Approved 9/7/12 Quarterly Meeting Minutes Oregon State Independent Living Council Friday, June 1, 2012 • 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. HASL • 305 NE E St • Grants Pass, OR Introductions Attendees: Ann Balzell, Cindy Campbell, Tony Ellis, Barry Fox-Quamme, Janet Lowther, Ben Luskin, Dodie McKenzie, Margi Morgan, Randy Samuelson, Sherry Stock, Sheila Thomas, Mike Volpe and Stephaine Parrish-Taylor Administrative Note: Tony Ellis and Barry Fox-Quamme arrived at 8:45 and 8:40 respectively. Barry left at 1:45. Staff Present: Joette Williams, Shelly Emery, Mark Beasley (Cascade Sound), Jennifer Shearer (ASL interpreter) and Dottie Bishop (ASL interpreter) Absent: Susan Melero Guests: Dennis Hogan (Oregon Commission for the Blind), Deb McCuin (State Unit on Aging), Ted Wenk (Disability Rights Oregon), Pete Karpa (Office of Vocational Rehabilitation Services), Bob Rose (HASL), Carol Samuelson (HASL), Patty Kunkler (HASL), Patty Ellen Dunlap (Disability Services Advisory Council), Rhonda Taylor (Disability Services Advisory Council), Glenn Van Cise (ABILITREE), Donalda Hill (attendant for Mike Volpe), David Campbell and Sally Lawson (Association of Centers for Independent Living). Agenda Review ACTION • Motion by Samuelson, second by Stock to accept the agenda as presented. In favor: Campbell, Ellis, Fox-Quamme, Lowther, McKenzie, Samuelson, Stock, Volpe, Morgan, Luskin and Thomas. There being no votes in opposition or abstention, the motion was carried. Ellis & Fox-Quamme were not present. March, 2012 SILC Meeting Minutes Corrections noted in March Minutes included misspelling of Margi Morgan’s name, it should be M-A-R-G-I (no E), and the word “b-u-e” should be changed to “d-u-e” in the First Quarter Financial Report section. ACTION • Motion by Stock, second by Samuelson to accept the minutes Approved June, 2012 SILC Meeting Minutes Page 1 of 14 as corrected. In favor: Campbell, Ellis, Fox-Quamme, Lowther, McKenzie, Samuelson, Stock, Volpe, Morgan, Luskin and Thomas. There being no votes in opposition or abstention, the motion was carried. Financial Report (1/16/12-5/15/12) The financial report does not reflect changes proposed in the budget revision, which is the next agenda item. At this point we are approximately 63 percent through the year. Overall 49 percent of the budget has been spent, leaving a balance of $193,386.84. In the revenue section of this report, the Title I match for 2012 is fully spent. That is because the match (State) portion of the federal funds must be spent in the first year they are granted, while the federal portion may be carried over for a second year. The only item that is spending ahead of budget is training, due to the major training costs taking place in January for SILC Congress. Under the staff administration portion of this financial report, the first 15 days of May’s payroll are not reflected, as we didn’t yet have that data. This has been accrued, but not yet paid out at the time of this report. ACTION • Motion by Stock, second by Campbell to approve the financial report as presented. In favor: Luskin, Morgan, Volpe, Stock, Samuelson, McKenzie, Lowther, Fox-Quamme, Ellis, Campbell and Thomas. There being no votes in opposition or abstention, the motion was carried. Proposed Budget Adjustment While preparing the financial report for this period, staff noticed a discrepancy in the estimated 2011 carry over section of the budget. There is a difference of $424.56 in the actual carry over. To be able to balance the budget at the end of the fiscal year it needs to have the estimated carry over reduced by that amount. ACTION • Motion by Stock, second by Luskin to accept the amended budget as presented. In favor: Campbell, Ellis, Fox-Quamme, Lowther, McKenzie, Samuelson, Stock, Volpe, Morgan, Luskin and Thomas. There being no votes in opposition or abstention, the motion was carried. Association of Centers for Independent Living (AOCIL) Update • Barry Fox-Quamme Barry is the president of the Association of Oregon Centers for Independent Living (AOCIL). Sheila Thomas, from LILA, Randy Samuelson, from HASL, and Barry were the hiring committee to recruit an Executive Director for AOCIL, who will help provide leadership around the development of the association. Sally Lawson was Approved June, 2012 SILC Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 14 hired in that position effective May 10, 2012. She will work out of Salem and will be supervised out of Independent Living Resources (ILR). Sally introduced herself and gave a short background. She has 20 years of experience in working with Oregon’s nationally recognized long-term care system, working with seniors and adults with physical disabilities. She has a non-profit background, retiring a year