other hand, we regard the Opt-Out approach as a convenience that does not adequately engage and empower consumers and that might instead encourage consumer passivity and create confusion.However, at its final December 21 meeting, the VBP Patient Confidentiality Work Group voted in the area of 14-3 (with NYAPRS and the OASAS and DOH counsels opposed) with 6 abstentions for recommendation #5 that includes: a robust multi-dimensional education program…that focuses solely on promoting an Opt-Out approach without any exceptions; for example, one couldn’t all allow medical information to be shared but at the same time withhold the sharing of ‘sensitive health information’ relating to mental health conditions, substance use disorders, reproductive health and AIDS/HIV. Making changes to current state law, regulation and policy to remove “current legal and regulatory barriers.” As examples, this approach would require the state to seek legislative approval to change NYS Mental Hygiene Law § 33.13, which currently mandates that “data from clinical facilities licensed and/or operated by the NYS OMH and OPWDD kept confidential without consent (with limited exception).” The thinking here is that healthcare for individuals with behavioral health conditions is currently the most challenging and costly and that routine sharing of that information would facilitate good case management and treatment. NYS Public Health Law 27F which prohibits disclosure regarding AIDS/HIV without consentPublic Health Law §18 which requires patient consent for an organization to share a patient’s information with a third party NYS Public Health Law §17 which forbids the release medical records pertaining to abortion or treatment for STIs of a minor to their parent without explicit consent. An Opt-In process only for information about substance use disorders that would comply with federal law that strictly forbids sharing such info without affirmative consent.The group deadlocked on proposal #8 to “create the mechanisms to allow individuals the ability to exercise their right to suppress sharing of sensitive health information (i.e. mental health, HIV etc.) between providers via an opt-out,” with 5 voting for and 5 voting against, with a majority of abstentions.5. Executive Committee ReportB.Updates/advocacy related items:ACCES-VR WIOA services letter 1/26/17.The State Education Department / The University of the State of New York / Albany, NY 12234Coordinator of Service DeliveryOffice of Adult Career and Continuing Education Services-Vocational Rehabilitation89 Washington Avenue, Room 580 EBAAlbany, NY 12234Tel. (518) 473-1626Fax (518) 486-6252January 26, 2017To:ACCES-VR Vendors and All Interested PartiesFrom:Raymond PierceSubject:Proposed Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) ServicesThe New York State Education Department (NYSED) Office of Adult Career and Continuing Education Services – Vocation Rehabilitation (ACCES-VR) is pleased to share the Proposed New WIOA Services that ACCES-VR will develop in 2017. Over the past year, ACCES-VR gathered input from the vocational rehabilitation (VR) provider community and other VR stakeholders to develop new WIOA services that will address the needs of individuals with disabilities, including youth with disabilities, who are seeking competitive, integrated employment in New York State.The new services will incorporate service designs which reflect changes to rules in the federal WIOA, including a significant emphasis on providing Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS) to students with disabilities age 16-21. Some of the Pre-ETS are:Post-Secondary Counseling for Students;Job Exploration Counseling for Students;Self-Advocacy for Students;Work Readiness for Students; and Work-Based Learning for Students.These new services will allow ACCES-VR and Community Rehabilitation Programs to serve the increasing number of young adults seeking VR services in New York State. As of December 2016, nearly 50 percent of the ACCES-VR caseload consisted of participants age 24 and under. In addition, ACCES-VR intends to develop an expanded scope of services as required by the reauthorized Rehabilitation Act (Title IV of WIOA) that address participant needs for customized employment, communication skills coaching, and extended supported employment for youth. For more specific information about these service descriptions, please review the Proposed New WIOA Services which is intended to help all community providers and other interested parties become acclimated to planned changes in the VR service delivery system. In the upcoming months, ACCES-VR will be engaging the VR community in New York State to discuss new services and answer questions pertaining to changes resulting from WIOA. Thank you for your continued partnership with ACCES-VR to assist individuals with disabilities in obtaining and maintaining employment.Sincerely,Raymond Pierce,Coordinator for Service Deliverycc:Frank CocoRegional Coordinators7. DiscussionA. Review of NYSILC Committee MaterialsNYSILC Committees1) Review committee structureNote changesMonitoring & Evaluation Committee (replaces Outreach)New focus of Youth Leadership Subcommittee2) What’s neededChair vacanciesPublic PolicyDevelopmentRecruitmentNote: Sue Ruff and Roger Benn are both chairs of three different committees. Six in total. There are twelve NYSILC committees in total (with Personnel as an additional committee meeting on an “as needed” basis)Are Sue and Roger good?Committee need/what groups could benefit from additional membersFinance (1-2) membersDevelopment (2-3) membersYouth LeadershipDatabase WorkgroupOthersActive participation on committees/how can we increase active participation on callsFind one/best consistent time/date for committee call and stick to it (monthly, quarterly).Have more calls at 8 am, noon, or 7 pm.After maximizing council member participation, attract non-council participation (former council members, council applicants, other). 3) Confirm what NYSILC committee/committees you want to actively participate in, along with any interest in being the chair of a committee.Updated February 2017.NYSILC Committee StructureExecutiveCommitteePersonnelCommitteePublic Policy CommitteeDevelopmentCommitteeFinance CommitteeMonitoring andEvaluationCommitteeRecruitmentCommitteeState PlanCommitteeEmergency Preparedness SubcommitteeConsumer Satisfaction Survey SubcommitteeYouth LeadershipSubcommitteeDatabaseWork Group Needs AssessmentCommittee (NAC)NYSILC COMMITTEE DESCRIPTIONSExecutiveExecutive Committee: Elected officers of the council plus the two DSU liaison members. (See By-Laws)Chair, Sue Ruff, (607) 724-2111, advocate@stic-. StandingPersonnel Committee: (As convened)Chair, Vacant.1.Purpose:To advise NYSILC on human resource issues.2.Membership: Approximately three to five members. Ideally, the majority should be current and former NYSILC members.3.Duties: a. To periodically review NYSILC’s Personnel Policies and make recommendations to the full council.b. To provide technical assistance to the Executive Director on personnel issues.c. To serve as a step in the NYSILC Grievance Procedures (Section 7-2 Step II) as defined in the Personnel Policies.d.To review new positions or changes in current positions that impact job descriptions and potential for compensation and provide recommendations.e.Other related duties as consistent with the purpose of the committee.Public Policy Committee:Chair, Vacant. 1.Purpose: To monitor, review, and suggest action for the New York Statewide Independent Living Council on activities, bills, laws, and regulations that may affect the Statewide Network of Independent Living and the lives of persons with disabilities. 2.Membership: Approximately seven to ten members. Ideally, the majority should be current and former NYSILC members.3.Duties: a. Inform the NYSILC about state and national activities that may impact on the Independent Living Network, and the lives of people with disabilities residing in New York State.c.To recommend a course of action to NYSILC concerning what to do regarding activities that are or about to affect the lives of persons with disabilities in New York State; and provide recommendations on possible courses of actions regarding bills, laws and regulations being developed by state and federal governments, that will impact on NYSILC’s stated mission.c.To provide monitor the progress of the Statewide Systems Advocacy Network (SSAN) and coordinate efforts especially related to statewide agendas.Finance Committee:Chair, Roger Benn, rogerbenn1@. 1.Purpose: To oversee the active management of all NYSILC financial matters, including its routine accounts payable, accounts receivable, annual budget, quarterly and annual profit and loss statements and investments.2.Membership: Approximately three to five members. Ideally, the majority should be current and former NYSILC members.3.Duties: a.To develop and recommend an annual budget to the NYSILC before the start of each fiscal year. b. To recommend the Cost Of Living Adjustment annual increases (when supported by the budget) and the percentage of participation of the employer contribution to the Simple IRA plan (0-3%) to the Executive Committee per the Fiscal Policies.c.To review, monitor and make recommendations regarding NYSILC’s assets and funds.d. To insure that the NYSILC has appropriate insurances to safeguard its assets and holdings.e. To review the findings of the annual independent audit and any other fiscal audit that may be done to or on behalf of the NYSILC.f.To report the audit findings and any recommendations to the NYSILC for their consideration and action.g. To review the NYSILC Fiscal Policies on at least every two years to provide recommended changes to the Executive Committee for further consideration. Development Subcommittee: Chair, Vacant. 