Disability Network Michigan

May 2007

All articles written by Tai M. Martin

State of the Network

There is a tremendous amount happening in the disability field around the state. It takes collaboration among all of the CILs to stay current on the latest trends, information and best practices. Most of this work takes place within the statewide leadership teams that are formed by CIL Directors and staff. Below you will find information on each leadership team, and what they are currently working on.

Executive Leadership Team: This team monitors the implementation of the strategic and annual operating plans and sets the Board agenda. Jim Moore, Executive Director of Disability Network/Northern Michigan in Traverse City, is chair of the Board, and chair of this team.

Program Evaluation Leadership Team: The charge of this team is to identify and streamline best practices that can be implemented throughout the network. The team is chaired by Karen Kraft, Associate Executive Director of Disability Network/Michigan.

Recently the team has been working on acquiring and implementing a new database for the network. The new database called CFAL is specifically designed to meet our outcome reporting requirements. In the last few months all of the details for state reporting have been worked out. Jim Moore who is our liaison from Engineering Data Corporation has been contacting the CILs to schedule trainings on the use and function of the new database.

The Program Evaluation Leadership team is also revising the outcomes handbook. The team expects it to be a more useful training tool when it is complete. For more information on the Program Evaluation Leadership Team please contact Karen Kraft.

Marketing Leadership Team: The purpose of this team is to assist all members of Disability Network/Network Michigan to understand, embrace and implement a unified marketing strategy that furthers the independent living movement statewide and in all of our communities. The team is chaired by Ruth Stegeman, Executive Director of Disability Network/Lakeshore in Holland.

Currently the marketing team is working on developing a brochure template that can be used statewide by all CILs. The brochure will be able to be customized to each organizations needs. Along with the brochure the team is collecting results from a statewide legislator survey. The survey is designed to give us feedback on how best to communicate with our legislators. The team is hoping to learn about Legislators attitudes and perceptions about people with disabilities and CILs. This information will help the network tailor a communication that serves the needs of our legislators.

For more information on the Marketing Leadership Team please contact Tai Martin.

Resource Development Leadership Team: The mission of the Resource Development Team is to strengthen relationships with partners & policy makers to increase the network’s capacity. The team is chaired by Joel Cooper CEO and President of Disability Resource Center in Kalamazoo.

The Resource Development team is working closely with Disability Network/Michigan’s lobbyist Sandi Lewis to schedule meetings with House of Representatives Appropriations committee members. We want to build strong relationships with our legislators and make clear the impact any further cuts would have on people with disabilities.

The team is also working to hold regular meetings with the leadership at DLEG. The team strives for open communication and strong relationships with our State level partners.

For more information about the Resource Development Leadership team please contact Tai Martin.

Systems Change Leadership Team: The charge of this team is to mobilize grass-roots supports for issues featured in Michigan’s Common Disability Agenda. This team is co-chaired by Dave Bulkowski, Executive Director of Disability Advocates of Kent County, Mike Zelley the Executive Director of The Disability Network in Flint, and Ellen Weaver, the Executive Director of the Capital Area Center for Independent Living in Lansing.

The team is further broken down into workgroups that focus on a specific advocacy issue. Dave Bulkowski has oversight of the housing, accessibility and transportation workgroups. The very active housing workgroup is chaired by Sue Hart from The Disability Network. Mike Zelley serves as the Chair of the employment workgroup. Finally, Roanne Chaney from the Michigan Disability Rights Coalition Chairs the Long Term Care workgroup and Ellen Weaver serves as Co-Chair. Jill Gerrie the Director of Systems Change for Disability Network/Michigan and serves as staff support for the Systems Change Leadership Team.

The housing, accessibility and transportation workgroups (HAT) are planning a retreat this summer at the Kettunen Center located which is a complete conference and retreat facility located on Center Lake in Tustin, Michigan, just 20 minutes south of Cadillac. This strategic planning session will focus on the core issues related to HAT as well as community organizing. For more information on this retreat, please contact Karen Kraft.

Peer Support Leadership Team: This team works to expand and enhance a program of peer support and technical assistance that benefits each of the 15 members of Disability Network/ Michigan.This team is Chaired by Susan Cloutier-Myer, the Executive Director of Disability Connection in Muskegon.

The Peer Support Leadership Team has finished the Smartbook. The Smartbook is a valuable resource for any CIL employee or new director. It contains information on the history of IL along with essential information on how a CIL should be run. The Smartbook is available only to CIL staff members and can be found online. For more information on the Peer Support Leadership Team, please contact Karen Kraft.

The leadership teams are integral to the success of Michigan’s CIL network. Please do not hesitate to contact any of the staff members at Disability Network/Michigan if you would like further information on any of these teams.

Legislative Luncheon Update:

The Legislative Luncheon was a great success! Many legislators from both sides of the aisle came to meet constituents from their districts and talk about what's new in the network. Some of the information that was shared with legislators includes:

Michigan's CILs are a smart investment.

For CILs to continue serving over 30,000 people each year, we must maintain our current budget. We are required to do more with less every year and have not had an increase in funds to match the new demands. A $3 million increase will help us impact the lives of an additional 7,253 people with disabilities and increase our current dramatic cost savings of nearly $17 million a year.

We add value to people's lives today.