ago from Northwest Senior and Disability Services. She was staff to the foundation of that agency. Focus Group • Sustainable Partnerships for Housing and Services Grant • Jean Lasater, Project Coordinator Jean Lasater is from the Addictions and Mental Health Division at the Oregon Health Authority and is the coordinator of a federal grant called Building Sustainable Partnerships for Housing. Oregon is one of six states that were awarded this planning grant, which is part of a group of Federal initiatives. These initiatives come from the convergence of the Melville Act and the Olmstead Decision. The Olmstead Decision is about making sure that people are not in institutions any longer than necessary and that they are able to live in their community and be supported there. The Melville Act is concerned with integrating housing for individuals with disabilities. Jean will follow up the planning with an application to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for housing vouchers under the 811 program. This program was recently revised to more clearly delineate the mechanisms for creating integrated housing. The stipulations of the 811 program are that developers that utilize these funds can have no more than 25 percent of their units committed to housing people with disabilities. One purpose of the work that is being done on the planning grant is to discover ways that healthcare can be connected to housing for individuals with disabilities. Another purpose is to close the gaps between housing and health services. Making communities and services more connected and access greater. Through the grant, fourteen to sixteen forums will be conducted around the state. Three forums have been conducted to date. In addition to the forums, focus groups will also be conducted. Every forum and focus group will have individualized results. At the end of the process (March, 2013) there will be a comprehensive report. They will have quantitative information and well as qualitative. The first question will be about barriers, then what’s working and last what’s possible. Questions asked of those in attendance, and the responses they gave are as follows: Approved June, 2012 SILC Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 14 1. Improving coordination between healthcare initiatives and housing opportunities: What are some of the things that get in the way of healthcare initiatives and housing opportunities? Responses: • People who deal with healthcare aren’t thinking of housing and vice versa, so when things come up, no one thinks to let the other party know there is a process going on that needs to be discussed. • Rent is too expensive in homes that have been upgraded to be accessible. • Support services aren’t seen as medically necessary, but for some people, if support services were available in their housing, they could maintain more independence. • When someone comes in for a service how is the question of need going to be asked? Questions need to be more holistically -about what is going on in a life and how it affects everything else. Thought processes need to change in the inquiry phase. • Transportation can be an issue if housing isn’t close to medical facilities. 2. What is working in terms of coordination between housing and healthcare? • Outreach to/with hospital discharge planners. 3. What do you think is possible in regard to coordinating housing and healthcare? • Local housing people need to go to the CCOs and offer themselves as a resource. • Expand visiting nurses. • Medical community needs to share what to expect during rehabilitation or when leaving a facility before the transition actually takes place. Talk about possibilities and give possible resources so individuals and their family/support system can better prepare for housing in the next transition. • Stronger internal supports – crisis teams inside apartment complexes. 4. Establishing policy linkages between state housing and health agencies: What are the significant policy barriers? • Through the Work Incentive Network, people will learn they can work and not lose benefits. There aren’t provisions to take into account that people have disability related expenses in housing. • People’s alcohol and drug histories have become a barrier to get housing. • Paperwork is a huge barrier. • No central phone number for consumers to call to tell what they need and then be transferred to the correct agency. Approved June, 2012 SILC Meeting Minutes Page 4 of 14 • The need for first and last month’s rent, plus security deposit when trying to move into a place. • There are a lot of resources for people with disabilities, but the person with a disability has a responsibility take care of themselves as much as possible, and if they don’t have the ability to do that then find others to help them take the responsibility. 