1.Purpose:To review and support NYSILC’s development plan, assist implementation, and monitor progress.2.Membership: Approximately five to seven members. Ideally, the majority should be current and former NYSILC members.3.Duties: a. To assist in the creation of the development plan.b. To monitor progress of the development plan on an annual basis.c.To adopt the AFP Code of Ethics and Donor Bill of Rights as a guideline for the committee to follow.Monitoring and Evaluation CommitteeChair, Roger Benn, rogerbenn1@.1.Purpose: To monitor and evaluate all the objectives in the SPIL.2.Membership: Approximately five to ten members. Ideally, the majority should be current and former NYSILC members.3.Duties:a.To conduct monitoring activities per the protocol on a quarterly basis and evaluation activities on an annual basis.b.To support all other monitoring and evaluation follow up activities related to the objectives.c. To make recommendations to the council related to:monitoring and evaluation, and the improvement of state plan objectives, outcomes, and related language.Recruitment Committee:Chair, Vacant.1.Purpose:To recruit and recommend members for potential appointment to NYSILC.2.Membership: Approximately three to five members. Ideally, the majority should be current and former NYSILC members.3.Duties: a. To assure that recommended candidates are reflective of the State’s diversity and the needs of the council.b. To be responsible for posting an annual recruitment notification statewide.c. To review submissions and make recommendations for appointments to the Board of Regents.d.To report recommendations at the fall full council meeting.e.To work with Executive Committee to orient new council members.State Plan Committee:Chair: Sue Hoger: (845) 331-0541, shoger@.1.Purpose: To conduct all necessary activities for the formulation and development of the New York State Plan on Independent Living (SPIL) to be adopted by the New York Statewide Independent Living Council; monitor and evaluate the progress of the goals of the SPIL, and report the results to the NYSILC for action.2.Membership: Approximately seven to ten members. Ideally, the majority should be current and former NYSILC members.3.Duties: a. To arrange for and support all hearings and forums for the formulation of the SPIL.b. Assist in identifying the priorities of the SPIL based on public feedback and needs assessment data to structure an agreement for the draft SPIL.c.Assist in feedback and preparation of the draft SPIL to be presented to the NYSILC for their review and approval.c.To develop a mechanism to monitor and evaluate the progress of the goals of the SPIL.d.To present to the NYSILC, the committee’s findings, observations, and recommendations regarding progress of the SPIL, for their consideration and action.SubcommitteesEmergency Preparedness Subcommittee:Chair, Susan Ruff: (607) 724-2111, advocate@stic-.1.Purpose:To review and evaluate Federal mandates of emergency preparedness and evacuation for people with disabilities and provide input and direction on statewide implementation.2.Membership: Approximately seven to ten members. Ideally, the majority should be current and former NYSILC members.3.Duties: a. To review emergency preparedness and evacuation best practices for people with disabilities with the intent to incorporate into state, county, and local emergency plans.b. To encourage CIL’s to become engaged in local emergency preparedness activities. Youth Leadership Subcommittee: Co-Chairs, Zach Garafalo, (518) 465-4650, zgarafalo@.1.Purpose:To advise NYSILC of youth and young adult perspectives on disability issues.2.Membership: Approximately five to seven members. Ideally, the group should contain current and former NYSILC members.3.Duties: a. To create a subcommittee which meets and or exchanges dialogue on a regular basis to obtain documented input from the direct group and affiliated stakeholders.b. To contribute the youth and young adult perspective on issues, reports, surveys issued by the council.c. To provide feedback on priority youth and young adult issues during State Plan formulation and needs assessment.d.To help promote the IL philosophy and make connections whenever possible between youth/young adult and IL networks. Consumer Satisfaction Survey Subcommittee:Acting Chair, Brad Williams: (518) 427-1060X5, bradw@.1.Purpose:To oversee a tri-annual Consumer Satisfaction Survey, to assess the level of satisfaction of consumers of independent living services in New York State.2.Membership: Approximately five to seven members. Ideally, the majority should be current and former NYSILC members.3.Duties: a. To conduct or oversee tri-annual Statewide Consumer Satisfaction Survey of the Federal and State funded network of Centers for Independent Living.b. To review and analyze the data collected by the assessment and report to the NYSILC the findings and/or results.c. To periodically evaluate the instrument that is being used along with the methodology to improve response rate and other results. Database Work Group: Chair: Roger Benn, rogerbenn1@.1.Purpose:To fulfill the scope of duties outline in SPIL objective # 9 to defined, compete, and establish a multi-user web-based platform that can accommodate the statewide CIL network’s data and generate meaningful results.2.Membership: Approximately five to seven members. Ideally, the majority should be current and former NYSILC members.3.Duties: a. To create a product description to clearly communicate what is needed to ACCES VR and potential vendors.b. To present the product description to vendors to determine if there is anyone who can create a unique solution within time and cost parameters.c. To work with a vendor, ACCES VR, and the network to create the product, protocols and training to implementation the platform.Needs Assessment Subcommittee: Chair, Susan Ruff: (607) 724-2111, advocate@stic-.1.Purpose: To periodically conduct a needs assessment study of the Independent Living needs of persons with disabilities in New York State and to report to the full Council findings and recommendations for action. 2.Membership: Approximately five to seven members. Ideally, the majority should be current and former NYSILC members.3.Duties: a. To conduct or oversee Statewide Needs Assessments on issues relevant to people with disabilities and their Independent Living needs, as the NYSILC directs.b. To review and analyze the data collected by the assessment and report to the NYSILC the findings and/or results.c. To develop recommendations or a course of action for the NYSILC to consider and react to.NYSILC 2016 Committee ListingExecutive Committee (Officers & Ex Officio DSU)Chair: Susan Ruff, (607) 724-2111, advocate@stic-. Vice Chair.Susan Hoger, shoger@. Chair.Roger Benn, rogerbenn1@. Treasurer.Zach Garafalo, zgarafalo@. Secretary.Doug Usiak, djusiak@buffalo.edu. Member at LargeRobert Gumson, Robert.gumson@. ACCES-VR DSU Ex Officio Member.Non-Council Members:Brad Williams, bradw@.Standing CommitteesPersonnel Committee (as convened)Chair: Vacant.Non-Council Members:Brad Williams, bradw@.Email: bradw@ Public Policy CommitteeChair: VacantCarla Lewis-Irizarry, Carlalewis34@.Susan Ruff, advocate@stic-.Henry Nixon, mrhenrynixon@.Helen Fang, hfang888@.Lindsey Miller, lmiller@.Ann Scherff, alscherff@.Robert Meek, robert.w.meek50@ Non-Council Members:Brad Williams, bradw@.Meghan Schoeffling, MSchoeffling@.Marieta Austin, marieta.austin_udi@.Shelley Klein, accwest@. Chad Underwood, cwunderwood@.Nicholas Sinagra, Nicholas.Sinagra@. Finance CommitteeChair, Roger Benn, rogerbenn1@.Lindsey Miller, lmiller@.Susan Hoger, shoger@.Non-Council Members:Brad Williams, bradw@.Development Subcommittee Chair:?Vacant.Zach Garafalo, zgarafalo@. Doug Usiak, djusiak@buffalo.edu.Denise DiNoto, Denise@, mwny01@. Robert Meek, robert.w.meek50@Non-Council Members:Brad Williams, bradw@.Amy Wink, awink@. Monitoring and Evaluation CommitteeChair, Roger Benn, rogerbenn1@.Helen Fang, hfang888@.Luis Gutierrez, Lui3185@.Marc Rosen, marc.rosen88@.Robert Gumson, Robert.gumson@.Lindsey Miller, lmiller@.Non-Council Members:Brad Williams, bradw@.Amy Wink, awink@. Lonna Kelly, lkelly@. Recruitment CommitteeChair: Vacant.Robert Gumson, rgumson@mail..Zach Garafalo, zgarafalo@.Roger Benn, rogerbenn1@.Lindsay Miller: lmiller@. Non-Council Members:Brad Williams, bradw@.State Plan CommitteeChair: Susan Hoger, (845) 331-0541, shoger@.Susan Ruff, advocate@stic-.Robert Gumson, Robert.gumson@.Lindsey Miller, lmiller@.Zach Garafalo, zgarafalo@.Joe Bravo, jbravo@.Ann Scherff, alscherff@. Non-Council Members:Brad Williams, bradw@.Bruce Darling, bdarling@.Doug Usiak, djusiak@buffalo.edu.Denise Figueroa, dfigueroa@.Laurel Kelley, lkelley@.SubcommitteesEmergency Preparedness & Evacuation SubcommitteeChair, Susan Ruff: (607) 724-2111, advocate@stic-.Council Members:Edith Prentiss, edith@. Daniel Fuster, fusterd@. ?Non-Council Members:?Therése E. Aprile-Brzezinski, MA, ThereseA@.Joanne Carlisle? benefits@stic-.Sara Douglass, sdouglass@.James Flemming, james.flemming@.Susan Gray, scsrcg09@.Michael Hellmann, adatty@.Julie Hovey, Julie.Hovey@ocfs.state.ny.us.Fran Pizzola, fpizzola@. Beata Karpinska-Prehn, BKarpinska@.Phil Prehn, pprehn@. Jonathan Schultz, jonathan.schultz@.Ken Stewart, cclvi@.Todd Vaarwerk, tvaarwerk@.Dave Whalen, davidvwhalen@, dwhalen@niagara.edu.Kathleen Madigan, Kathleen.madigan@fema.. Youth Leadership SubcommitteeChair, Zach Garafalo, zgarafalo@Marc Rosen, marc.rosen88@.Luis Gutierrez, Lui3185@.Keith Gurgui, kgurgui@. Non-Council Members:Lyndsi Wickert (ILCHV): lwickert@.Dave Dodge: ddodge@.Melanie Hecker: mhecker@, mhecker@albany.edu.Alexa: (no email).Consumer Satisfaction Survey SubcommitteeActing Chair (Vacant), Brad Williams, bradw@.Robert Gumson, Robert.gumson@.Susan Ruff, advocate@stic-.Non-Council Members:Brad Williams, bradw@.Doug Usiak, djusiak@buffalo.edu.Margi Trapani, mtrapani@.Nancy Klossner, nklossner@. Denise Figueroa, dfigueroa@.Cyrus Kazi, ckazi@.Database Work Group Chair: Chair, Roger Benn, rogerbenn1@.Brett Eisenberg, brett@.Marc Rosen, marc.rosen88@.Lindsey Miller, lmiller@.Roger Benn, rogerbenn1@. Non-Council Members:Brad Williams, bradw@.Doug Usiak, djusiak@buffalo.edu.Laurel Kelley, lkelley@ and Dawn Werner, dwerner@. Ken Dibble, kend@stic-.Jeremy McGowan: jeremy@mcgowan-. Needs Assessment CommitteeChair: Susan Ruff, (607) 724-2111, advocate@stic-.Carla Lewis-Irizarry, Carlalewis34@.Joe Bravo, jbravo@.Helen Fang, hfang888@.Non-Council Members:Doug Usiak, djusiak@buffalo.edu.Brad Williams, bradw@.Fred Ayers, fayers@mail..Adam Prizio, aprizio@. Marieta Austin, marieta.austin_adi@.Facilitator: Alan Krieger: alan@.8. Committee & Subcommittee ReportsA. ACCES-VR SRC reportACCES-VR SRC Quarterly MinutesSeptember 14, 2016Hilton Garden Inn, Albany, NYIn Attendance Day OneShain Anderson, Bryan Baszczuk, Michelle Barlow, Debora Brown-Johnson, LaWanda Cook, Paul Czech, Helene Fallon, Sara Harms for Alan Gallagher, Michael Godino, Howard Gross, Michael Irwin, Martha Jackson, Robert Linton, Jennifer Machucki, Joann Marshall, Sophie McDermott, Ceylane Meyers-Ruff, Erica Molina, Michael Peluso, Roger Purdy, Lourdes Rivera-Putz, Tonya Robinson-Mayer, Lourdes Rosa-Carrasquillo, Lisa Rosano-Kaczkowski, Fredda Rosen, Michael Sherman, Shirley Sherman, Bill Schultz, Alesia Simco, Joseph Tedesco, and (by phone) Carol Ginster, Julie Hovey, and Craig Wolfson. Guests, Tracy Breslin and Peter Herrig of the NYS Commission for the Blind and presenters Patrick Turbett, Sandra Morris, and Amanda Brower of the SUNY Potsdam Institute of Applied Research (PIAR). WhatCall To Order & WelcomeDiscussion and OutcomeMichael Irwin, SRC Chair, called meeting to order; attendance and introductions took place.WhatReview and Approve June MinutesDiscussion and OutcomeJoan Parker motion to approve June minutes; Martha Jackson 2nd motion. 