There are 1.9 million people with disabilities in Michigan. CILs are building accessible communities and connecting people with disabilities to resources and opportunities so they can work, live, and play like everyone else.

CILs are the disability experts in your community.

We also asked for the following:

$3 Million increase in Core Funding

Mental Health Parity Legislation

We asked legislators to support the Mental Health Parity Legislation which would place no greater restriction and financial burden on coverage for brain disorders than that which exists for other medical care.

Wheelchair Insurance Coverage

We asked legislators to support HB 4159 (Rep. Lisa Wojno) which would require wheelchair ramps to be a covered benefit within the category of durable medical equipment in health insurance policies.

Deaf Interpreter Law

We asked legislators to support HB 4208 (Rep. Dudley Spade) and SB 25 (Sen. John Gleason) which will require qualified interpreters for deaf and deaf-blind individuals in certain circumstances.

Thanks to both legislators and constituents who made it to the lunch.

Web Forums:

Do you ever wonder how your peers across the State implement a new program, measure outcomes, or solicit donations? Now you can easily share information and best practices with CIL staff from around Michigan using the web forums which can be found on Disability Network/Michigan’s website. The forums are set up to be an easy to use tool that will let you upload documents, post to threads and search for information. If you are a CIL staff member and would like to access the forums, go to /forums/login.aspx if you are unable to login, please contact Tai Martin at 517.339.0539.

I Ride

I-Ride is an athletic opportunity for cyclists of all abilities. This is a first of its kind, multi-day, fully inclusive event will take place across Lower Michigan August 16^th-19^th. Cyclists may choose to ride all, or a portion, of this trek across Michigan.

Hand-cycles will be featured front and center during this event; however,
all cyclists are urged to join using any type of cycle that can keep a moderate pace. Cyclists are encouraged to ride at their own pace; after all, this is a fun event! There will be two groups of riders, an intermediate group that will ride at a more relaxed pace and a more advanced group. People may also choose to join on any day to day to ride the "final miles" into the daily destination celebration.

This event aims to raise public awareness and provide athletic opportunities for athletes of all abilities. The trek begins in Holland on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, traveling north along the scenic lake shore with the fresh breeze and the sounds of sea birds providing a beautiful, tranquil environment to get “into the groove” of the ride. Other portions of the tour travel through rural Michigan and follow near sections of several rivers. I Ride will make three overnight stops near:
Grand Rapids, Lansing, and Jackson, finishing near the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. There will be celebratory events at each stop to celebrate the riders.

Funds raised through this event will be used to promote accessible sports and recreational throughout the state. For more information please contact Richard Berk or Glen Ashlock at the Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living at (734) 971-0277 Ext. 49

Road to Freedom:

The Road to Freedom is a yearlong, 50-State bus tour and photographic exhibit chronicling the history of the grassroots "people's movement" leading to passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The national awareness campaign was inspired by the historic journey of Justin and Yoshiko Dart who traveled America to mobilize support for passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The tour launched from Washington, DC on November 15th, 2006 and has engaged audiences across the United States in the story of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the history of the disability rights movement. The tour hopes to mobilize Americans to keep the promise of the ADA – freedom, inclusion, and opportunity for children and adults with physical, mental, cognitive and developmental disabilities.

Throughout this journey, national and state disability leaders have been joined by young people with disabilities, family members and others in a campaign to restore and strengthen the ADA.

The tour is scheduled to stop in Michigan August 12-14 with stops in Lansing, Flint and Marquette. For more information on the Road to Free bus tour, please contact Kathryn Wyeth at 517.333.2477

Google Grants, a smart way to fundraise

The Google Grants program is the Google Foundations Foundation philanthropic arm. Through this program, Google commits a percentage of their profits and equity towards a vision. They look at ways they can make a difference in creative and effective ways. The Google Grants program in particular gives free advertising to selected nonprofits. As of late last year, Google Grants has donated more than $33 million in advertising to over 850 nonprofit organizations in 10 countries worldwide.

This unique program involves utilizing the Google AdWords program to get the word out and to engage and inform individuals online about the work that non-profits do. The range of nonprofits that it has helped include: animal welfare, literacy, homeless, and HIV education. Nonprofits that are accepted into the Google Grants program are awarded an in-kind AdWords advertising campaign on Google.com for at least three months to increase traffic to their website, and raise awareness of their topic areas.

In order to be accepted for the program, organizations must have be based in the US, and have a 501(c)(3) status, assigned by the Internal Revenue Service. Google Grants is currently not accepting applicants based outside of the US, but are planning to expand. Recipients in the program include:

American Red Cross
AIDS Walk New York
American Ballet Theatre
Big Brothers Big Sisters
San Francisco Food Bank
Trees for Life
Young Performers Theatre

USA Today reported on a non-profit director that put up a website to attract donors to raise money to pay doctors to treat people in Africa and Asia. When he launched he was getting two visitors a day, and one donation per week. When he got accepted into Google Grants and received the free advertising, he started getting over 300 visitors per day, and 25 donations from all over the world. Donations were hitting around $5000-$8000 each from people that found the site on the Internet.

This is a great tool for Michigan’s CIL network. Using Google Grants will help us raise awareness as well as raise funds. For more information please click here for more information on the Google Grants advertising program.

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