5. What about future opportunities? What would you do if you could do anything? • Construct housing with a universal design in mind • Get clearer about what accessible means • Reduce paperwork • Raise awareness and get support from neighbors The overwhelming consensus about the top two priorities were: 1. Reduce paperwork 2. Outreach to community and create community awareness. Public Comment Period Glen Van Cise, from ABILITREE in Bend, gave the SILC feedback about the CIL review done at ABILITREE in May. There was a team of five: Joan Claypool from the Designated State Unit (DSU), Tony Ellis as a member of SILC, Brad Collins from the OVRS office in Eugene, Dean Nielson from a CIL in Idaho and Judy Barker as the financial person from the DSU. The team did an exceptional job. They were at ABILITREE for three days. They talked to the Board, staff and volunteers. The team provided a lot of input and ideas. The process was positive and educational. Ted Wenk is from Disability Rights Oregon (DRO), and is the Client Assistance Program representative. He told the SILC that DRO has moved two blocks over in downtown Portland and is now at 610 SW Broadway. This information is on their web site www.droregon.org. The Work Incentive Planning and Assistance (WIPA) program will not be taking new intakes and will be phasing out their program over the next few weeks as the grant, since grant funding for the federal project was not sustained. Agency Reports Designated State Unit (DSU) • Joan Claypool, IL Program Coordinator Joan Claypool was not present, so a written report was included in the meeting packet. Approved June, 2012 SILC Meeting Minutes Page 5 of 14 Office of Vocational Rehabilitation Services (OVRS) • Stephaine Parrish Taylor, Administrator Erin Kelley Siel was asked, by OVRS, to request that Governor Kitzhaber send a letter to the Oregon delegation regarding reauthorizing the WIPA program. The Medicaid Infrastructure Grant (MIG) staff has a weekly teleconference with other MIG States both on how to move reauthorization of funding, as well as brainstorming the sustainability of the system. OVRS has found that WIPA and Work Incentive Network (WIN) have created a front door for them in terms of people who come in for service and then elect to go to work or increase their hours. The MIG money is available for one more year. They are hoping that people that have successfully used WIN and WIPA services will send a letter to the Social Security Administration Commissioner. Governor Kitzhaber has created a ten-year plan for Oregon. He believes that budgeting every two years will not solve the state’s problems, so has created a strategic plan with five key areas -jobs and economy, safe communities, health, environment, and education. As the departments build their budgets, they are required to talk about how their services fit into one or more of these areas. The VR program fits into jobs and economy and education. The struggle has been around how to fit Independent Living services into these criteria, because none of the categories are a direct link. Programs are limited to how many areas they can linked to. When making presentations they have to talk about advancing the Governor’s plan, outcomes and return on investment. The Legislature does not necessarily agree with this approach, so agencies may have to recreate their budgets using the old method. OVRS is going to be working with the Governor’s office regarding the Governor’s expressed concern regarding groups that continue to experience unacceptable levels of unemployment or under employment; people with disabilities, TANF (Temporary and Needy Family) benefit recipients and communities of color. The Governor, along with the MIG grant is setting up a task force to look at creating a five-year strategic plan around this issue. OVRS, along with the Office of Developmental Disability Services, were named in a lawsuit around the sheltered workshop issue. State Rehabilitation Council (SRC) • Sherry Stock, SILC Rep Besides the written report in the meeting packet, Sherry Stock reported about the Special Project Work Group DVD created last year for OVRS field offices about the CILs and the services they provide. There is funding for OVRS to create a similar DVD for the CILs to explain what VR does and the services they provide. The filming of the VR DVD is scheduled for June 28, 2012. Approved June, 2012 SILC Meeting Minutes Page 6 of 14 Oregon Commission for the Blind (OCB) • Dennis Hogan, OCB staff Besides the written report in the meeting packet, Dennis Hogan reported that OCB is facing the same thing other agencies are facing i.e., declining budgets and increasing case loads. Their staff is not being increased to meet the case loads and there is a lack of regional resources. Locally OCB held a low vision fair to show new technology to the rural areas. It was very successful and they are looking to expand it statewide. Oregon Disabilities Commission (ODC) • Tina Treasure, SILC Rep A written report was included in the meeting packet. In Tina Treasure’s absence, Sherry Stock, as the ODC Chairperson, reported that ODC has applied to the MegaConference to hold either their annual commission meeting or a town hall type meeting. The ODC normally holds their meeting at the MegaConference where they get a lot of good feedback. 