1 Abstention 0 opposed.WhatReview Action itemsDiscussion and OutcomeMichael I. provided an overview of the earlier meeting with representatives from the Department of Labor (DOL).WhatPublic CommentDiscussion and OutcomeNo public comments submitted.WhatExecutive Committee ReportDiscussion and OutcomeMichael Irwin, SRC Chair; and Tonya Robinson-Mayer, SRC Co-Vice ChairWhatACCES-VR & SRC Common PrioritiesDiscussion and OutcomeCommon Priorities will be reviewed and discussed as part of each committee’s 2017 work plans.WhatNYSCB & ACCES-VR SRC CollaborationDiscussion and OutcomeTracy Breslin represented the Commission for the Blind’s (NYSCB) SRC at the quarterly meeting. The next joint SRC Executive Committee meeting is scheduled for October to review collaboration with the NYSCB and ACCES-VR SRC shared priorities. The NYS Independent Living Council (NYSILC) will also be a collaborative effort going forward.WhatAnnual ReportDiscussion and OutcomeCommittees were reminded that the Annual Report needs to be completed and ready for print by Approved Dec. 7, 2016 2017 Membership 12/31/16. Next steps include reviewing and refining. Seeking success stories for the annual report. We currently have 3 and would like up to 8. We are also seeking art work from consumers. Forward art submissions to Michael Peluso by end of October. All committee reports and priorities for the SRC Annual Report are also to be completed and submitted to Michael Peluso.What2017 membershipDiscussion and OutcomeMichael Irwin, SRC Chair, reported out for LaWanda Cook, SRC Co-Vice Chair. Current membership includes 25 members, 14 members with a disability. 3 members will be leaving. With existing vacancies and existing members seeking to have a full membership totaling 28 or 29 members. Elections for officers will held in December 2016. Seeking a vice-chair and a VRC not affiliated with ACCES-VR. Requirement of 51% of members to have a disability. Currently seeking resumes and recommendations. Process includes reviewing resumes, sorting, and interviews via phone. Individuals considered based on need in categories where there is a need for representation. Michael Godino requested representation from Special Education, Native American, VRC and more general members with a disability.WhatInteragency UpdateNYSILCDiscussion and OutcomeMichael Peluso reported NYSILC is working on their 3-year plan.WhatACCES-VR Consumer Satisfaction InformationDiscussion and OutcomeUpdate Patrick Turbett, Director; Sandra Morris, Project Manager; and Amanda Brower, Research Assistant from SUNY Potsdam Institute for Applied Research (PIAR) presented on the ACCES-VR Consumer Satisfaction Survey. A power point presentation, along with a report (provided in the event folder) was discussed. Highlights included: Fall 2015 Consumer Satisfaction surveys mailed to 10,000 current and former consumers, 100 phone interviews; results reflecting statewide outcomes; results similar to 2013 satisfaction survey; 2 Fall 2015 Business Leaders Focus Groups held 1 upstate and 1 downstate; survey to providers has been developed and is awaiting approval for distribution to 500 providers statewide; currently conducting Consumer and Provider focus groups regionally, of which, have been poorly attended; next focus groups scheduled in September held in Southern Tier region; Fall 2016 Consumer Satisfaction Survey is currently in development; break out groups to provide Potsdam with feedback and suggestions on strategies to engage consumers and stakeholder attendance at focus groups; Invitations were reviewed and members provided recommendations to improve effectiveness of invitations. Potsdam will share the Fall 2015 Consumer Satisfaction survey along with the mode of communication of the responses to SRC members. Approved Dec. 7.2016 SRC Quarterly MinutesSeptember 15, 2016Hilton Garden Inn, Albany, NYIn Attendance Day TwoShain Anderson, Bryan Baszczuk, Debora Brown-Johnson, LaWanda Cook, Paul Czech, Helene Fallon, Sara Harms for Alan Gallagher, Michael Godino, Howard Gross, Michael Irwin, Martha Jackson, Robert Linton, Jennifer Machucki, Joann Marshall, Sophie McDermott, Ceylane Meyers-Ruff, Erica Molina, Joan Parker, Michael Peluso, Roger Purdy, Lourdes Rivera-Putz, Tonya Robinson-Mayer, Lourdes Rosa-Carrasquillo, Lisa Rosano-Kaczkowski, Fredda Rosen, Michael Sherman, Shirley Sherman, Bill Schultz, Alesia Simco, Joseph Tedesco, Lisa Van Ryn, Kevin Smith and (by phone) Carol Ginster, Julie Hovey, and Craig Wolfson. Guests Tracy Breslin and Peter Herrig of the NYS Commission for the Blind. WhatCall To Order & Welcome Member IntroductionsDiscussion and OutcomeMichael Irwin, SRC Chair, called meeting to order; attendance and introductions took place.WhatACCES & ACCES-VR Updates, Reports & DialogueEmployment FirstRegents Update Calendar/WebsiteWIOA - Update/ RSA/TrainingStrategic Planning ImplementationPostsecondary Education CouncilDiscussion and OutcomeKevin Smith, ACCES Deputy Commissioner and Debora Brown-Johnson, ACCES Assistant CommissionerDebora provided information regarding the following changes in management: Dr. Richard Rose will head the Bureau of Proprietary School Supervision (BPSS), and Christopher Suriano will replace Joseph DeLorenzo as Commissioner of the Office of Special Education. Kevin noted ACCES’ commitment to doing the work prescribed through WIOA citing its importance for positive outcomes, and a focus for ACCES-VR on working more closely with in-school and out of school youth transitioning into adult lives. Employment FirstKevin also discussed Employment First noting our focus to meet the 5% employment increase and the 5% poverty decrease standards for persons with developmental disabilities. Although this is a good first step, there’s a 40% gap, so we need to build fundamental foundation changes to greatly narrow that gap. The ACCES-VR marketing campaign is helping to bring attention to vocational rehabilitation and employment for people with disabilities. Approved Dec. 7, 2016SRC and the Board of RegentsKevin noted that many new members are on the Board of Regents (BOR) and with the SRC not having presented to the Board of Regents in quite some time, suggested it should at the December 2016 meeting. In light of a busy schedule, Kevin suggested that the SRC be direct and concise with what is said. Kevin indicated that the BOR is advocating for career/technical educational opportunities in high school education as evidenced through CDOS, and the focus on proprietary schools with welding, automotive, computer technology, etc. There is a focus towards more middle skill education and training as alternatives to traditional college to better meet the needs of industry and many students’ abilities. It was noted that ACCES-VR has 38,000 new cases (3,000 more applications than expected in this past year) especially for transition students, attributed through increased marketing efforts. The suggestion was made for ACCES-VR to look regionally to see how the applications/referrals are coming through. There needs to be greater emphasis on career/technical training in High Schools. National credential exams are academically rigorous (e.g. STEM); needs to be brought down to the CDOS level to meet the needs/levels of those students to support them in High School. This has to come from Special Education and higher levels to meet the needs for generalized students. This is a whole-school issue, not just Special Education.Strategic Planning Implementation Approved Dec. 7, 2016Lisa Van-Ryn, ACCES-VR Manager of the Resource Development Unit reviewed WIOA implementation efforts. Lisa indicated that SED (State Education Dept.), ACCES-VR, NYSCB (Commission for the Blind, DOL (Department of Labor), OMH (Office of Mental Health), OPWDD (Office for Persons with Developmental Disabilities), the NYS Justice Center, businesses, providers and ILCs will need to partner together with implementation for effective, systemic, long-term change. The combined State Plan is official and is now posted listing state goals and priorities and reflecting work SRC has done in recent years. Major changes will occur in data collection & reporting to reflect on joint performance measures for a combined state plan. Lisa indicated that ACCES-VR had reported annually only on closed cases but will now report on a quarterly basis for both open and closed cases. ACCES-VR will note more specific information in IPE planning for data collection. The SRC is interested in seeing trends in data over the years. An update will be done in 2018. Lisa also reported that New York State Education law will be updated to incorporate WIOA changes. ACCES-VR will address students with a disability (age 16-21) in school (High School or postsecondary education, trade school, etc.). This is a change from previously looking at a student within 2 years of leaving HS. For clarification “Youth with a Disability” fall in the age range of 14-24, so every student is a youth, but not every youth is a student. Pre-employment transition services for students with disabilities will be required, authorized, and coordinated. ACCES-VR and providers will be engaged in providing these services to students in High School and postsecondary. 15 % of ACCES-VR funding must be dedicated to transition services; this also pertains to students who haven’t applied to ACCES-VR.WhatWIOA Implementation UpdateACCES-VR Goals & PrioritiesEmployment OutcomesComprehensive Needs AssessmentSupported Employment PolicyStudent and Youth Services PolicyLimitations on Subminimum WageDiscussion and OutcomeLimitations on Subminimum WageLisa reported that changes will occur in policies and processes in pre-employment services for transition services and subminimum wage employment. Public Hearings are scheduled to occur on: Nov 8th – Harlem Nov 10th – Rochester Nov 17th – Albany Information from the public hearings will be publicized (e.g. shared with SRC and with Potsdam - PIAR). Final comments are to be reviewed at the SRC meeting in December in preparation to Approved Dec. 7, 2016 present to BOR before implementation. The DOL will monitor employers with 14(c) certificates. Approximately 100 employers in NYS are 14(c) certificate holders currently authorized to pay subminimum wages. ACCES-VR’s responsibility will be to provide discussion (at 6 months and then annually) with persons with disabilities earning subminimum wages to inform them of available services and options to move to competitive wage employment. ACCES-VR will need to identify how they will provide these discussions to participants currently working in 14(c) settings for subminimum wages. RSA notes that Homemaker, unpaid family worker, group and enclave settings are no longer considered to meet the definition of “competitive integrated employment”, though enclave work may meet some people’s needs for employment. The CRS-2.0 contract will include teaching self-advocacy skills as well as use of more surveys. ACCES-VR is developing strategies to meet WIOA requirements to learn and address Business needs. WhatInteragency UpdatesAdvisory Council on Postsecondary Education for Students with DisabilitiesDRNY/CAPTRAID/AHOPWDDNYSCBDiscussion and OutcomeAdvisory Council on Postsecondary Education for Students with DisabilitiesKevin reported that SED is heavily involved in supporting people with disabilities to engage in and complete postsecondary education (SUNY, CUNY etc. are all represented on the council) and vocational training programs. Although assistance with accessibility, Readers Aid Program (tutors, note-takers, readers) and more services are often available through Disability Services offices in colleges, many students don’t self-identify nor seek available supports. Kevin asked for the SRC to advocate for the Board of Regents to focus decision-making support for this (e.g. upgrading the Readers Aid Program from its antiquated cost structure with funding relevant for today’s costs). Mike Godino advocated for persons with sensory impairments who need categorical and specialized services stating that they’re severely underrepresented in these programs, on the SRC, and in general regarding disability rights. Roger Purdy noted that there are Fiscal, Technical Assistance, Legislative and Data committees within the Advisory Council. Erica Molina indicated Disability Rights NY CAP just hired a new person to fill an advocate position to start in early October. They’re training their staff on WIOA regulations to work well with ACCES-VR. Lisa Rosano-Kaczkowski noted that the TRAID Center is working with persons with disabilities to use assistive technology/devices. Work should continue with One-Stops and contacting District Offices to make staff aware of this program. Lisa announced there will be an Adirondack Technology Event in Tupper Lake to draw assistive technology vendors (Justice Center is offering some financial assistance to draw vendors). Ceylane Myers-Ruff noted that OPWDD changed Supported Employment fees from monthly to hourly last year, working on pre-vocational services in the community, and workshop transition plans regarding informed choice. Julie Hovey of the NYSCB is working with ACCES-VR re: WIOA planning and implementation. RFP went out for their needs assessment (to occur in 2017). WhatSRC BusinessOld BusinessCommittee Reports/ new recommendationOther BusinessDiscussion and OutcomeWorking Lunch Committees metOld BusinessStrategic Planning is moving forward. A thank you to LaWanda Cook, SRC Co-Vice Chair, who is transitioning off the Council at the December meeting. Co-Vice Chair election will be held at December quarterly meeting Approved Dec. 7, 2016 Beginning in 2017 for the entire year, the SRC will meet in Troy at the Hilton Garden Inn. Committee ReportsWorkforce Development Committee: The WDC will complete the White Paper and submit to Debora Brown-Johnson and Michael Peluso with the hope of a review in December. Business engagement is a high priority with the need to look at WIOA, the DOL Train and Place model, and track minimum wage changes as they may impact employment. DOL Pathways to Employment Round 6 discussion: looking at recommendations to make a more effective program for graduates. Quality Assurance & Improvement Committee: Tracy Breslin, liaison to the NYS Commission for the Blind’s SRC asked if the QAI committees of the 2 SRCs communicate. The committee will continue to review information shared during the presentation from the Potsdam Institute of Applied Research (PIAR) during the first day of the quarterly meeting. Impartial Hearing Officer (IHO) trainings will occur in November re: Disability Etiquette training for the new IHOs. Over the past 3 years (ending 11/16), ACCES-VR will conclude full review of all District Offices and Provider Reviews to complete 1 cycle of reviews. Debora Brown-Johnson will report out in December how the data will be utilized from the reviews and plans to move forward with future reviews. The ACCES-VR Supervisory Institute training is to occur in November for senior vocational rehabilitation counselors (SVRCs) and will include Erica Molina on the panel discussion. Policy & Planning Committee: The PPC has focused on their committee structure in light of the new policies coming out. The workgroup will use new information sent to them to act upon. Transition Committee: The committee has met to determine the members’ roles, timelines, etc. They have phone conferences scheduled and will discuss where students are going with the range of pathways for students and if ACCES-VR is tracking this data?Full Council informal recommendation: The SRC recommends ACCES-VR add a field in CaMS to track where students are going to see the effect of diplomas, track degrees in college and what happened as a result over several years to see if employed, if employment relates to degree, short or long-term employment. Document types and employment tracks, Institutions that grant the diplomas, (hopefully, track related to CDOS). RSA-911 data changes will include much of this information. Might want to hold off looking at what Approved Dec. 7, 2016 will be developed. Fredda asked for these recommendations to be on record for follow-up. SRC did ask Debora Brown-Johnson to see what data elements will be included in the new data management system … data is a quality issue. SRC asked that Institutions, date, insert “all” to note all credentials be included. Vote: 16 voted yes, 0 no, 0 abstentions. Reviewed draft and annual report Reviewed 2016 priorities, all are still pertinent with some modifications. Will need to follow WIOA with more specifications. The motion was made and passed.What4.2 RecommendationsDiscussion and OutcomeThere were no 4.2 recommendationsSophie McDermott will transition off in December and a replacement to represent the New York State Education Department Office of Special Education has yet to be determined. WhatMeeting AdjournedDiscussion and OutcomeNext meeting is Dec 7-8, 2016 at the Hilton Garden Inn (Albany Med), 62 New Scotland Ave, Albany, NY. Approved Dec. 7, 2016.10. Review of NYSILC LDCEP website and discussion of content buildC.LDCEP Content Build for Resource PageThe website is draft/in staging. We are building content and need assistance to create the substantial sections for the resource page related to the following skills areas: advocacy, leadership development, civic engagement, economic self-sufficiency, and life skills. Realize that final formatting, appearance, accessibility, plug-ins, will be addressed at the end.When we go to “resources,” a drop down menu appears for the items listed. If economic self-sufficiency is selected, currently, career, employment and training resources are listed on the page. Now, there are many more items that can be added for economic self-sufficiency, but this was enhanced based on the hard work that Helen did for us at the November full council meeting.So what we are asking here, is as uniquely skilled, knowledgeable, resourceful council members… please lend your expertise to the content build for the resource page of the LDCEP website. We really need your help.Think in terms of:what do you know in any one of these skill areas?what resources/materials/direct links would consumers (visitors to the site) find useful?do you know or do you know someone else who can help as a resource?Send your content contributions to us at edwyer@. We want to work on a goal of completing the content by the end of April. This is for the first run. We will, of course, always add/update the content.Questions?We have started the process of filming our first video for YouTube channel production. The Saile Group is going to help us with our post-production. Later, we will develop group subjects into PPTs for quarterly outreach.11. Committee & Subcommittee Reports (Continued)D. SPIL CommitteeSPIL CommitteeJanuary 25, 20171:00 pmMembers Present: Brad Williams, Alan Krieger, Ann Scherff, Sue Ruff, Bob GumsonThe first item is the SPIL evaluation. Brad prefaced this by mentioning that these SPIL objectives were for 2016, which was the last year of the previous SPIL. That means that that they were created 3-4 years ago. We will utilize the public speaking time at the full council meetings and work with Allen Krieger to review our current SPIL language to improve our SPIL objectives and outcomes.We will start with objective 7, related to the CIL coaching project. In reality, it was not active during 2016. The State Plan didn’t identify it as being active in 2016, but the contract was extended six months into the past year. The performance targets weren’t realistic to the reality of the project. We learned a lot about making targets. Having unqualified financial audits did not match up with a fiscal part of this service. The centers were engaged in monitoring strategic plans, but this didn’t make sense for centers that were trying to connect with coaching or training. One outcome was exceeded, one was substantially met, and one was partially met. The service started off good for centers that opted for it, then petered out. Alan added that he was the consultant contractor on this project, that it is a good example of where the objectives didn’t really get to what we wanted to accomplish. Rather than picking