2011-2013 SPIL Progress & Committee Reports Collaboration Committee (CC) A written report was included in the meeting packet. Executive Committee (EC) Sheila Thomas and Mike Volpe are new members of the Executive Committee. The EC has a training position for SILC members that would like to learn more about the EC and what it does. Tony Ellis has agreed to take the training position. Membership Development Committee (MDC) The MDC is still looking for new members for the SILC. The SILC needs representation from Eastern and Central Oregon, and the Columbia Gorge area. SPIL Committee (SC) One of the things staff has heard from the CILs this year is there is a disconnect between the SPIL planning process and the CILs. With the CILs being responsible for most of the activities of the SPIL it would be beneficial for staff to be able talk to the CILs about how to plan and monitor the SPIL more effectively without putting more of a burden on them. We have to find a way to get the information from CILs and a way to work together to plan out what we are going to do for the next three-year state plan period. Staff would like the CILs to think about how this can be accomplished. Glenn Van Cise, from ABILITREE ,suggested holding another in-person meeting like the one held in March, which CILs attended. Approved June, 2012 SILC Meeting Minutes Page 7 of 14 Regional Hot Topics Ann Balzell –Travis Wall, the Director for the MIG, is a member of the Portland Disabilities Commission, and took a proposal to the Portland City Council, asking that the City of Portland become a “model employer” of people with disabilities. This means that Portland would agree to maintain a certain percentage of people with disabilities on its staff. Portland accepted this proposal and will become a model employer. Sheila – LILA is the Oregon is the affiliate for the Business Leadership Network. LILA does the Blue Path Program, going into businesses to encourage them to be accessible to people with disabilities. They also talk to the business about employing people with disabilities. Ben – One of the things Ben does is teach martial arts to cross-disabilities populations as well as mainstream populations. He is working on a grassroots program, finding a way to integrate both populations in a context of training and development to get youth ready for the rigors of life. Tony – Would like to write a how-to guide for the EC training position. He also shared about being on the review team for the ABILITREE review. It was a threeday review. It was fun and educational. It helped him better understand how a CIL operates. Barry – He was a peer mentor for a CIL in Utah. It was a three-day trip to St. George, Utah to help an Executive Director that had only been there for three months. One of the advantages to doing this is to see the good things other CILs are doing and incorporating them into your CIL. One of the Portland State University interns has started a music group at ILR. It has empowered people that didn’t have a sense of identity or sense of place with their disability. Every Monday ILR is rocking with 7 or 8 different instruments going; percussion, drums, piano and guitar. Dodie – She works with the Social Service Department of the Federated Tribes of the Grand Ronde. Not many of the tribe members are able to hold a job at the tribe’s casino. Her program is working with the tribe and the casino HR department. The department developed a train-the-trainer course on Native American wellness. This helps people gain self-esteem and empowerment, and be able to retain employment. This training is required by the casino HR department for former employees to be able to return to work there. Margi – Has been involved with helping different deaf people. It is hard to get them together. She is looking forward to having a central location to help people. They will be going to a deaf camp and doing training in case of a Tsunami emergency while there. Approved June, 2012 SILC Meeting Minutes Page 8 of 14 Cindy – ATTUNE (a nonprofit she started) is still waiting for its 501c3 status, but she has started doing