an arbitrary number we should have talked about a change or increase in improvement, whether it’s 1% or 2%, in fund development. Whether they are engaged in a strategic plan, or they’d be better able to lead and facilitate a strategic plan might have been a better measure. This is an example for targets not being written in a productive way. We learned how to do some of the targets even though they didn’t match up. When it came to the next plan, the funding was cut, and this project had to fall off the table. We learned not to force outcomes into the measures that we want. We have to match the desired outcome to the objective. It was a great idea, but it wasn’t a priority for the centers. The center directors had too many competing demands to focus on this objective.Objective 9 is for the database project. The database had four outcomes, one was met, one was partially met, and two were not met. During the previous SPIL, we made some progress on the database project with reaching out to vendors and deciding who we would be doing business with. We learned that the project goals had to be restated. We have learned that we need to state objectives that related more to the specifics of the project. In the current state plan, the objectives have been reworked to reflect these specific goals. They are meaningful goals that identify that the database is making progress and meeting milestones. Alan suggested setting up a system that can be evaluated in the right way, setting the right targets. There was a second public input phase and some editing that was put into the last SPIL, but there might be a need for further editing the next time around. There will also be a SPIL template coming up that will impact how we report the process. We will decide how to enhance the entire SPIL process for the next SPIL (as we have for all others in the past). We do not want to passively monitor. Plans are in the works to transition the Outreach Subcommittee to a Monitoring and Evaluation Committee taking full responsibility for the council.Learning can come from a reflective look at the SPIL development. A protocol could be written on writing the SPIL, with guidelines on committee formation, for example. “Did we achieve our goals” is a summative evaluation, but the more important part is what is learned. This is the formative evaluation, which allows for self-examination and what we can take into the future. We are developing processes and procedures so that we can address our goals in a meaningful way. Brad would like to pull together more formalized policy. We will have to make this a priority later this year.Meeting adjourned.11. Committee & Subcommittee Reports (Continued)E. Consumer Satisfaction SubcommitteeConsumer Satisfaction Subcommittee October 24, 201610 AMPresent: Brad Williams, Amy Wink, Nancy, Sue Ruff, Bob GumsonBrad updated the committee on the progress of the Consumer Satisfaction Survey. On October 11th, the first memo was sent to the center network, informing them of the upcoming statewide IL consumer satisfaction survey. The letter explained the dates of the survey, the streamlined process, and the consumer satisfaction webpage on the NYSILC site. The letter also noted the forthcoming translations of the materials in Spanish, Russian, and Chinese. These languages were chosen by an informal polling of the centers. The centers will respond with their point of contacts for the survey by the end of the month. So far, we have heard from eight centers. The centers will also be informed about the webinar scheduled for mid-December.Materials are currently being updated to reflect changes in gender choices. In collaboration with CDR, the choices for gender have been changed from male, female, choose not to answer, and other; to male, female, non-binary, agender, queer/non-conforming, trans female, trans male, choose not to answer, and other. Also, using Survey Monkey for data collection will allow NYSILC to conduct trend analysis in response to survey questions. A second memo was sent to the centers, confirming center points of contacts. On December 15th, we will hold a webinar to review the process. By December 23rd we will need a decision from each center on the method/methods they will use, along the total number of CSRs. Centers will receive the appropriate links in return.Next meeting will be scheduled via Doodle.Consumer Satisfaction Survey SubcommitteeFebruary 7, 20171:00 PMBrad Williams, Amy Wink, Alan Krieger, Nancy Klossner, Bob GumsonThe agenda for the meeting is attached, and the first item is the SPIL evaluation for objective #4, the IL fee for service with the Commission for the Blind. This objective is not going forward into the new 2017-2019 SPIL. It should be noted that this objective is from 2016, the last year of the previous state plan, and was developed four years ago We will work on SPIL language at full council meetings this year.We’ve been revising how we do our SPIL evaluation. Rather than doing a tedious step by step review, we are looking at the various outcomes regarding the summative, or results of the targets, that were presented. Objective 4 had 5 outcomes. Two were exceeded, 1 was met, 1 was substantially met, and 1 was not met.Allen interjected that many of the objectives are numerical and easy to measure, and this is one of them. In terms of the summative, the numbers are what they are. In terms of the formative, what we can learn from this, there are comments on each target. Other than that, it is pretty straight forward, they were either met or not met. Some of the specifics of the outcomes were discussed, and how the language can be defined to get a more accurate picture of the outcomes.For the last year, there was a requirement to do a consumer satisfaction survey. The Commission for the Blind did not finish their consumer satisfaction survey, but since we no longer have a contractual relationship with them, there is no need to follow up with this. In the interest of full disclosure, Alan Krieger informed the committee that he is working on a different project with the Commission for the Blind.The committee discussed what has been learned by the IL fee for service objective. These are very measurable outcomes. Because the results fell short of the target (300 instead of 350), we would ask if the targets were unrealistic, or what other possible reasons this did not reach the target. We would also want to know why targets were so far exceeded, perhaps the targets were too cautious and could have been set higher. Brad suggested that we find out how many centers have a relationship with the Commission for the Blind after the three-year contract, as a follow-up question, the activity of their fee for service relationship with the centers can be rated as very active, active, barely active, or inactive, and let them rate it. Even if the causal relationship cannot be proven, there can be a reasonable assumption made that the money invested made a difference and kept the Commission engaged with independent living. The consumers did benefit and received critical services because of the contract. It is good to know that consumers benefited because of the increased relationships that resulted from the contract.Alan asked how the data for 3 and 4 was arrived at. The commission for the blind drew the information they have in their databases in order to arrive at the answers for 3 and 4. It is difficult to tell if the consumer themselves said they were more independent, or if the counselor came to that determinations. It would be a stronger evaluation statement to say it is the consumer’s assessment, or the counselor and consumer’s statement, or just the counselor’s statement. This may be why the numbers are the same.Update on the 2017 NYSILC Consumer Satisfaction Survey. So far we’ve gotten all the information out to the centers. We have responded to two dozen technical assistance requests since the December webinar, in addition to several smaller issues. So far eight centers are showing activity in the Survey Monkey data collection link. One site is about a third of the way to the goal, one is about 2/3 of the way to the goal. Five centers are showing activity in their online links. A center using the direct mail method is close to their goal and they were checking in on how to use their data collection link. We are finalizing and sending out a progress email to the network. We are going to create a call list that prioritizes centers that are showing no activity and we have not heard from at all. We will start with those centers. About half to 75% of the centers are using telephone method for at least some of their surveys, which is a slight increase. Some centers are committed to using the direct mail method. That’s why they have a choice, the centers seem to know what works best for them. The final deadline on the Consumer Satisfaction is at the end of May.Adjourned.11. Committee & Subcommittee Reports (Continued)F. Public Policy CommitteePublic Policy CommitteeOctober 26, 201611:00 amCommittee Members Present: Brad Williams, Amy Wink, Ann Scherff, Meghan Schoeffling, Marieta Austin, Henry NixonThe SPIL evaluation criteria was reviewed with Alan Krieger. Two objectives are assigned to the committee, voter registration and the Statewide Systems Advocacy Network (SSAN). Voter registration is not active this year. Objective 2, the Statewide Systems Advocacy Network (SSAN), needs to be more active and more organized to promote disability rights and to identify issues.In the past year the number of local partnerships and coalitions established is 70. Alan asked for criteria for what a partnership or coalition is. Meghan mentioned that partnerships and coalitions are defined on the NYAIL website and on the reporting form. It was also mentioned that the need to establish new partnerships and coalitions is never over. New partnerships are contractually required every year, as you cannot count the last year’s partnerships in reporting for the new fiscal year.This prompted Alan to suggest revisiting the intention of the outcome, which is that the centers will be active and organizing. Establishing coalitions may be the wrong and could be replaced with establishing and maintaining partnerships and coalitions. Establishing new coalitions may not always be necessary, and the maintaining of prior relationships is important to report.While he acknowledges that impact can be difficult to quantify, Alan would like to see more meaningful