trainings without it. She did a staff training for SPOKES in Klamath Falls. She incorporated the information about phones she does for her other job with sensitivity training about hearing loss. Janet – She has been calling Kaiser Permanente, asking them to make their pharmacies more wheelchair accessible. Also, the City of Salem has made new curb cuts at Market and Hawthorne and put in new buttons for the crossing signal lights. The buttons cannot be reached from a wheel chair. She has been talking to the city about this for almost a year. Mike – He is involved in the local Disability Services Advisory Council. They are low on membership, so not much is happening right now. Dennis – One of the difficulties teaching blind rehab is the huge amount of territory a teacher has to cover. The traditional model is to teach people on a one- to-one basis. He started teaching in groups, which also gives people a support group. They are able to talk about things that are an issue for them. It also gives the consumers a chance to meet other people. They have also started a class for vocational-aged individuals who are blind. Sherry – Had a meeting with Bobby Heagerty, who is the Executive Director of the Brain Institute at Oregon Health & Science University. She asked Sherry for names of people involved in the disability community. Sherry gave her the contact information for the CIL Directors. They are putting together presentations with speakers from Washington, DC, with the idea of getting feedback from the audience on what’s needed in a cross-disability world. She has been involved with legislation that is looking for two different funding sources. These funds would go into a trust fund for services from the CILs to people with brain injury and the cross-disabilities issues that come along with that. Sherry would like this to be a pre-employment program to work with consumers to get them up to the point where they are eligible for VR. Randy – Introduced Mona and her son Isaac, to tell the Council about a community project she is working on in the Grants Pass/Medford area. She started the Blue Side Project with the hopes of raising $150,000 to make the Parkside playground accessible for children with disabilities. This playground is open to the public. The first phase is estimated to take $50,000. That phase would build a structure and pay for rubber tiles under the equipment. These tiles are 2 foot square and are $18.26 each. The playground will require 4,000 tiles. The structure would have a ramp for easy access for children with disabilities as well as children without disabilities. Approved June, 2012 SILC Meeting Minutes Page 9 of 14 STAFF REPORT & UPDATES The format of the staff report has been changed to highlight staff activities by category. Janet Lowther would like to get information about how to participate in the White House Monthly Disability Calls. Staff has been working with OVRS on the budget process, learning how the new Governor’s process is supposed to work. Staff completed the annual report. Two reports are done annually. A 704 report that is sent to the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) and the Annual Report sent to the Governor and Legislators. The annual report will be posted on the SILC Web site soon. The SILC is almost ready to go live with a new Web site design located under the Oregon.gov umbrella, and no longer under a DHS program banner. There are links explaining what the SILC does, plus sections with member recruitment and member orientation materials, including the surveys new members fill out to communicate which areas where they might like to have some one-on-one mentoring. Final edits will be done on the site within the next week. Often on the meeting materials list in the meeting memo is a section listing the different support letters sent on the SILC’s behalf. It tells you the letters are available on request, but it seemed there were a couple of important letters that members may want to read, so they were included in the meeting packet. One was for the Parent Training and Information Center Grant (PTI). For many years ORPTI, also known as the RISE Center, has been uncontested in their application for this grant. A group known as Family and Community Together (FACT) from the Portland area decided they would apply for the grant and asked the SILC for a letter of support. Staff also worked with Sherry Stock on a support letter for the Oregon Office on Disability and Health (OODH) grant application to the Centers for Disease Control. Sherry was the signatory on this support letter, as the SILC’s representative to the OODH advisory committee for this grant. The grant is looking to develop a lot of information and data around health issues for people with disabilities. There was also a comment letter on Community Care Organizations (CCOs) included. CIL Directors were encouraged to apply for their local CCO Advisory Committee positions. Recently staff had a meetings with a member of the State Unit on Aging and with the Executive Director for the Association of Area Agencies on Aging (O4AD). The meetings helped clarify things around the Aging and Disability Resource Connection (ADRC). Nationally the program is referred to as “Resource Centers,” but in Oregon the project is called “Resource Connection”. There has been a level of confusion about what the goals and structure of the project are in Oregon will be. Written Approved June, 2012 SILC Meeting Minutes Page 10 of 14 into the State Plan is a section that discussed development of a way for partners to work better together in order to provide better information to people with disabilities. It was clear at these meetings that not everyone means the same thing when using the same terminology. A lot of people are talking about ADRCs, but they are not all talking about it the same way. Staff was asked to give recommendations on what the next step should be. A few ideas were developed and Tina Treasure will be meeting with the head of the State Unit on Aging to go over these. Unless there is substantial and sustainable funding, AAAs, CILs and other partners will be unable to develop any new structure. It is important to take what people do now and help break down the barriers that keep them from networking or working together effectively, so that consumers can easily take advantage of what different partners offer. CIL REPORT • HASL Independent Abilities Center – Randy Samuelson This is the twenty-sixth year for HASL. Randy thanked Bob and Brian Lee Rose for their help in getting the room ready for hosting this quarterly meeting. Randy asked the staff and board members to stand for introductions. Denise Heartfield and Nelson Ferguson are their WIN staff; Candy Barton-Smith set up a technology lab for vision impaired consumers; Dawn Miller is involved with the Healing Pathways Program; Cheryl O’Brian is an Independent Living Specialist and job developer; Sally Cumberworth is the STEPS trainer; Marie is the front desk receptionist and runs the durable medical equipment loan program; Polly Featherstone is a board member; Patty Kunkler a staff member; Bob Rose is one of the original founders of HASL; Brian Lee Rose volunteers along with his brother; Beck Sandborg is their legal advisor; John Brown is the Vice Chair; Susan C. Rider is a board member and Tony Ellis has volunteered at HASL. Randy asked SILC members to look at the bulletin board in the entryway and take notice of their “Did You Know” campaign. They have started two fund raising approaches, one locally and one nationally. Their goals is to get unrestricted funds to be able to restart their transportation program. HASL is partnering with Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) to sponsor their sixth annual job fair in Medford. There have been challenges at HASL. Last year at this time HASL had a staff of 22. Now there are 13. They have been working on the ADRC project and have applied for the CCO advisory committee in Grants Pass. HASL is now part of the Blue Path Project Approved June, 2012 SILC Meeting Minutes Page 11 of 14 which is another way to increase awareness among business owners about Independent Living, HASL services and the ADA. They have been working with CJ Severenson, a high school student and head of Future Business Leaders of America, putting on a fund raiser for him following his injury. Randy read a testimonial from a consumer from the Healing Pathways Program. This program changed people’s lives. When the women first came in they didn’t want to be there and they were afraid. It was amazing to watch the transformation of these women. There was an 87 percent completion rate and of that 87 percent almost 40 percent either went back to work or went to a volunteer position with little or no job development help from HASL. COMMENT FROM HASL CONSUMERS & STAFF HASL TOUR Cheryl O’Brian (staff) started at HASL two years ago, while finishing up her business degree. She needed cooperative work experience and there was an opening at HASL. She worked in their transportation program for 3 months. When that job ended she applied and was hired as an Independent Living Specialist (ILS)/job developer. Cheryl introduced the SILC to two consumers – Sheryl came to HASL to deal with an overwhelming overpayment situation with Social Security and Randy came to get help with relocating after a brief separation from his wife. Sheryl explained how her mental disability had made it impossible to maintain employment and that she has a mental