ways of measuring the impact of education alerts. Oral and written testimonies are possible impacts, as well as phone calls made. The passage of bills and other systems change are also possible impacts of these alerts. Alan recommends trying to link the action alerts and organizing activities to the resultant letters and phone calls, if that’s possible. The point is to document impact rather than just activity. The quarterly and year-end reports do provide numbers of testimonies, with a few highlights of specific testimonies as impact. These are reflected in other outcomes.Alan reiterated that it would be valuable to link the events to the impacts, such as letter writing, telephone calls, or other forms of testimony and civic engagement. The annual report contains impact numbers for the year. Brad suggested that for the educational alerts, NYAIL could report on the subset for which they have analytical data, as an example of impact. Examples and rationale will help to show the impact that actions are having. The contract requires reporting on the number of hits on the NYSILC website, and we may be able to report additional information using Google analytics.Post-election SurveyBrad has pulled together a draft of potential questions for the post-election survey. The first question identifies those respondents who have a disability (self-identifying question). Respondents can choose between the major Presidential candidates or “other”. The questions and the order of the questions were discussed at length, as well as clarifying that the survey is completely anonymous and non-partisan. The survey will be done through a pollster, because the sample size will be much larger than if it were done in-house.There was some clarification needed for the Ballot Marking Device (BMD) machine question, because sometimes people will choose not to use it even if it is available. There are multiple issues related to the BMD that may keep people from using it.It was also decided to have an updated and enhanced gender question available, rather than just male or female. In addition, it was decided that the income question will be kept to individual rather than household income, and should including disability benefits, if applicable. Later, a decision was made to discard it.Other questions related to demographics were discussed, such as housing, and the type of area in which respondents are living (rural, suburban, urban) along with the type of transportation they most commonly use.The committee would like to see the updated questions again before they are finalized and passed on to the pollsters.Meeting adjourned.Public PolicyFebruary 24, 201710 AMBrad Williams, Bob Meek, Ann Scherff, Nicholas Sinagra, Meghan Parker, Alan Krieger, Chad UnderwoodThe SPIL evaluation is for objective 2, Statewide Systems Advocacy Network (SSAN). Brad reminded the group that this is for the third year of the previous state plan. These objectives were created four years ago. We will work on SPIL language at full council meetings this year related to the new SPIL with Alan Krieger. The objective had 7 outcomes, or targets. Preliminary results indicate that all seven were exceeded. Rather than reviewing each target in detail, we have been reviewing the summative and formative aspects of evaluation. Summative relates to each target and their results. Since this evaluation was attached. Does anyone have any specific questions or comments? The formative is what have we learned.The committee first discussed the summative aspects of the SPIL evaluation. The first target related had a target of 2 for significant statewide systems change. Three significant changes were achieved: Community First Choice Option (CFCO), NY Able Act, and the Mental Health Education Bill. The SSAN was involved in each of these changes. The SSAN also prevent several other significant impacts from occurring. The target was exceeded. Ann spoke about the Nurse Practice Act related to Community First Choice Option. Meghan explained that the two programs are separate. The Nurse Practice Act will allow for some nursing aids to help with medication without a nurse being present. Other targets addressed included local partnerships and coalitions, educational alerts, local public education activities, grass roots organizing activities, oral and written testimonies, and trying to get centers currently not under an SSAN contract to voluntarily get involved with the network. All of these targets were exceeded. Alan asked what the definition or criteria is for meaningful partnerships. This prevents having just passive names on a list. Meghan explained that there are definitions for all of the deliverables, and it’s on the SSAN website under reporting and deliverables. When reporting, it is necessary to not only give the names of partners, but what activities they are engaged in and what goal they are working toward. All of this information is available.Alan asked for the numbers for targets 4 and 5, public education and grassroots organizing activities. He noticed that in one of the examples provided, ARISE had an event where 400 people attended a program. He would like to see more specifics where the numbers of people who attended are provided for all of the 197 events documented in the report. The deeper the level of the detail, the better the impact demonstrated. On target 6, oral testimonies, Alan wanted to know if any of it came out of the grass roots activities or action alerts. Brad thought a few might, but Meaghan clarified that testimony directives come from the SSAN list serve. For target 7, the number of centers without SSAN contracts voluntarily participating, Alan questioned if the CILs involved are always the same ones, or if new centers joined. This would also be a deeper level of detail for the reporting. Last year, two of the three centers were the same (TRI and CDR). The committee went over the formative part of the SPIL evaluation - what was learned overall. The programs and evaluations have been going well related to this objective. We have been adding clarity to know more about what the SSAN does and what they do related to the targets. Alan explained that we are looking for the things that work and don’t work. Lessons learned. Eventually, it was decided that Meghan could write lessons learned at each contract yearend. It can encompass any aspect of the SSAN, including the program, contracts and RFP process. Alan left the meeting.The committee spoke about how to approach updating the NYSILC 3-year Public Policy agenda. Brad noted how a lot of time was invested last year to get create the new 3-year agenda in line with the needs assessment and agenda. In terms of a general process, the group talked about:Updating bill numbers. Meghan agreed since many of the two-year legislative life of most of the bills expired.Relevance: Brad felt that we should look at the agenda because he knows a couple of the items are no longer relevant or have at least have changed in terms of status.Format: Ann raised changing the format of the agenda and the need to make it more direct. Brad agreed and explained the history of why SILC’s had to “provide cover” and connect it to the needs assessment and SPIL with an introduction. Brad continued by reminding everyone that in the new SPIL, we can now do statewide systems advocacy. So with an introduction that notes “we can do statewide systems advocacy per the SPIL per the authority of purpose of the Chapter,” we can look to make edits to the agenda and make it more direct. Chad agreed with making it more direct, but felt that it should still have some kind of connection to the statewide needs assessment. Chad also asked about the process for making changes to the agenda since it was already approved. Brad said that we should make our changes (edits) and once it is finalized, we will submit a summary sheet that will highlight the changes that were made. Edits, issues deleted and or added. This will then be considered by the Executive Committee or council (whoever reviews and approves the agenda). The group was good with the process. It is eventually shared with the full council, distributed and posted.Brad will start with the NYAIL agendas, update the bill numbers, and then consider relevance, making track changes to the exiting 3-year agenda. This will be the first edit to be reviewed by the Public Policy Committee at our next meeting. Brad will send out a Doodle for our next meeting.Meeting adjourned.11. Committee & Subcommittee Reports (Continued)H. Emergency Preparedness SubcommitteeEmergency Preparedness SubcommitteeTuesday, December 6, 201610-11 AMAgenda1. Minutes - review, accept2. DDPC grant update, Dave Whalen3. Buffalo and Canandaigua trainings with Shirley M., DOH4. Volunteers to review NYSILC webpage?5. County reports from members6. Next meeting day and timeFran Pizzola, Sue Ruff, Dave Whalen, Ken Stewart, Julie Hovey, Sara, Beata Karpinska-Prehn, Jim Flemming1.Minutes from last meeting approved.2.Dave – met with DDPC, grant is moving forward, officially approved, budget and financial pieces being worked on at Niagara. Dave also met with Rich Bell from OPWDD (Emergency Management Division).? Reps now required for both fire and emergency management in the DDRO’s and act as conduits to service providers in their regions.? The OPWDD fire reps at the DDRO’s (regional OPWDD offices) are handling education, fire plans, inspections; the new emergency preparedness hires will handle planning, identification of needs, and emergency preparation.? Dave is talking with NYAIL and NYSILC reps today (Brad and Lindsay) about ILC roles as well as education of people with disabilities.? Dave reminded committee of regulations through ADA – what does Title II say and what is DOJ guidance – do your counties have ADA coordinators and do they participate in emergency preparedness actions? During the November storm in Buffalo two years ago, the ADA coordinator was not invited to the emergency center.? Dave’s training will be extensive but all the resources are also provided in the training.?? Disability Awareness Training is customized for specific audiences.? Dave is also training in Missouri.?? Dave wants to work with ILCs extensively.? He is meeting with M. Roth next week (FEMA).? Ken asked about materials for people who are blind – and suggested that audio materials would be preferred by many.? Does FEMA have audio materials?? Are their websites accessible to screen readers? Ken will