disability, multiple personalities. It is one end of the PTSD spectrum. When she was younger she could keep her personalities separate (in order) but eventually her life became disorganized and started crumbling around her. She applied for and received disability. She tried oncall jobs to see if she would be able to work, but couldn’t maintain it. Social Security sent a letter that she had an overpayment. They wanted job records and pay slips going back years. Someone recommended she talk to Cheryl at HASL. Eventually she received a waiver. Social Security had made an error believing one job was actually two. Randy C. moved to Oregon from Washington to further his career in massage. In the middle of it his family fell apart. He didn’t know where to go or what to do. A friend of his introduced him to Randy Samuelson. HASL has opened doors; they helped him locate his very first apartment. Randy C. wanted to go back to school to become a chiropractor and was told he couldn’t do it. Randy Samuelson asked why and said Randy C. was going to do it, that there was no reason he couldn’t. The HASL team makes things happen. Dawn Miller (staff) was a budget and debt counselor but didn’t want to do that anymore and went back to school. The school sent her to HASL to try a job called Approved June, 2012 SILC Meeting Minutes Page 12 of 14 Disability Advocate. That was five years ago. She started out doing job developing but when OVRS went into Order of Selection that job was no longer there, so she moved to the Oregon on the Move Program, helping people integrate back into the community from nursing homes. HASL also wanted her to be part of the Healing Pathways Program so she was a mentor and facilitator for that program. She is now doing follow up with the women from Healing Pathways. Sylva (consumer) came into HASL five years ago and worked with Carol. She was unable to fill out paperwork to get disability. She lived in the wilderness alone until she was too old to do that and wasn’t integrating into society. Through Healing Pathways HASL helped her get her first home. She now volunteers and helps others. Candy Barton-Smith (staff) was a co-facilitator when Healing Pathways started. She was a consumer, using transportation and the WIN Program, then started coming into HASL as a volunteer. There was a position open as a personal assistant in the Healing Pathways Program, helping women break down the barriers to be able to consistently make it to the program. She set up the technology center for consumers, helps with the front desk, the durable medical equipment loans and the follow up with the women of Healing Pathways. Candy is also completing her education for her human services degree. Sally Cumberworth (staff) is the STEPS trainer. She also started at HASL as a consumer. She had ankle replacement surgery and during the year-long recovery she retreated into herself. Her husband suggested she talk to the people at OVRS, who suggested she attend a Work Readiness Alternatives Workshop (WRAW) at HASL; helping her work on her employment skills and rebuild her resume. The STEPS Program was just starting and someone suggested she apply to HASL to become the STEPS trainer. Denise Heartfield is a Work Incentive Coordinator (WIC) with the Work Incentive Network (WIN) housed in HASL for Southern Oregon. They serve Douglas, Coos, Curry, Jackson and Josephine Counties. There are 10 WICs throughout Oregon. A lot of the services are done over the phone. Currently in the WIN Program there are 5,600 consumers. They are able to serve anyone receiving benefits whether they are federal or state. They serve people who want to go to work. Nelson Ferguson started at HASL seven years ago as a driver in their transportation program. Molly Sullivan came to HASL to talk about the WIN Program. He became one of the original WICs in Oregon. They serve five counties but help out in others. This is the best job he has ever had. Marie started as a receptionist at United Way of Sellwood-King County and became the office manager. This is where she got her face-to-face fund raising experience. Approved June, 2012 SILC Meeting Minutes Page 13 of 14 She has done customer service for 30 plus years either in person or over the phone. She is starting a fund raising campaign at HASL. Bob Rose has been with HASL for over 27 years. He has watched it grow and change lives. Everyone that has worked at HASL has always made an important improvement in someone’s life. He usually does peer mentoring one-on-one, taking a person’s ability and turning it into a strength, using the recreation program as his tool. ADJOURN FOR TOUR OF HASL -Next Meeting • September 7 – Salem; Annual SILC Retreat on September 6 Approved June, 2012 SILC Meeting Minutes Page 14 of 14