check.3.Buffalo and Canandaigua trainings report: Sue and Dave reported on Shirley Made well’s trainings last week.? Shirley works for the NYSDOH. Diverse audiences – some information was basic, some specific.? Power point will be refined in future.? Upcoming training: January 30 – Glens Falls Hospital Learning Center, June 5 – Syracuse – looking for location, Feb. 10 is Dutchess County, Long Island – April. Targeting local DOH staff, home care agencies, emergency responders, etc. Sue will add Shirley’s contact info to minutes:shirley.madewell@health.4.NYSILC webpage – update and add to it? Look at Dave’s site first for examples and resources. Useful information on self-preparedness?? Beata and Sue will work on this in the new year. 5.Cortland – had a good first year with monthly meetings, had a mock shelter demonstration in September – invited service coordinators to attend workshop – demonstrated 72-hour kit, had emergency management people on the panel, participants felt the need to meet more often.? Invited Red Cross to present on shelters, invited people with disabilities to come and offer ideas.? Their CAG will be meeting quarterly.? Planning for another September event and MSC’s will work with their consumers.6.Beata – Syracuse – their emergency planners will share some chapters of the county plan as it is being revised. They are meeting with others – a task force – invited DOH, Emergency Prep., etc. Participated in mass medication drill – and DOH said it was a better experience because people with disabilities came. Phil is going to meetings – helping with resource listings, data base.? Madison County is looking for transportation resources list.7.Broome – update on Home Health Agencies – some areas of the state further along with health worker backup plans.? Loss of county MH workers to privatization has reduced pool of MH workers that would be available in a disaster.8.Jim – went to South Carolina after Matthew for six weeks, no CAGs, only one group and not connected to state OEM; importance of resources – he spent time matching resources to unmet needs.? Statewide CAGS and county CAGS very important in response phase – if resource data is available to distribute.? Survivors are people who register for assistance – with releases from survivors – transportation, home care, and other resources – would make case management possible, quicker. ?9.Beata – trying to make sure that volunteers and first responders get Dave’s training – and she wants Dave to come to Syracuse.? Their Task Force is mostly people with disabilities and she asked Dave if he could call in on Dec. 21 at 10. What is needed and what are they getting? Dave will be in Syracuse in March and will be available by phone for Dec. 21, conference call.? Will publicize his grant after meetings with Brad and Lindsey.? Law enforcement has embraced training.? He does training online for EMS. Forward his newsletters to first responders.? This past fall he trained in Broome - - Binghamton and Utica police, state office and county office security, Vestal police came.? Dave met with Commission on Corrections – no money. Niagara County jail – he has been there – lawsuits cost more than training correction officers.? Law enforcement gets it quickly. ?Dave suggested a joint face to face meeting next year. ?Next conference call – Feb. 14 at 10-11.Emergency Preparedness SubcommitteeFebruary 14, 201710 amSara (Syr., Auburn), Sue Ruff (Binghamton), David F. (Ithaca, Cornell), Fran Pizzola(Cortland), Phil Prehn (Syracuse), Dave Whalen (Buffalo), Beata Karpinska-Prehn (Syr.), Ken Stewart (NYC), Edith Prentiss (NYC), Julie Hovey (CFB)Agenda:1. Minutes from December, review, accept2. DDPC grant update and March 20th. face to face gathering in Binghamton (Dave, Sue)3. Update on Shirley Madewell's training in Glens Falls (Julie, Sue)4. NYSILC webpage (Beata, Sue)5. County or regional reports6. Other?1.Minutes from December, moved to accept (Fran and Dave), approved. Regarding today’s call in number – the old number we have been using is still available during transition time, only NYSILC members had the new number. In the future we will use the new number (see below at end of minutes).2.Dave W.’s update on grant: he had a work session in Albany with OPWDD, Emergency Management Division (Rich Bell). They hired representatives per region, which complements OPWDD fire safety reps. Meeting was an overview of content of training materials and their role in the grant, developing support across the state, working together. Service providers (not for profits) will be needed to buy in to training and he is reaching out to state associations and through Rich Bell and his staff as well. He met with DOH, Emergency Services, and updated them. He has met with some other state office representatives. Their support has been tentative, cautious. The grant will enhance training in the state. March 20 will be important because it will bring people with disabilities and emergency management association people together, as well as a representative from OPWDD. Edith asked if NYC participates in the emergency manager’s association? Dave will be in NYC that week and he has intention to move forward with FDNY and others. Edith and Ken want to participate in this conversation and Dave will consult with them before his trip to NYC. 3.Shirley Madewell’s trainings – Julie and Sue reported – both went well – about 50-60 in Glens Falls (some OEM -? - and multiple county people and reps from two ILC’s), in Dutchess, about 25 (lot of county and some ILC people). Spent time discussing their pods, lot of discussion, good responses. 4.NYSILC webpage – Beata and I are working on it, anyone else want to work on it, please contact Sue. Edith suggested posting data on settlements. Univ. of Maryland has a summary of law suits – Dave will provide link. Dave’s site is helpful, too (and is already on the webpage). We discussed PDF’s on FEMA may be a problem and we are looking at them – older screen readers and updated versions – might be able to open files but your version may not read them. Who is our representative at FEMA? Is it M. Roth? Edith said she is at Port Light now. We need to continue to check out FEMA links, suggestions on the site to add software to computers in order to access materials, changes in leadership at FEMA. We will reach out to Jim as well.5.Cortland update? First meeting is Thursday, will meet quarterly, still working with OEM (2 people in OEM and chair of legislative committee, a firefighter, is very supportive). DOH rep is also very supportive. 6.Syracuse – Beata, Phil, Sara – in March, Dave’s training with police and fire departments –inviting others – it was sent to surrounding counties. They will make follow up calls and emails. Also self-preparation trainings being planned. Relying on neighbors and self will be message. Also inviting refugee populations.7.Edith and Ken – NYC – mandates by lawsuit issues – dealing with bureaucratic barriers. Identifying people who need assistance with evacuating is being discussed. Edith will send us some videos as resources. Concern about alarms or evacuations if a storm is a washout. Edith will send out links and Sue will relay to rest of committee. 8.Dave encouraged county outreach – each county is autonomous.9.Broome – new person at head of Emergency Management, continue in working relationships, POD drill coming in March, “Stop the Bleed” training being offered by county EMS, ongoing discussions about back up preparations with human service organizations, home health providers.10.Dave F. – Ithaca, Cornell – works with Beth Harrington from Tompkins County, and FLIC – a fire in Ithaca left more than 20 homeless – concern is back up planning and what happens for people with disabilities during and after disasters?11.Kathleen Madigan, formerly SILO – now with FEMA Region II, building directory materials – from providers for use by other providers. Edith will send out request and Sue will pass along.12. Next meeting: Tuesday, April 18, 10-11 AM.11. Committee & Subcommittee Reports (Continued)I. Development Policy CommitteeDevelopment WorkgroupNovember 8, 20161:00 PMMembers present: Brad Williams, Bob Meek, Doug UsiakThe year-end appeal is getting underway. We have been using a document to keep track of the year-end appeal progress year-by-year for a few years now. Lynn Drucker, who used to be on the council and is a professional fund development professional, helped to create and structure the year-end appeal. We do a soft drive to businesses and individuals the council has contact with or has networked with over time. Brad adds in his consulting fees. NYSILC is the recipient of the funds. The year-end appeal wasn’t a major priority this year due to the SPIL formulation and development with WIOA considerations. To date, donations from all categories have totaled around $3,000 which is just over 50% of the goal. We will be looking for more individual and business donations from the year-end appeal. The NYSILC office needs to draft a year-end appeal letter within the next week to ten days. It will be sent out a combination of direct mail and online (the week of Thanksgiving). The appeal will go through the end of February 2017 because some businesses like to give in the first quarter of the next year.Last year, around 250 letters were sent out. The letter talks about the council’s accomplishments over the past year (value). The group identified what items should be highlighted in the letter. Brad will share the draft with the committee members for feedback and then get comment from council chair Sue Hoger who co-signs the letter.Doug brought up his idea for an IL disability Hall Of Fame (HOF). He stated that this would be an event where people gather and focus their giving while recognizing peers for their contributions to disability rights in New York. This would create funds for the council and develop support and recognition for the disability rights movement at the same time. Bob Meek agreed that these kind of events are great draws and a focal point for raising money. It has to be based on disability and systems change. It has to purely unbiased with the council having a process for identifying 3-5 individuals each year. Brad agreed and commented that with our new authority for fund development, it is a perfect match. After the year-end appeal, it should be the major focus of the committee and council as a fund development effort for 2017. The Development Committee should meet in January to discuss next steps. Doug wondered if we should push hard and have the event at the NYAIL conference, but then it was realized that we want the event connected to NYSILC. A separate event made more sense. The conference was also not every year.The point was raised that the Development Committee needs to inform the Executive Committee of the IL disability HOF idea and get their approval. Brad noted that the next Executive Committee was in a matter of days. He will take the responsibility to add it to the agenda and present the recommendation for consideration and approval. Brad took a little bit of time to review the new resource development authority. There were no questions. Some of the approaches to fund development like the year-end appeal and the new IL disability HOF would be addressed as our opportunities. However, it was felt that it might take too long to wait until the third year of the SPIL to engage a consultant to develop a fund development plan. If and when the council gets up to speed to work on statewide opportunities, it needs to make sure it communicates to all partners to enhance cooperate and avoid competition.Development CommitteeJanuary 31, 20172:00 pmMembers Present: Brad Williams, Bob Meek, Zach Garafalo, Denise DiNotoThe year-end appeal went well. We have sent out all of our thank you letters to those who gave. NYSILC works hard on its year-end appeal to express the work that we did throughout the year. Some for-profit businesses prefer to do their giving to the first quarter of a calendar year, so we usually extend our appeal to the end of January. We have collected $6,564 to date. Individual donations were down, business donations were up, and consulting services contributed a great deal to the final total. To date, the 2016 year-end appeal has resulted in $7,274. This exceeds our goal of 5% over last year. The committee discussed having the benefits of have 100% of the council donate to the year-end appeal. It should be addressed at a full council meeting.The committee discussed the idea for the NYS Independent Living Hall of Fame. This will promote our peers and create a mechanism for raising funds and awareness. There were two documents attached for the meeting. The suggestion is to put out a nomination for the event where people can come and celebrate. The council could use a committee to review nominations and pick 3-5 individuals who meet the criteria to be nominated to the hall of fame. Some nominations may be posthumous. More details need to be decided upon for this idea. There is an award, possibly a speech, and we need to create a protocol (Doug drafted one already). It may be a good idea to record these events to help with future promotion of the event and archiving. There are possibilities of sponsors, silent auction, and other fundraising. During the year-end appeal, the Troy Hilton-Garden Inn provided an in-kind gift. Other fundraising possibilities and sponsorships ideas were discussed, along with offering reduced rates, gift certificates and other items for a silent auction. General ideas were discussed along with ideas for a work plan by the next meeting. We will need more volunteers to make the event happen. The possibility of a setting a date for this event was also discussed. It was eventually decided that it should extend out to April or May of 2018. This allows for more time to organize the two major components of the hall of fame. Some possibilities for the location of the event were discussed, including the Hilton Garden Inn and the Marriot. Between now and the next meeting, Brad and staff will find out where the best accessible hotels are in the capital area so that the committee can make next step decisions on the date of the event and venue (hotel).Meeting Adjourned.11. Committee & Subcommittee Reports (Continued)J. Database WorkgroupDatabase Workgroup Committee11/14/20161 PMMembers Present: Doug Usiak, Brad Williams, Ken Dibble, Fred Ayers, Roger Benn, Lindsay MillerOther: Jeremy McGowan, Jeremy McGowan Enterprises Corp.The database cost is at 95,000 for a two-year implementation with a hosting cost of $15,000 a year. One new request was to incorporate the ACCES-VR ILC reporting system, data collection and reporting efforts into the design of this database. This makes sense in terms of not duplicating, but there would have to be work to be sure that it is fully incorporated into the design. Fred is on the database work committee to be sure that the reporting required from ACCES-VR is included into the database. It has been suggested that there be a verification of what is required by ACCES-VR for reporting, and make sure it matches what is proposed for the database. There is an upcoming meeting regarding enhanced reporting requirements from ACCES-VR for the Independent Living Centers. How do we verify what this committee created in 2014 versus the ACCES-VR reporting system so that NYSILC can move forward with the process? Lindsay will be in a meeting regarding the ACCES-VR reporting system where the reporting requirements will be discussed. She will bring the 2014 document and will possibly have the chance to discuss it with Bob Gumson and Ray Pierce in her upcoming meeting. The database cannot move forward until the data fields are finalized. Planning will be through September 2017, and implementation will take place in two phases throughout 2018-2019, with phase three on-going. Jeremy McGowan Enterprises Corporation (JMEC) will need to publish a schema, and provided details and technical assistance to the centers to make sure the required data is correct. We will have to set a date for when the required software will need to be working in the centers. Ken doesn’t foresee a problem as long as the centers are given enough advanced notice. There were some concerns about ongoing software changes at the centers over time, but the responsibility for maintaining the software will fall to the centers. Ken explained that the upload should be a relatively easy task for the centers. Training and support will have to be provided for the centers over the course of implementation and over time, but responsibility to communicate changes to software/databases will be up to the centers. The end user should not be required to do very much. After the vendor is given time to make the changes, there will be a testing period where each center will have to run a report, and then any inconsistencies can be taken care of. The vendor for the centers’ software will have to take the database into consideration in their design. The database will have safeguards that will create an error in non-matching data fields. Changes will have to be coordinated throughout the centers and tested.If ACCES-VR requires a new element in a report, it will lengthen the process, and involve updating the database. The meeting between Lindsay Miller and ACCES-VR will hopefully provide clarity on the required data fields. Jeremy will have a look at the ACCES-VR online report so that he can see what that report requires of the centers. Fred Ayers said he will send the information direct to Jeremy. The next step is to get the data fields defined and agreed to. Lindsay will send an email to the group after her meeting with ACCES to let everyone know what the results were. Meeting Adjourned.11. Committee & Subcommittee Reports (Continued)L. Outreach SubcommitteeOutreach SubcommitteeFebruary 17, 201710:00 amPresent: Bob Gumson, Brad Williams, Alan KriegerThe SPIL evaluation is for objective 5, capacity building. Brad reminded the group that this is for the third year of the previous state plan. These objectives were created four years ago. We will work on SPIL language at full council meetings this year related to the new SPIL with Alan Krieger.The objective had 5 outcomes, or targets. Preliminary results indicate that one was exceeded, two were met, and two were partially met. For the first target, number of people served was 317. The target was 600. It may have been set too aggressively high. Brad spoke to those grantees, as directed, in an email, that outlined this issue in the scope of other items to think about with one year left on their CBILCO projects. No one responded, or even asked a question about the first target related to Brad’s email. Most responses were related to the how-to manual. Bob noted that the target should be adjusted down for STIC’s departure from the project. This would drop the target to 570 for the 317 served or 56%. Last year, the people served was 480 out of a target of 600, or 60% of the target. So this year experienced a slight drop from the previous year. The projects did exceed new partnerships goal with 67 new community partnerships. Brad noted that for the CBILCO how to manuals, there will be four breakouts for this area so that we can better understand the impact and meaning of the partnerships. Brad will be planning a conference call regarding the how-to manuals in the near future. The third target was for the projects to become self-sustaining. The target for this was zero. The number of how-to technical assistance manuals was also zero. Alan felt that these should not be assessed as met but N/A.The next topic is the monitoring protocol. Alan provided a draft for the monitoring protocol. Brad provided input to the draft. After a lengthy discussion, edits were made to strengthen draft protocol. In addition, the following was recommended:The Outreach Subcommittee should become the Monitoring and Evaluation Committee (a full committee).This committee should take over the full monitoring and evaluation responsibilities of the council.Monitoring will take place at a face-to-face (and conference call) meeting the late afternoon before each council meeting.The committee will review the SILC monitoring document, utilizing the protocol.The chair will report out at the full council meeting the next day.Evaluation will occur utilizing the same cycle created by the council and consultant.The committee will evaluate all SPIL objectives.Meetings will be scheduled (via conference call) as necessary to complete the SPIL evaluations.The Youth Leadership Subcommittee will take responsibility to help promote, review and approve Pat Figueroa sponsorships.Brad will send out an email to the members of the Outreach Subcommittee the share the draft protocol and to inform them of these changes and solicit their feedback.Meeting adjourned. ................
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